Red Cherry Shrimp Fertilization process
- Thread starter sed03f
- Start date
Basically the eggs are kept up on the shoulders in the "saddle." As the female gets to the right age/developmental status they start to move down an equivalent of Fallopian tubes to around the middle-lower part of her "chest", in front. The male stops by and delvers a packet (that's the term they use!) of sperm, then pretty much tips his hat and leaves. The eggs pass through the sperm packet, being fertilized on the way, and the female deposits them between the swimmerettes for development.
If for whatever reason the female is ready but there is no old-enough male available she goes throught the same motions but, obviously, without the sperm packet. So the eggs that are deposited just hang there for a few days then start to decay and are dropped. I think my briefly berried cherry went through this recently; she only had about 6-8 eggs in the undercarriage as best I can tell. Observation continues.
They say both parties molt immediately before this action commences. At any rate it matches what you saw. Very cool observation and you are very alert to have caught it.
That's really interesting - I haven't seen that process described in detail before.
Talk about ''wham - bam - thank you, ma'am"!
All shrimp reproduce in the same way. Females are only receptive immediately after molting. This is because it is the only time that the male genitalia can penetrate the soft carapace of the female, and deposit his gametes. Since shrimp & crawdads have their genitalia in aproximately the same place (under the tail, near the joint where the head and tail meet. The only way they can mate is by the classic 'missionary' position.
Most smaller shrimp species from the common genera, kept by hobbyists; Caridina, Neocaridina, Palaemonetes, have similar mating rituals. Just prior to molting, an adult female releases a chemical that signals her condition. This makes the adult males chase after her. The theory is, whoever is the strongest and fastest will get the opportunity to mate.
This behavior differs with most Macrobrachium shrimp. Macro shrimp have a semi formalized social structure. When an adult female signals that she is ready to molt, the alpha male will guard her, and maneuver her away from other males. If a male challenges, there could be a fight, often resulting in the loss of a claw. Some of the smaller Macro species, such as M. kulsiense do not have dominate males. They don't have the same mad dash, swimming after the girl, instead the males try to keep close to the female, but it resembles a mosh pit.
Most smaller shrimp species from the common genera, kept by hobbyists; Caridina, Neocaridina, Palaemonetes, have similar mating rituals. Just prior to molting, an adult female releases a chemical that signals her condition. This makes the adult males chase after her. The theory is, whoever is the strongest and fastest will get the opportunity to mate.
This behavior differs with most Macrobrachium shrimp. Macro shrimp have a semi formalized social structure. When an adult female signals that she is ready to molt, the alpha male will guard her, and maneuver her away from other males. If a male challenges, there could be a fight, often resulting in the loss of a claw. Some of the smaller Macro species, such as M. kulsiense do not have dominate males. They don't have the same mad dash, swimming after the girl, instead the males try to keep close to the female, but it resembles a mosh pit.
digitalphrage
oh god how did this get here i am n
The video on Youtube is spot-on. I must have lucked out though. I got some cherries a few weeks ago, maybe a month. Anyway, I'd never owned them before until this point. One of the females was berried at that.
Anyway, within 2 weeks of getting the shrimp, I looked into the tank and from a distance, I thought one of the shrimp was molting, so I rushed over for a closer look. As it turned out, I got a glimpse of the shrimp mating! As in the Youtube video, the female was just sort of standing around, and the male had slid underneath her and was resting there, upside down.
They remained in this embrace for several minutes, and then POOF. They each darted away from each other with a tail smack. Within a few days (I don't recall the exact time frame) the female was obviously berried, and now she's in an incubation tub until she releases the babies, which takes about 18 - 21 days depending on temperature, feeding, etc.
In addition, when I got these 5 shrimp, one of the females was berried. She released the babies last week. Looks can be deceiving. Visually, she appeared to be carrying around 8 - 10 eggs. However, I have since inspected the tub with all the babies in it, and there are at least 18 in there.
Anyway, within 2 weeks of getting the shrimp, I looked into the tank and from a distance, I thought one of the shrimp was molting, so I rushed over for a closer look. As it turned out, I got a glimpse of the shrimp mating! As in the Youtube video, the female was just sort of standing around, and the male had slid underneath her and was resting there, upside down.
They remained in this embrace for several minutes, and then POOF. They each darted away from each other with a tail smack. Within a few days (I don't recall the exact time frame) the female was obviously berried, and now she's in an incubation tub until she releases the babies, which takes about 18 - 21 days depending on temperature, feeding, etc.
In addition, when I got these 5 shrimp, one of the females was berried. She released the babies last week. Looks can be deceiving. Visually, she appeared to be carrying around 8 - 10 eggs. However, I have since inspected the tub with all the babies in it, and there are at least 18 in there.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but I have had some of the same reproduction issues this morning. Does this look like the process that XanAvaloni is initially describing? She and two males were all over each other earlier with a molted skin clearly visible nearby. Only one of the males was mature, though.
This is a full picture of the area:
The young male is behind the heater cord. The molted skin is to the right.
I apologize for the picture quality... only 12x and no tripod.
What do y'all think?
This is a full picture of the area:
The young male is behind the heater cord. The molted skin is to the right.
I apologize for the picture quality... only 12x and no tripod.
What do y'all think?
