Sexing shrimp?

[ozziegt]

Anyone know how to tell the gender of Amano shrimp? I bought 2, wondering if I should try to get a pair in the tank to see if I can get babies...but at $3/shrimp I don't want to buy 10!

 

[twoluvcats]

I don't know how to sex amanos, but i do know that breeding them in captivity is very hard...the newly hatched shrimp actually live in salt water and then come back to fresh when they mature...so you need to have a saltwater tank for them to live in the first few weeks of thier lives.

Here's a link to some threads about people's experience trying to breed amanos http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16401

 

[ozziegt]

Meh, yeah I guess it's not worth the effort...if the LFS had cherry shrimp I guess that would be a different story...

 

[twoluvcats]

i got my cherries off of aquabid, and it worked out great! they are already breeding.

 

[ozziegt]

But shippping is so expensive...maybe I can subsidize by selling to the local LFS.

 

[twoluvcats]

the guy i bought from included shipping...so i ended up getting them for just under $3 each, shipped...which is cheaper than I've seen them anywhere retail

...now granted I lost six to betta attacks right away LOL But I've got 3 egg-holding females already...and I could have sworn I saw 2 small ones lurking around my QT tank the other day.