# determining sex of cherry shrimp



## Jookie (Sep 30, 2003)

How do I tell the males from the females? The guy that I got the shrimp from said that the males are smaller and less colorful, but couldn't they just be less colorful females that aren't full grown?


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

In addition to the coloration differences that the LFS told you about, if you look closely at the shrimp you'll notice the carapace of the female comes lower covering the swimmerettes (most likely to help protect the eggs when she's carrying) and doesn't on the males. Also the Females with get the saddle as the mature and the males won't.


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## toddnbecka (Sep 20, 2006)

It's not likely you have all female shrimp, the males are much less colorful.


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

toddnbecka said:


> It's not likely you have all female shrimp, the males are *much* less colorful.


Emphisis on the MUCH my females in my 55g are Solid red, and the most colorful male I have has some specles... Also as said saddle with age will show you have a Female. Also the female's carapace is much larger than the males. Females are wide and have a big wide tail for holding eggs, Males are thin and pale.

It isnt very hard after you get used to the shrimp in a month or two you will be able to tell very easy

- Fish newb


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## Gregor Samsa Mendel (May 29, 2006)

With juvenile cherry shrimp, it can be surprisingly hard to determine sex. The body shapes of juvie males and females don't look any different to me. As for color, I've had reddish individuals that became less red with each molt and turned out to be male, and relatively colorless ones that became somewhat redder as they aged and are now not-so-red females.


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## gforster (Jul 30, 2006)

all shrimp are born male. as they mature, some change and become female. i believe its called protantrism or something like that. the best way to tell the difference - the ones with eggs are female! i've had some i thought were male by their lack of coloration that were carrying eggs. go figure


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## Jookie (Sep 30, 2003)

What is this "saddle" part of the shrimp? Is is the part between the head and tail? And if so, then what is different about the females?

I am thinking of moving some of my shrimp to a 3 gal tank with no fish. This can be my breeding tank. I'm pretty sure that any newly hatched shrimp in my 10 gal would be food for my cardinals or turned into shrimp paste by the Eheim canister...


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

The saddle is the shrimp's ovaries and is only present in females. It becomes visible when the ovaries fill with eggs and looks like a yellow saddle along the back of the shrimp. Occationally the saddle will be other colors such as green, but yellow is the most common.


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