# Sexing Vampire Shrimp



## Zongyi (Aug 1, 2005)

Hello. I may get a few vampire shrimp (depending if the store identified it properly) on monday. I need to know how to tell a male from a female because I want to get a pair. I normally don't care since I buy a lot of shrimps at a time, but since these shrimps are 12.99 each, I may only be able to get away with 3. Any help would be appreaciated  .


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## Veneer (Jun 12, 2005)

Zongyi said:


> Hello. I may get a few vampire shrimp (depending if the store identified it properly) on monday. I need to know how to tell a male from a female because I want to get a pair. I normally don't care since I buy a lot of shrimps at a time, but since these shrimps are 12.99 each, I may only be able to get away with 3. Any help would be appreaciated  .


Males' first pairs of walking legs (look to the images shown here) are considerably more robust than those of females (supposedly encountered with much less frequency due to selective collection procedures).

Note: Such differences will be less apparent amongst juveniles (additionally often characterized by the beautiful blue tones visible here).


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## Zongyi (Aug 1, 2005)

Thanks Veneer, but I'm not understanding what the blue tones stand for. Does the blueish color mean they are juveniles, males, or females?


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## Zongyi (Aug 1, 2005)

Turns out the Vampire Shrimp at the store was actually very large wood shrimp. They got me all exited for nothing. Well, I went home with 4 wood shrimp (I think I got ripped, 12.99 each!). Anyways, I want to know how would I sex these guys. Would it be the same as with Vampire Shrimp? If so, I think I got 4 of the same gender. Their front legs are all the same size. The front legs are exactly the same as the other 2 pairs, as opposed to the huge fat front legs I see on googled pictures. I'll try to get a picture of my shrimp soon. They are just hideing right now.


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## Zongyi (Aug 1, 2005)

Here are the pictures:









The most active guy of the group. It came out to feed right after being placed in the tank.









The three less active shrimp. One has started to feed. The other 2 is not moveing at all, which worries me. These shrimps cost more than the most expensive fish I have, lol  .









The shrimps are pretty big. This pic compairs it to my rainbow shrimp (which will be moved as soon as I get my 2.5 gal).









And for something different, a black rainbow shrimp. I also found 2 very green ones but they are hideing behind my sponge filter.


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