# How long is shrimp pregnancy?



## GeToChKn

As of right now my shrimp haven't bred yet but they've been moved around a lot, and some of them I just got and setup into a new tank but I'll share what I know anyways.

1) It can happen anytime once they are comfortable in the tank and the water parameters are right for that species of shrimp, ie, crystal shrimp, while can live in most ph, gh range, will do better, breed better, faster and more healthy babies in a ph in the 6.2-6.8 range.

2) A female shrimp will usually molt and then start to get a saddle on her back, right where a horse saddle would be, usually a little clump of yellow eggs. These are eggs in the ovaries waiting to be fertilized. Once she releases the hormones in the water, you will notice the males going nuts all over the tank, swimming up and down and never sitting still for 2 seconds. That's him responding to the hormones and he will try and find that female and mate with her. Once they do, the egg's from the saddle will pass down to the bottom of the shrimp where she will carry them will her little swimeret legs and that is called berried as the shrimp will look like its holding a small clutch of berries underneath it.

3) It usually lasts I think 30-40 days once the berries are there.

4) I think they can usually get pregnant again about another 30 days afterwards from giving birth, and maybe some sooner as I've seen photos of shrimp that are both saddled and berried at the same time.



What kind of shrimp do you have, what size tank, how long have you had them, water parameters, etc.


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## dhgyello04

Hello,
I can’t find the site, but here it goes…

I read somewhere that from hatching to sexually mature to mate is about 40 to 45 days. The gestation period of the eggs is about 20 to 25 days. This information will vary based on the species of shrimp. I hope I am right… give or take 3-5 days.

-Don


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## jasonpatterson

These shrimp don't really give birth in the sense that your questions imply. They still lay eggs, but they carry the eggs with them. Some species of shrimp have eggs that hatch into shrimplets that are the same form as the adult (this form of the shrimp is called benthic, meaning bottom dwelling, and this type of shrimp is called a high order breeder) while others have eggs that hatch into larvae that have to molt one or more times before they change into their benthic form (the form of hatchling from these eggs is called planktonic, meaning free swimming, and the type of shrimp is called a low order breeder.)

The survival of the hatchlings depends almost entirely on tank parameters and the species of shrimp in question. If you have something like red cherry shrimp then a sizeable fraction of the hatchlings make it to adulthood in most any tank. If you have something like crystal red shrimp, far fewer of the hatchlings survive and the shrimp both young and old don't do particularly well outside of their preferred water conditions. If you have something like orange sunkist shrimp you pretty much resign yourself to the fact that the larvae are going to die because they require a brackish phase in their development and it's apparently quite tricky to get right.

It depends on the species and the tank parameters, of course, but once the shrimp are settled in, and assuming that you have a mix of males and females in the tank...

1. A female showing a saddle (cream colored, usually, internal blob extending for a substantial part of the body) usually produces eggs within a month. If no females have saddles, it could be another month before one shows up. It lays its eggs on its pleopods (flippers under the tail) and you can see them hanging there.

2. Pretty much normal, plus cleaning the eggs or bending its tail around a bit and fanning its pleopods.

3. 3 weeks or so, depending on temperature.

4. It really depends on the species, but for most common types, it's roughly a 2.5-4 month cycle. The young of most of the common types of shrimp can start having offspring after a couple of months of growth.

Note: In my mind, common shrimp are the neocaridina (red cherry, yellow, blue pearl) and more common caridina species (crystal red, crystal black, various tigers.)


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## johnny313

nicely written jason!


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## flip9

What does it mean when a Cherry shrimp leaves its eggs on the substrate? Is it discarding it?


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## GeToChKn

flip9 said:


> What does it mean when a Cherry shrimp leaves its eggs on the substrate? Is it discarding it?
> 
> I managed to catch a glimpse of it and took a photo of it here


Yup, for some reason she didn't want to hatch those eggs. With cherries they will basically hold the eggs until they are ready to hatch and then as they hatch, fan them out from their body. You may be able to leave them and they will hatch still, I'm not sure. There was someone on here who was able to harvest some eggs from a dead shrimp and hatch them in a breeder box.


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## Jadelin

flip9 said:


> What does it mean when a Cherry shrimp leaves its eggs on the substrate? Is it discarding it?
> 
> I managed to catch a glimpse of it and took a photo of it here


When I first got my cherries they dropped their first couple batches of eggs. I think sometimes they will do that when they are still young and not really ready for motherhood. Also they will drop eggs if the conditions aren't to their liking.


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## johnny313

this also applies to fish. young fish will try a few times before they hatch


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## jasonpatterson

flip9 said:


> What does it mean when a Cherry shrimp leaves its eggs on the substrate? Is it discarding it?
> 
> I managed to catch a glimpse of it and took a photo of it here


Apparently you can sometimes get them to hatch if you gently remove them from the tank and put them in the back of a HOB filter. The water movement is enough to keep them from getting fungus and keep them well aerated, and when they hatch they wind up picking gunk off of the filter. I've never done this, but I believe people on the forum have with some success. With red cherry shrimp though, you're not really missing out much if you lose one set of eggs. Unless that is the only female you have you'll be getting a zillion more soon.


