Cherry Shrimp Breeding: How Often Do Cherry Shrimp Breed?

It’s common for aquarium enthusiasts to transform their hobby into a source of income., Analysts have estimated that you can beat a profit margin of 40 percent if you provide intensive care for the shrimps. So, breeding cherry shrimps can yield huge profits over a short period if appropriately practiced.

To commercialize shrimp farming, you should factor in their reproduction rate. So, how often do cherry shrimp breed? Getting the answer is important as it’s a major determinant of how much you’ll make in the long term.

Cherry shrimps breed for varying periods, typically around 3 to 5 months. A few days after they have hatched their eggs, they are ready to breed again. In this article, we’ll discuss cherry shrimp breeding extensively and how to take care of them.

Read along to learn more.

Overview of Cherry shrimp – Characteristics of cherry shrimps

These aquatic animals grow up to 4 centimeters and live for as long as 1-2 years under normal conditions. Cherry shrimps are hardy animals that survive under certain conditions considered extreme for other shrimp types.

However, they prefer water temperatures ranging between 14-30° C. Also, cherry shrimps thrive better in water bodies with pH values of 6.5-8.0. New hatchlings, as well as mature shrimps, like plants around them to hide from larger predators.

Also, they use such plants as covers during molting. Molting is a process of shedding scales. During this period, shrimps are more vulnerable and need plants to hide.

The females have a richer reddish hue and a high sensitivity to the color of the substrate in the aquarium. When kept in tanks with a substrate of a lighter color, their hue gradually fades. Over time, they could become transparent. Darker substrates intensify their color.

Feeding

Cherry shrimps are omnivores. They feed on both marine vegetation and meat. Also, they are scavengers implying that they feed on any edible substance in the aquarium.

Standard foods that cherry shrimps would eat include algae wafers, shrimp pellets, fish pellets, and fish flakes. Common naturally occurring foods that they will eat include plant debris, blanched vegetables, bacteria film, copepods, bloodworms, and plankton.

Ideally, your shrimp feed should have a high protein content. Watch the following video below to learn the best feed for your cherry shrimp:

The frequency of feeding cherry shrimps varies with different shrimp keepers. Moreover, this depends on the setup of the tank. If adequate naturally occurring foods are in the tank, it could be once or twice a week. In other conditions, you could feed them up to five times weekly.

How Often Do Cherry Shrimp Breed?

Shrimps can breed all year round. Once they reach adulthood, the male mates with the female during molting. After fertilizing, the female carries the eggs for about 30 days before hatching. The female can mate right afterward.

During the 30-day period, the female cherry shrimp keeps the eggs oxygenated by fanning them with her tail. These eggs are usually 21 to 50 in number, depending on the size of the shrimp.

Newly hatched cherry shrimps take about 3 to 5 months before they reach adulthood and are ready to reproduce.

Reproduction In Cherry Shrimps

After hatching, cherry shrimps take about 75 days or more before they are mature enough to reproduce. Upon maturity, orange-colored ovaries become visible around the cephalothorax region in females. In males, the appendix masculina develops on the second pleopod.

For reproduction to take place, the female must be molted. Moreover, molting only takes place when the female eggs ripen. Molting is when shrimps shed their exoskeletons for new ones to develop. The cuticle becomes soft during molting, aiding reproduction.

During this period, they secrete hormones into the surrounding hormones. Upon sensing the hormones, male cherry shrimp will have to locate the female shrimp and mate with her. The males search for the molting female shrimp using the smell of the hormone.

When the male and female shrimp meets, they align their bodies to ace each other. At this time, the male uses its appendix masculina to deposit a sperm packet in the female’s genital opening. After this process, the female cherry shrimp moves its eggs from the saddle to the brood pouch.

The female’s eggs come in contact with the sperm cells from the male while passing to the brood pouch. The female will be seen carrying the eggs around the tail region. The number of eggs carried by female shrimps usually falls between 21 to 50. However, this depends on the size of the shrimp, with larger shrimps carrying a larger number of eggs.

Conditions Necessary To Promote Breeding In Cherry Shrimp

• The water temperature must be adequately warm, in case the temperature falls down, you can put some warm water in your fish tank to control the temperature.
• There must be a sufficient supply of food.
• Keep the water conditions stable.
• Ensure that the female shrimp is in good health and comfortable while carrying the eggs.
• Their diets must contain a sufficient amount of protein.

Watch the following video to learn 8 reasons why your cherry shrimp aren’t breeding:

Care Of The Young Cherry Shrimps

Cherry shrimp eggs hatch into smaller shrimps that are typically about 2 millimeters in length. These shrimps are often more delicate than adults and require adequate care. Foremost, you must ensure that there are no pests or threats in the water.

Generally, we advise that you raise your young cherries in a separate jar from other fishes. Below are important factors that you must take into proper consideration for effective care of your young cherry shrimps.

Ideal Water Conditions

Poor water conditions will leave young shrimps feeling exhausted. The table below summarizes the ideal water parameters for newly hatched cherry shrimps:

Temperature	70-75 degrees Fahrenheit
pH value	6.5-7.5
General hardness	6-8 ppm
Carbonate hardness	1-4 ppm
Total dissolved solids	150-250 ppm

Sufficient Plants And Moss

Shrimps (adults and hatchlings alike) are mostly shy animals that like staying in hidden parts of their habitat. Moss is a very significant plant that should be present in the baby shrimp container. It provides them with sufficient cover to stay comfortable and healthy.

Also, young shrimps don’t eat commercial feed. The early stages of these shrimps require biofilm and algae from these plants for nutrition. Also, baby shrimps love grazing on food leftovers that will be sufficient amidst these plants. We highly recommend Java moss for your shrimp aquarium.

The Water Should Be Adequately Filtered

Generally, cherry shrimp have a high sensitivity to ammonia and nitrites. As such, you must put some good filtering plants in the aquarium. However, you must be careful when choosing a filter for an aquarium containing young shrimps.

This is because they are usually too tiny and can be easily sucked into the filter. We recommend sponge filters as they are the safest for your young cherry shrimps.

The video below contains tips on how to care for your cherry shrimp easily:

Can I Breed Cherry Shrimp With Other Aquatic Animals?

If you have limited resources to breed your cherry shrimp in a different container, you can keep them with other peaceful fish. Particularly, we recommend snails as they don’t pose any threat to your cherry shrimp.

Also, snails can help keep your pond clean as they feed on food leftovers at the bottom of the aquarium. Some fishes that will comfortably stay with your cherry shrimp are catfish, plecos, dwarf gouramis, and small tetras.

Predatory fishes you must avoid are discus, arowanas, angel fish, cichlids, and Oscars.

How Do I Differentiate Male Cherry Shrimps From Females?

In adults, it’s quite easy to differentiate male cherry shrimps from females from their appearance. Female cherry shrimps have a darker red color compared to males. But while these shrimps are still a few weeks old, this can be very difficult to tell.

Also, female cherry shrimps have bodies that curve as they continue to grow. Males, on the other hand, a straighter bodies. Also, female cherry shrimps grow faster than males and continue to grow after the males have stopped growing.

Conclusion

How often do cherry shrimp breed? Cherry shrimp are ready to breed a couple of days after they have hatched their young. For newborn cherry shrimp, they take about three to five months before they are mature enough to mate and start reproducing.

Some conditions that promote the breeding of cherry shrimps are adequate food and a stable water temperature. A pH value between 6.5-8.0 is ideal for the health of your shrimp and their young. In addition, ensure that there’s sufficient moss for the young shrimp to feed on.

Lastly, the safest filter plants for your cherry shrimp aquarium are sponges.