RCS with eggs?

[Coleallensmom]

I added 5 ghost shrimp to my community tank a few weeks ago as a test of sorts to see if any of my tetra would bother them. They seemed to be quite active and not harrassed at all by any inhabitants of my tank, so last week I added 5 red cherry shrimp to the mix. On Wednesday right before we went away for a couple days for the holiday, one of my ghosts molted. Anxious to see if everyone was ok when I got back this evening, I gave everyone a good once over and immediately noticed a bright yellow spot on the back of one of the RCS as well as 2 of the ghosts. Never having had shrimp before, I googled and I am under the assumption they are females carrying eggs? Some of the RCS I have are smallish and I have no idea how many fe/males I have. Tell me what I need to know about shrimp breeding, please!

[BigJim]

Those are unfertilized eggs developing in the shrimp's ovaries. She'll move them to her tail after they're fertilized. Female shrimp are usually more brightly colored than the males. My females are nearly solid blood red and the males are almost colorless.

[Coleallensmom]

I have the one in the photo and two that are larger and solid red in color. Two are fairly small and I haven't seen them out in the open part of the tank enough to get a good look at them. I can't really say that any are extremely lighter in color than the rest. I wonder if I even have any males to fertilize the eggs?

[BigJim]

Hopefully you've got a male. It's nice to have a breeding RCS population.

[MacMyers]

Originally Posted by BigJim

Hopefully you've got a male. It's nice to have a breeding RCS population.

I was under the impression that if the females had developed saddles then the eggs were fertile.
Males are smaller and lightly colored... they typically move around quite a bit in the presence of females ready to made.

[BigJim]

Originally Posted by MacMyers

I was under the impression that if the females had developed saddles then the eggs were fertile.

I've had a hard time finding a clear answer here. From what I've read, a female RCS develops the saddle of eggs, then releases pheromones to attract a male. Once the eggs are fertilized, the female moves the eggs to her tail. I could be wrong though.

[Coleallensmom]

Originally Posted by BigJim

Hopefully you've got a male. It's nice to have a breeding RCS population.

That would be nice- especially since I have no live bearing fish in the tank!

[Coleallensmom]

Originally Posted by BigJim

I've had a hard time finding a clear answer here. From what I've read, a female RCS develops the saddle of eggs, then releases pheromones to attract a male. Once the eggs are fertilized, the female moves the eggs to her tail. I could be wrong though.

Will the female move them to her tail even if they are NOT fertilized? The original ghost shrimp that had eggs still has them in her saddle and they've now turned from yellow to green. However, another ghost female also had eggs in her saddle and I noticed just this evening that she is now carrying them under her swimmerettes. Anxious to see if they survive or not!

[BigJim]

I'm not sure how ghost shrimp reproduction goes. From what I've read, RCS move the eggs to their tails after they've been fertilized. I've also read that the eggs tend to turn from yellow to green shortly before hatching.

[Coleallensmom]

Originally Posted by BigJim

Those are unfertilized eggs developing in the shrimp's ovaries. She'll move them to her tail after they're fertilized. Female shrimp are usually more brightly colored than the males. My females are nearly solid blood red and the males are almost colorless.

Ghost female is still carrying the eggs under her tail. Moved the three RCS that I could find into my 20 gal so I can see them better (They don't seem to be out and about during the day as much as the ghosts). All looked like females to me, so I picked up four more at my LFS today. Two of the new ones are grey (almost see through)... I really couldn't find any red on them at all. From your description, I am assuming I was lucky enough to get some males this time. Excited to see if I find any berried females in the next few months!

[BigJim]

Two males and five females should be able to start a colony. Look for the males swimming around the tank like crazy. They do that when the females are putting pheromones into the water. Good luck!

[Coleallensmom]

I hope so! Will keep an eye peeled...Thanks, Big Jim!

[Coleallensmom]

Originally Posted by BigJim

I'm not sure how ghost shrimp reproduction goes. From what I've read, RCS move the eggs to their tails after they've been fertilized. I've also read that the eggs tend to turn from yellow to green shortly before hatching.

Just wanted to update on my berried Ghost shrimp. I got a chance to see her again this evening and her eggs are now very greenish in color.

Will update if I see anymore changes!

[cwt]

Should be ready to drop them soon. There's no guarantee that the fish in yoru tank will leave them alone though, hope there's plenty of cover!

It doesn't take much to get these shrimp started; I started with 2 males and 2 females, and now have shrimp in every tank (except the krib tank, where they are considered dessert).

[Coleallensmom]

I knew Red Cherry Shrimp are prolific breeders, but I wasn't sure which type of Ghost shrimp I have. I have two males and three females; two females are now berried and the third has started to develope eggs in her saddle. The eggs on the original berried female are quite large and she spends most of the day sitting and fanning the eggs with her swimmerettes. (It's been a about two weeks since she started carrying the eggs under her tail.)

[Coleallensmom]

Originally Posted by BigJim

Two males and five females should be able to start a colony. Look for the males swimming around the tank like crazy. They do that when the females are putting pheromones into the water. Good luck!

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the advice! I found one of my females hiding under a plant this morning so I kept an eye on her for a while. I noticed that one of my males was up the plant further sitting on a leaf which immediately made me think of your post. Sure enough when she crawled out from under the plant a bit later, she was clearly berried. Very, excited!!

[BigJim]

Glad to hear it. Good luck!

[Coleallensmom]

Thanks!