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## gowfan05

GeToChKn said:


> As of right now my shrimp haven't bred yet but they've been moved around a lot, and some of them I just got and setup into a new tank but I'll share what I know anyways.
> 
> 1) It can happen anytime once they are comfortable in the tank and the water parameters are right for that species of shrimp, ie, crystal shrimp, while can live in most ph, gh range, will do better, breed better, faster and more healthy babies in a ph in the 6.2-6.8 range.
> 
> 2) A female shrimp will usually molt and then start to get a saddle on her back, right where a horse saddle would be, usually a little clump of yellow eggs. These are eggs in the ovaries waiting to be fertilized. Once she releases the hormones in the water, you will notice the males going nuts all over the tank, swimming up and down and never sitting still for 2 seconds. That's him responding to the hormones and he will try and find that female and mate with her. Once they do, the egg's from the saddle will pass down to the bottom of the shrimp where she will carry them will her little swimeret legs and that is called berried as the shrimp will look like its holding a small clutch of berries underneath it.
> 
> 3) It usually lasts I think 30-40 days once the berries are there.
> 
> 4) I think they can usually get pregnant again about another 30 days afterwards from giving birth, and maybe some sooner as I've seen photos of shrimp that are both saddled and berried at the same time.
> 
> 
> 
> What kind of shrimp do you have, what size tank, how long have you had them, water parameters, etc.


 
I currently have:
- OEBTs in 6.6g tank with water parameters of Ph: 6.4, NH3/NH4: 0ppm, NO2: 0ppm, and NO3: 5.0ppm. Also Temp ~75F

- (2)CRS/ Fire reds in a 6.6g tank with water parameters Ph: 6.0, NH3/NH4: 1.5ppm, NO2: 0ppm, and NO3: 40ppm. also Temp ~74-76F


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## GeToChKn

Everything looks good, the tigers will do good in the 6.4 pH. Just give them time to settle in and feel safe and like the water and nature should takes it course sooner or later.


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## gowfan05

GeToChKn said:


> Everything looks good, the tigers will do good in the 6.4 pH. Just give them time to settle in and feel safe and like the water and nature should takes it course sooner or later.


Thank you! I really hope I can get my oebts to breed and then have a zillion of them.


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## GeToChKn

gowfan05 said:


> Thank you! I really hope I can get my oebts to breed and then have a zillion of them.


Waiting on my crystals and tigers well, but I just got them, so its taken a bit to get the water down to the right pH and get them settled into their new tank.

My other tank, about half of my cherries are saddled so hopefully they are going to get it on soon. lol.


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## 10galfornow

my one amano i had lost her eggs one day, and the next day she was fully berried again, they are some weird shrimp...:confused1:


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## Zack

Pregnancy time depends on your water temperature.
at 26degrees, it takes roughly 24days 
at 23degrees, i takes roughly 28days

There is a table for the temperature VS pregancy time. 
hope that helps.

anything you can google and i believe you can find the table.


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## Bahugo

GeToChKn said:


> 2) A female shrimp will usually molt and then start to get a saddle on her back, right where a horse saddle would be, usually a little clump of yellow eggs. These are eggs in the ovaries waiting to be fertilized. Once she releases the hormones in the water, you will notice the males going nuts all over the tank, swimming up and down and never sitting still for 2 seconds. That's him responding to the hormones and he will try and find that female and mate with her. Once they do, the egg's from the saddle will pass down to the bottom of the shrimp where she will carry them will her little swimeret legs and that is called berried as the shrimp will look like its holding a small clutch of berries underneath it.
> 
> 4) I think they can usually get pregnant again about another 30 days afterwards from giving birth, and maybe some sooner as I've seen photos of shrimp that are both saddled and berried at the same time.


2) The female will become saddled first, Molt, then directly after the molt the male will fertilize the female. 

4) Shrimp can reberry almost immediately after giving birth, some people have had reberried shrimp 72~ hours later after the birth of a clutch. 



dhgyello04 said:


> Hello,
> I can’t find the site, but here it goes…
> 
> I read somewhere that from hatching to sexually mature to mate is about 40 to 45 days. The gestation period of the eggs is about 20 to 25 days. This information will vary based on the species of shrimp. I hope I am right… give or take 3-5 days.
> 
> -Don


Are you referring to this? 

*Blue Pearl Shrimp, Snowball Shrimp, Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis*
Birth to Berry: 40-45 Days
Gestation: 18-22 Days

*Red Cherry Shrimp, Yellow Shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda*
Birth to Berry: 40-45 Days
Gestation: 18-22 Days

*Tiger Shrimp, Blue Tiger Shrimp*
Birth to Berry: 42-50 Days
Gestation: 20-25 Days

*Crystal Red Shrimp, Bee Shrimp, Golden Bee Shrimp*
Birth to Berry: 42-50 Days
Gestation: 20-25 Days

Taken from Here



flip9 said:


> What does it mean when a Cherry shrimp leaves its eggs on the substrate? Is it discarding it?
> 
> I managed to catch a glimpse of it and took a photo of it here


Alot of first time mothers can drop their eggs since they lack the know how to properly fan their eggs. Generally speaking the 2nd time will be much better and so on. If it is a fully mature female that has had babies before generally they release eggs because of stress (water parameters, etc)


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## Bandit1200

*my $.o2*

You can reduce the time between broods some by feeding a high protein food. They use the extra to produce the eggs, similar to a female mosquito sucking blood to produce her eggs.


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## Betta Maniac

Watching a berried shrimp is like watching a pot boil.


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## jacci

Went to clean my tank yest and noticed 3 baby shrimps wow hope they will be ok spending all there time hiding in foliage soo tiny


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