Male Red Cherry shrimp grows smaller (2.5cm) than the female (3.5cm). Males are pale and transparent with very little red/brown, while females are deep red (light red when juvenile).Females produce approx. 20 eggs (yellow/orange colored) that they carry for about 3-4 weeks On the photo above one can see the yellowish saddle where the eggs form before being dropped onto the pleopods). The hatchlings are fully formed miniature shrimps (link to baby shrimp video). They don't go through larval stages. This shrimp does extremely well in waters in within alkaline pH range and moderate hardness.
For some reason young females release their first eggs after 1-2 days (photo above), but the next batches are carried till the eggs hatch. Click on the next link to see the shrimplets video;http://aquavideos.blogspot.com/2006/11/red-cherry-shrimplets.html
Photos and videos by Dusko Bojic
