Having trouble differentiating male and female cherry shrimp

[chirikoo]

I don't even know if I have any males at all.
I recently bought six, and out of them, 2 are very large and really red, so I assumed them female. The rest I'm having extreme difficulty with. One I assumed male molted and has a yellow saddle now.

I want to go breed them, so should I just buy more instead?

 

[jetajockey]

The more you start out with, the faster the colony will grow, so it's never a bad idea to get more. They are hard to sex when they are young.

 

[chirikoo]

I have a couple exactly like these two.
The giant one is a female, right? While the other is a male?

 

[jetajockey]

yes the big one is definitely a female. Males do look like the one on the right, but sometimes immature females look similar to males as well, when they are small its hard to tell sometimes.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Both most likely female IMO. IME most males are almost colorless and the little one in your pic has quite a bit of red on her/him.

Good example of an adult male RCS:

 

[chirikoo]

Can anyone confirm if any of these shrimp are male?
Ignore the third pic, that's one of my shrimp's skin.
ImageShack Album - 7 images

 

[chirikoo]

-ignore this, i double posted-

 

[chirikoo]

V
Thank you very much! I won't lose hope until I see a saddle on all of them.

 

[Coleallensmom]

It's possible the last might be a male, but they look female to me. The first several clearly have a saddle on their back which is a quick indicator that the shrimp is female.

 

[jetajockey]

My males are not colorless, most are bright red. I have some good strains of cherry shrimp though, and I've spent a good bit of time culling the clear-ish ones. The best method of sexing I've used besides saddle/eggs, is to go by the body shape. The males underside has that upward curve to it and the females have a downward curve.

 

[Coleallensmom]

My males are not colorless, most are bright red. I have some good strains of cherry shrimp though, and I've spent a good bit of time culling the clear-ish ones. The best method of sexing I've used besides saddle/eggs, is to go by the body shape. The males underside has that upward curve to it and the females have a downward curve.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to have a red(ish) male- that is exactly why I said the shrimp in the OPs last photo might be male. However, most of the people I talk to who keep RCS say theirs are MUCH less colorful than their females...often with very little color at all.The photo I shared is from aquariacentral...My males look the same. As I said, I could identify saddles in the shrimp pictured in his first few photos which is why those shrimp are females..Just my opinion though.

 

[jetajockey]

I agree about the set of pics, they all look female. The first pic on the thread looks like a male and female though, to me, but like I said, juvenile females and males can look very similar.

I agree that the males are less colorful than the females, and much smaller full grown, I was just saying that they aren't necessarily clear. In the last few years there has been much development in the red trait on RCS, just like they were originally brown in the wild, they've become extremely red through selective breeding. Some people even sell them for much more under the name of fire red shrimp, sakura shrimp, and other creative names.

This is a good comparison photo of m/f

This is a great extensive writeup on how to sex dwarf shrimp. It's easy with RCS but it's a bit harder with the solid color shrimp like CRS.

Shrimp Reproduction .:. An explanation of the reproduction cycle of a Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp

 

[hippy guy]

Good read! And yeah I deff. Have a mix of both, but even my males have some color to them

 

[Coleallensmom]

I agree about the set of pics, they all look female. The first pic on the thread looks like a male and female though, to me, but like I said, juvenile females and males can look very similar.

I agree that the males are less colorful than the females, and much smaller full grown, I was just saying that they aren't necessarily clear. In the last few years there has been much development in the red trait on RCS, just like they were originally brown in the wild, they've become extremely red through selective breeding. Some people even sell them for much more under the name of fire red shrimp, sakura shrimp, and other creative names.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree You may have some super special cherry shrimp but IME, it's not the norm to have bright red males. The RCS in the OPs very first photo has quite a bit of red on it IMO and his personal shrimp all looked pretty female as well. I'd advise him to pick a couple more up just to be on the safe side.

And for the record (maybe I didn't explain myself fully enough), I never said males were COMPLETELY colorless(for example ghost shrimp), but rather almost so when compared to a female cherry shrimp. I agree with you that your photo is a good depliction of a male/female i.e. in viewing the male, I see him as almost colorless with just a few strands of red. Pretty normal male RCS, IMO..

 

[Poncho.tinoco]

It's been a while but I'm back at it. My previous shrimp tank failed and I ended up housing a betta in the tank. Anyway I now have six cherries in a 2.5 gallon with a betta and a mystery snail. I'm certain 5 of them are females but can someone please confirm this. Would i be right to say i have at least one make in there? Please help me I really want them to breed.

 

[PerfectDepth]

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree You may have some super special cherry shrimp but IME, it's not the norm to have bright red males. The RCS in the OPs very first photo has quite a bit of red on it IMO and his personal shrimp all looked pretty female as well. I'd advise him to pick a couple more up just to be on the safe side.

And for the record (maybe I didn't explain myself fully enough), I never said males were COMPLETELY colorless(for example ghost shrimp), but rather almost so when compared to a female cherry shrimp. I agree with you that your photo is a good depliction of a male/female i.e. in viewing the male, I see him as almost colorless with just a few strands of red. Pretty normal male RCS, IMO..

Actually, you are both correct. It all depends on how they were bred. Some people even differentiate and call the solid red variety "fire-red cherries". Only one shop in my area regularly has cherry shrimp, and most of their males have solid red coloring; they look identical to the females except for the tail shape and saddle.