Are these really "yellow shrimp"...

[telephasic]

Back in march, I purchased a group of "yellow shrimp" from the LFS. As I had good luck with breeding cherries in the past, I assumed they would be fecund for me as well. However, I've yet to see any shrimplets. Indeed, I've never even seen one saddled, let alone berried. This confuses me, as the water parameters are just fine.

Are there yellow shrimp in the hobby besides Neocaridina heteropoda (var. Yellow)? I'm wondering if I actually have a shrimp which needs brackish water to breed (much like the "orange shrimp" that were the rage a few years ago). Alternately, I wonder if by the luck of the draw I got all males - although some are huge even by female cherry standards (almost as big as a male Amano).

Anyway, I'm really bad at taking macro shots, but here are a few that turned out okay. Thoughts?

[Cardinal Tetra]

Yup those are yellow shrimp. All of those pictures look like male shrimp. Do you have any females at all? If not then that's your problem and probably not your parameters.

[vca2004]

Yes, definitely Neocaridina heteropoda 'Yellow'. And there are no other yellow freshwater shrimp in the hobby unless you are one of the first to have a very new and rare species .

Females are usually more intensly colored than males and as you know larger. The big ones that you have should therefore be females. I also think the first picture shows a female.

Anyways, they should breed about as easy as RCS but might still be too young . They reach sexual maturity by about 5 months of age. Or maybe some of your water parameters are way off (Nitrates, Iron, etc). Also, do you keep these with any other shrimp species in the same tank?

[telephasic]

As to the tank, it's a 40 high. The only tankmates right now are four apple snails, eight Sulawesi snails (four each of two different species), and a buttload of Malaysian trumpet snails. Typically feed a few algae wafers to the tank every other day.

I admittedly do fairly infrequent water changes, but possibly as a result of low stocking and the copious duckweed growth I scrape off the top every two weeks, nitrates always measure zero. Not sure on trace elements. I don't use ferts for the tank. I tend to top off with RO/DI since the tank is in the basement near my frag tank, so if anything, I'd guess the tank has lower values than my planted tanks have.

[Primetime Rob]

Yup, the first pic is female. You'll be fine. What's your temp? Raising it to 77-80 might help.

[Cardinal Tetra]

The first one does not look like a mature female. The antennae are too long and the tail isn't shaped right. Yellow shrimp mature pretty quickly (2-3 months). Even if your water parameters were bad and they dropped their eggs, you would have still seen some with saddles. You should try the swap and shop, or aquabid for some more and yes yellow shrimp are really easy to breed.

[vca2004]

I didn't know that the shape of the antenna had anything to do with this .

Here is a good link so you can look at what you've got at home yourself...
You can click on the pictures (top left, right) to magnify them.
http://www.crystalred.de/vermehrung.htm

[Dwarfpufferfish]

I have never used antenna as a sexual identifier in Neocaridina shrimp.

They are Yellow Shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda) and yes, they are easy to care for and easy to breed!

[Cardinal Tetra]

http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=13

*atennules

I've found that it pretty much applies for neocaridina too.

[Hobbes1911]

Question about snowball shrimp: Mine have been saddled for weeks now but are not becoming berried. I recently moved them to another tank, which I hoped would entice them to breed. I also threw some yellow shrimp into the same tank to see if those would breed, and yes they do. What am I doing wrong? pH is 7.6 temp is 73, and the other tank that they were moved from had 76 (where the yellow shrimp are happy to breed).

How do I make the snowballs to breed?

[vca2004]

Originally Posted by Cardinal Tetra

http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=13

*atennules

I've found that it pretty much applies for neocaridina too.

I've asked around another huge shrimp forum in Germany (www.garnelenforum.de) and searched the net for scientific papers about this - nothing. Nobody thinks this is true. Just because Silane suspects something like that, doesn't make it a fact .

[Dwarfpufferfish]

*antennules = A small antenna or similar organ, especially one of the first pair of small antennae on the head of a crustacean.

I know what antennules are, they are in fact a pair of antenna!

And I have been keeping, breeding, and researching Dwarf Shrimp for many years and have never used antenna as a method to differentiate between male and female in any Neocaridina and have only used Saline's thoughts on Bee/CRS as a possible identifier, not as concrete proof.

This is not the first shrimp I have ever looked at!

Also you spelled it wrong!

Originally Posted by Cardinal Tetra

http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=13

*atennules

I've found that it pretty much applies for neocaridina too.

[DarrylR]

I would say it is a female, it is larger body than any males even full grown. A wider body, and more color. As for saddle, I would say this female shred her shell recently and has yet to develop it yet.