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What sex are my shrimp?


Aaron S

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Hi all, I wondered if anyone out there can tell me fo sure what sex my shrimp are. I have 5 but only photos of 3 as there is an upload limit. I think I can see a saddle on a couple of them (only partial as they are red rili.. ish) but after a while my eyes start to play tricks. Sadly enough I have had them maybe 2 weeks with 3 more bought today and would love some confirmation from some other people who have more knowledge than me!

Anyway thanks for stopping by and having a guess even if you dont know for sure. Hope to learn alot ?

Aaron

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I’ve only kept caradina shrimp before, but very similar in body shape. To me 1st and 3rd look female, and 2nd seems to be a male. Cannot be certain tho. 

Welcome to the skf  Aaron!

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It is a bit difficult to tell from the photos but try watching this video as that may help you! Also depends whether they are adults? The first does look like a female.....

Welcome to the forum.

Simon

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2 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

It is a bit difficult to tell from the photos but try watching this video as that may help you! Also depends whether they are adults? The first does look like a female.....

Welcome to the forum.

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thankyou for the link, I have to confess I may have already watched that video maybe 4 times trying to tell them apart! From what I can tell I have a nice mix of m/f so fingers crossed on a colony soon!

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If you bought them young then chances are you can't tell what they may end up as, but if you bought a large quantity you would have to be very unlucky if you didn't have a mix! Of course you only need 1 male anyway. With  there is a possibility they may all be one sex?

Just noticed you are also UK! I am in the process of buying some shrimp from Shrimp Corner, not bought from them before, last lot were from ProShrimp, but I am getting blue bolts this time (next week delivery).

The cherry shrimp breed readily enough and from a lot younger than the bees so I doubt you would have to wait too long to find out whether you have a mix and it is so exciting the first time you get shrimplets? New born usually like to hide (naturally) so it is a good idea to get some form of moss (pads or lose) and some sort of baby (powder, I use chi ebi) food is a good idea in preparation, babies don't move around much to start with as well.

I don't know if you know ProShrimp but they are really close to Nottingham and I definitely recommend them without reservation! Usually if you just want one thing and it isn't a large item they tend to send it free of postage charge as well!

Would be interested to hear more about your setup if you get time. I see it is sand/gravel substrate!

 

Simon 

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5 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

If you bought them young then chances are you can't tell what they may end up as, but if you bought a large quantity you would have to be very unlucky if you didn't have a mix! Of course you only need 1 male anyway. With  there is a possibility they may all be one sex?

Just noticed you are also UK! I am in the process of buying some shrimp from Shrimp Corner, not bought from them before, last lot were from ProShrimp, but I am getting blue bolts this time (next week delivery).

The cherry shrimp breed readily enough and from a lot younger than the bees so I doubt you would have to wait too long to find out whether you have a mix and it is so exciting the first time you get shrimplets? New born usually like to hide (naturally) so it is a good idea to get some form of moss (pads or lose) and some sort of baby (powder, I use chi ebi) food is a good idea in preparation, babies don't move around much to start with as well.

I don't know if you know ProShrimp but they are really close to Nottingham and I definitely recommend them without reservation! Usually if you just want one thing and it isn't a large item they tend to send it free of postage charge as well!

Would be interested to hear more about your setup if you get time. I see it is sand/gravel substrate!

 

Simon 

Hey Simon 

I appreciate the interest! It's nice to know there people around who fancy a chat and love shrimp too!

So far I have only bought my shrimp from a walk in store, I dont know where in England you live but  I have been to whalf aquatics and bardills for them. After spending hours on YouTube I wanted to hear the same information from a fave to face discussion before I bought the shrimp, also I imagine being shipped is stressful for shrimp? I would love to hear how your shrimp are doing that have been bought online Plus I would like to grade and even develop a strain maybe in the far far future. In my day job I'm a design engineer so this really helps break the weekly stress. 

In terms of plants I plan on introducing rotala and some water lettuce to try and increase the surface area/hiding spaces for shrimplets and microfilm. I have to admit I am not exactly well off with 2 children and a wife to keep happy! ?

