# Sexing Amano Shrimps



## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

Do you mind if I ask why? It's madddd hard to breed them since they need brackish water


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## jlieu (Jun 7, 2012)

Bananariot said:


> Do you mind if I ask why? It's madddd hard to breed them since they need brackish water


Yeah I know that. No intention of that.

I was just curious and wanted to know. No real purpose other than that, lol. Bad to ask?


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

No not at all. I encourage curiosity. I don't know how to sex them either lol


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## jlieu (Jun 7, 2012)

Bananariot said:


> No not at all. I encourage curiosity. I don't know how to sex them either lol


Haha, I do not think many do. Best I could find was "easiest way to determine sex is by lower stripe on sides" with no mentioning of any of the other (more difficult) methods. 

Though, my oldest daughter do have a tendency to 'name' all of our pets but she is visiting gma for the summer. So figured I'd solve two things by trying to figure out the gender of our critters. Of course, I am sure the names will be something like 'Shrimpy', 'Stripey', and 'Dots'.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I have no idea how to sex them other than when the females are full of eggs, but in regards to the faint vs. bold colors, I think that may be a matter of age. I ordered 200 amano shrimp from my LFS a few months back and what I got were smaller and more faint that what I was used to. However, they have developed into larger shrimp with bolder markings just like my others. So based on that, I'm thinking the faint markings may be a sign of younger age.


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## jlieu (Jun 7, 2012)

200? Nice! Clearly, I need more (and bigger) tanks! :icon_mrgr

Interesting observation. That may be the case. It was just a big contrast when I finally give him home and set him free. Thanks again Vicki!


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I love amanos (obviously!). I like to have 100 or so in each of my 90g and 75g tanks. Over the years, I lost some to jumping out of the tank (no, that's not a bigger tank on the other side!), climbing into the filtration (some make it, some don't), going down the drain (why do they cling to plants when I'm trimming?), among other things. So after 5 years, I wanted to bring my stocks back up. Plus, you can get a good price discount buying them in large quantities like that.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

If I were forced to guess, I'd say 1 and 3 are males and 2 is a female. 2 has what might be a small saddle, the other two have no visible ovaries. It's possible 1 would, under different lighting. The biggest indicator for me in an adult shrimp is size; females are almost twice as big as males when full grown.


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## Kunsthure (Aug 2, 2010)

I'm going to say #2 is a female because that really looks like a saddle. Otherwise I can't sex them. 

-Lisa


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