How to Breed Cherry Shrimp: From Berried Females to the First Shrimplets

The first time you spot a cherry shrimp carrying eggs, you may only catch a glimpse. She turns on the glass, and there’s a little cluster tucked beneath her tail. Then she walks behind the moss and you spend the rest of the evening looking for her. If your tank is already doing well, you can enjoy the sight and carry on with the routine that got her there.

Cherry shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) can breed in a mature freshwater aquarium with adult males and females, stable water and plenty of cover. A female carrying eggs is called berried. She can usually stay in her familiar tank while the eggs develop, and the young hatch as tiny shrimp that can start grazing there.

Give the colony a settled home

Start with a cycled tank that’s had time to grow a little film on its wood, leaves and other surfaces. Those patches are worth keeping. The adults can move around to find food, but a newly hatched shrimp can spend much of its time on a small patch of moss. Leave some established growth at the bottom of the tank and some open space where you can look in without moving anything.

Check that the filter intake is covered with a suitable fine sponge, or use a sponge filter. You want water moving through the tank without leaving tiny shrimp a way into the filter. If you keep fish with the adults, bear in mind that fish that leave adult shrimp alone may still eat shrimplets. A shrimp-only tank gives the young fewer predators and makes it easier to see how the colony is doing.

Keep up your usual tests and maintenance. Ammonia and nitrite should both read zero. If something has changed, work out what happened before adjusting the tank to encourage breeding. Keep the temperature and water chemistry in the range that suits your colony. Research on cherry shrimp has found that high temperatures can disrupt reproduction, so there’s good reason to leave a comfortable, stable tank alone. Cherry shrimp water parameters guide · Study on temperature and reproduction in cherry shrimp

How to spot a berried female

Adult females are often broader under the abdomen than males. On some females you’ll see a patch behind the head, known as the saddle. That’s where eggs are developing in the ovaries. It can be hard to see on a strongly coloured shrimp. If you can see a cluster of individual eggs held underneath the abdomen, you’re looking at a berried female.

Watch her from the side when she stops to graze. She may fan the eggs with the little swimming limbs beneath her abdomen or shift them around as she moves. You can often see more from that angle than by trying to look down through the lid. A photo through the glass is handy if you want to compare the clutch over time. Give her room to walk away when she’s had enough of the open spot.

If you’re still waiting to see eggs, consider the age and mix of the colony. Young shrimp can be difficult to sex, especially if they arrived together at a similar size. Ask the breeder whether the group includes both sexes and give them time to mature. Look for adults grazing and using the tank normally while you wait.

What to do while she’s carrying eggs

Give the clutch several weeks. The time varies with conditions, including temperature, and you may have missed the day she first started carrying it. Keep the filter running, carry on with your regular water checks and offer the colony its usual food. A berried female may disappear into cover and turn up on the front glass again later. There’s usually no need to move her to a breeder box just to keep track of her.

Sometimes a female loses part or all of a clutch. If the eggs are gone, they may have hatched or been lost, and a quick look at the female won’t tell you which. Look around the moss and wood over the next few days. If several females repeatedly lose clutches, or the adults are behaving unusually, check the water and think through any recent changes. Keep a note of what you saw so you have something concrete to compare with the next clutch.

Where to look for the first shrimplets

Cherry shrimp hatch as small versions of the adults. Look along the edge of a moss patch, under a leaf or where a piece of wood meets the substrate. The first one you see might look like a speck until it takes a few deliberate steps. Look from a low angle when the room is quiet. A phone camera can help you see the outline from outside the glass without disturbing the layout. Study of newly hatched cherry shrimp

You may only see one or two to begin with. Take that as a sighting rather than a count of the brood. Young shrimp spend time among fine plants and other surfaces that are difficult to see into. Leave the cover in place and check the same spot again the next day. When you siphon, watch where the intake is and check the bucket before emptying it.

Help the young shrimp get to food

Keep established grazing surfaces close to where you see the young. If the adults pile onto the usual wafer, try splitting the same modest portion between two visible spots, with one near the edge of cover. Watch both places and check them later for leftovers. Tiny shrimp can benefit from food being nearer without you needing to put more into the tank.

As the young become easier to spot, see how much of the ordinary feed the colony is using before you change the amount. You may find the same portion still works when it’s placed differently. If you do change the food or the portion, do it on a day when you can watch and clear any excess. How to feed a growing shrimp colony