 

oh and in terms of setup I have, for now a 55 litre (12 gal) tropiquarium with fluorescent light and heater,( with the tank being so small keeping the tank cool enough over the last couple of days has been a struggle!) I also have opted for a ph neutral loach sand as I have read that neos prefer a more neutral PH.

I am embarrassed to admit the water is far to hard but I did not know that until yesterday. I need to water change with distilled maybe for now at about 10-20% and introduce shrimp salts when the hardness is leveled out....? I think haha please feel free to tell me where I am wrong 

 

how many shrimp do you keep Simon? Would love to hear how you do things

rgs

Aaron

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Shrimp keeping (and fish) is certainly a good way to relieve stress, unless you get too carried away, then you may be stressing the bank manager.

Personally I think it is better to buy through the post (recently did a post on this topic) in this country as long as the seller uses next day by 1pm Royal mail. I don't use ebay any more but I never got a dead on arrival shrimp or any other problem and there are a lot of people selling on there. I am using specialists now but still through the post. My first shrimps were from a shop but that has closed now anyway so there isn't anyone close to here selling in a shop. Cherry shrimps are A LOT tougher than bee shrimps so you shouldn't really have any problems as long as you drip acclimate them. The theory for not using shops is that it takes a lot longer if you think of the process. The shrimps are shipped from the breeder (or abroad) to the shop and then (hopefully) acclimated to the shop tanks water (if the water is linked to a single system with the fish then it is unlikely to be good shrimp parameters), then the shrimps are moved again to the purchasers tank which is likely to be different parameters again - so the shrimps have been through a lot and probably less likely to survive, that's my theory anyway! If you buy from a specialist breeder or hobbyist the shrimps go straight from the breeders tank to purchasers in 24 hours!  That isn't to say you shouldn't get them from a store if you want too,  that's usually where we all see them first anyway?

I also use water lettuce or frogbit, not sure, it came from ProShrimp which ever it is they sell????

You are right with the substrate being ideal for cherrys. I use the soil even with cherrys because I like the look and have lots of plants but it does lower the PH as you say, but my cherry shrimp were fine as they are quite tough!

I was a bit stressed for the last week with the hot spell but being near the south coast kept the temperature cooler than inland where you are. My shrimp tank topped at 26 degrees, I didn't check the other tanks as they probably were the same! If my tank does ok in the next few months I will almost certainly buy a set of the special cooling fans ready for next year but won't have them set up except during really hot weather. I had planned to order some shrimp last week but because of the forecast weather postponed that a week?

I think you should be fine with dechlorinated tap water with cherry shrimps. That is what I use for my red cherrys in both the betta tank and other old fish tank, UNLESS you are having some problems. It is far easier and cheaper than messing about with remineralisers and RO water so if you can get it working with tap water I would stick with it that way! Shrimps don't appreciate changes in water parameters so don't rush trying to change anything - what are the parameters of the tank, I wouldn't have thought your water would be a problem?

I've rambled on a lot already so will let you know about the tanks tomorrow separate!

Simon

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As promised a brief on my tanks,

First one I got about 5 years ago was 30L which I had red cherry shrimps with neon tetras and ember tetras in, and hundreds of assassin snails. Over the years probably 75% (guess) have now reverted to brown or clear with stripes which I assume is the wild type they came from. The tank has soil substrate, moss and plants. It gets very little attention these days as I got other tanks but it plods on!

Second tank was a 35L dennerle aquascape tank which I setup for Taiwan Bee shrimps nearly 2 years ago. It has soil substrate with plants and driftwood! This WAS my prize tank and had way over 100 mixed pattern shrimps until the heater stuck on and wiped them all out about 4 months ago, I was (still am) devastated! I am trying to get back to where it was at the moment and have a few starter taiwan bee shrimps in the tank. It is difficult to get the enthusiasm for it after what happened! I have just (today) ordered 10 blue bolts so should add those sometime this week.............. This tank takes a lot more work as I filter the water to get RO water and then remineralise  etc etc I think it is going to work out, but the backup plan was to use it for some female Bettas if it doesn't/didn't.

