How does one tell if cherry shrimps are pregnant?

[riccia]

Can cherries expert here advice me if the shrimp in the picture is pregnant? I apologized for the low quality picture cos taken by my mobile phone.

[gummynut]

hi riccia,

your picture is very blur. so it is hard to tell. anyway, if it is pregnant, you will be able to see an obvious cluster of yellowish eggs under the body, protected by the 'swimmerettes' (hope the spelling is right). These are the small legs that help the shrimp in swimming.

[fisherw]

riccia

It starts with a yellow (sometimes green) patch just behind the head where the ovaries are. It looks like a small saddle (like for riding on a horse) and is (often) called that. After some weeks (about 3 weeks for my cherries), a male will fertilise the female. I have never witnessed this but there are pictures on a few shrimp sites. Then the eggs travel down to the belly area under the swimmerettes. After about another 2 to 3 weeks, little shrimplets are hatched. I managed to see one such hatching. Rather interesting. The shrimplet seem to spring towards the back of the female. Rather hard to spot since they are tiny and colourless.

If you have a number of mature females, they don't seem to stop once they start.

[luenny]

Don't look like she is carrying eggs yet but she might be well on her way with the yellow patch on the back.

[riccia]

thanks to gummynut, fisherw & luenny

i will take a good look at the shrimps tonight based on what i have learned from you guys here. i will try to post a clearer picture again.

[Suhsia]

Wow you guys are all experts in this area. Thanks for all the additional info. Hope to witness the hatching soon....