Third (Last) tank is a 25L with soil and plants and drift wood as the others but was set up for a Betta. I dumped 10 brown cherry shrimp in to it from the oldest tank as food for the Betta but he wasn't interested, so there is now a shrimp colony in with the betta. They must be some type of super shrimp as EVERY parameter was way different and I didn't even acclimate them for the temperature difference between the tanks which is marked, yet they survived and flourished, bizarrely,  although they were brown/clear most have now gone red????

There are some pictures from all 3 if you click on gallery and scroll down to my pics if you are interested. Anyway, hope this is of some interest?

Don't hesitate to ask if you ave any queries?

Simon

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20 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Shrimp keeping (and fish) is certainly a good way to relieve stress, unless you get too carried away, then you may be stressing the bank manager.

Personally I think it is better to buy through the post (recently did a post on this topic) in this country as long as the seller uses next day by 1pm Royal mail. I don't use ebay any more but I never got a dead on arrival shrimp or any other problem and there are a lot of people selling on there. I am using specialists now but still through the post. My first shrimps were from a shop but that has closed now anyway so there isn't anyone close to here selling in a shop. Cherry shrimps are A LOT tougher than bee shrimps so you shouldn't really have any problems as long as you drip acclimate them. The theory for not using shops is that it takes a lot longer if you think of the process. The shrimps are shipped from the breeder (or abroad) to the shop and then (hopefully) acclimated to the shop tanks water (if the water is linked to a single system with the fish then it is unlikely to be good shrimp parameters), then the shrimps are moved again to the purchasers tank which is likely to be different parameters again - so the shrimps have been through a lot and probably less likely to survive, that's my theory anyway! If you buy from a specialist breeder or hobbyist the shrimps go straight from the breeders tank to purchasers in 24 hours!  That isn't to say you shouldn't get them from a store if you want too,  that's usually where we all see them first anyway?

I also use water lettuce or frogbit, not sure, it came from ProShrimp which ever it is they sell????

You are right with the substrate being ideal for cherrys. I use the soil even with cherrys because I like the look and have lots of plants but it does lower the PH as you say, but my cherry shrimp were fine as they are quite tough!

I was a bit stressed for the last week with the hot spell but being near the south coast kept the temperature cooler than inland where you are. My shrimp tank topped at 26 degrees, I didn't check the other tanks as they probably were the same! If my tank does ok in the next few months I will almost certainly buy a set of the special cooling fans ready for next year but won't have them set up except during really hot weather. I had planned to order some shrimp last week but because of the forecast weather postponed that a week?

I think you should be fine with dechlorinated tap water with cherry shrimps. That is what I use for my red cherrys in both the betta tank and other old fish tank, UNLESS you are having some problems. It is far easier and cheaper than messing about with remineralisers and RO water so if you can get it working with tap water I would stick with it that way! Shrimps don't appreciate changes in water parameters so don't rush trying to change anything - what are the parameters of the tank, I wouldn't have thought your water would be a problem?

I've rambled on a lot already so will let you know about the tanks tomorrow separate!

Simon

I am well aware of the exponential curve in cost, my father kept a marine aquarium when I was a child, he went bald that year...

Your theory seem fairly astute.. I hadn't given it much thought, how many shrimp do you have approx?

I hope to keep things simple for now and I will add bits and bobs as treates through the years

I think I need to keep my tank cooler though, I dont like that the temp is high and fluctuating throughout the day. It drops to about 23 over night and back up to 25 (I have just noticed the tanks is in the centre of the house so I will move it upstairs to my man cave soon to see if that help) 

I will also stick with the tap water for now as you say, there may be no need to switch

Sorry for the short reply and bad grammar replying on my phone!

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I have no idea how many red cherry shrimp are in the old tank as most are brown so almost impossible to see and the moss is so dense. I put 10 brown red cherry in the Betta tank so there must be about that many in there. I think there are about 10 taiwan bee shriimp at the moment.

The shrimps should be ok at those temperatures as today is after all the last day of our summer anyway so no need to rush moving it at this point I would think! That is why I plan to get cooler later in the year, see if it is all working fine first and if it is get ready for next year summer.

Simon

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