# How long to get berried?



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

I've had my CRS for a few weeks now, and they are not berried yet. 

I'm not really freaking out or anything, I just wanted to know how long it took you guys to see it happen. 

And if you can offer tips too that'd be great! =)

My cherry shrimp get berried really quick and often.


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

you need to let them settle in the tank.

- Look for saddles on the backs of females
- a female needs to molt in order to transfer eggs, so they go through cycles (about 30 days a molt)
- otherwise, it just means the time hasn't come yet.


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

If you're impatient, maybe treat them to some "shrimp viagra"? LOL. Seriously, there's such a thing! It's some sort of mineral/ hormonal concoction that's supposed to get crs shrimps "in the mood". It's even been discussed on this forum. Not sure where in the GTA to get it, but you can ask and someone here should know.


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Nah, I'm not in a hurry or anything. 

It just makes me slightly worried because I thought it should happen sooner. Quite alot of them molted when I introduced them into my tank, probably due to the sudden water change. 
Its ok, I'm actually pretty happy when I see no deads in the tank when I look every day. I just hope to see something berried soon!


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Or maybe they're all the same sex? Lol.


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Cypher said:


> Or maybe they're all the same sex? Lol.


I really hope not, but its possible.


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Reminds me of that story about 2 gay penguins in the Boston aquarium. True story!

Regarding your shrimp, I'm just kiddin around! Lol... chillax! How many do you have? Fishlore wisdom says if you buy 6 fish chances are you'll get at least 1 that's a different sex from the rest. How many shrimp do you have? Also, re-read beijing's reply, good way to identify and differentiate female shrimp.


----------



## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

Feed them often and do 15-20% weekly waterchange it really helps the female to mature through proper diet and molting.


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

I should have at least 25 shrimp in there... and some of them are pretty huge, but I still have problems sexing CRS. =x

I'm going to try feeding them fresh veggies. Somehow they like crab cuisine by Hikari over the specialty CRS food... odd...


----------



## mr_bako (Dec 23, 2010)

*berry time!*

in my experience, we usually buy crs when they have no saddles at all. unless the store has kept them for more then 1 month. they come in quite young and take at about a month or so to get saddled once settled it.

i had my shrimp for at least 1-2 months until they berried, and once it starts it doesn't stop unless u mess with the water parameters!
once in a while you can peek really hard and see a saddle growing. and crs saddles do not get as big as cherries in my opinion.



and about crab cuisine, it has more protein in it...that might be why they are attracted to it more!
u should get some borneowild spinach, amazing food.


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Its sooo hard for me to identify the saddles.... its either my inexperienced eye or they really are all male... lol

is borneowild spinach just produce you can get from a supermarket?


----------



## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

I think it's special shrimp food. Was wondering if you knew where to get some Mr. Bako?


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

take a good look at these two photos. I've discovered that she was almost ready to molt a while before I took the picture, but you can't see the saddle until the lighting is at a particular angle, i.e. shining from the side.

you can almost make out the "dark area"










when she bends her back...


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

OH! Duh, the eggs are black so the saddle must be black too. 

That completely skipped my mind when i was looking into the tank. 

This is all really helpful guys, I'm going to post a ton of pics if something gets berried! =)

All the dark lines i'm seeing inside my shrimp might just be poo. >.>


----------



## mr_bako (Dec 23, 2010)

*saddles*

if there is no saddle, what i noticed is that you'll see the poop line from the head to the tail, but if there is a saddle u can only see the poop line from back of the tail usually, give or take a little bit.


----------



## RCode (Dec 12, 2010)

Just be patient.... It took my shrimps about a month or so to get settled. I thought I was doing something wrong, but now they are all getting berried. Everyday I look I notice more are berried. 

Now I have to be patient again and wait for them to have the babies. From what I've found, it can take up to 30 days. Can anyone confirm?

I'll do a 5% water change once a week, and usually to help get any crap floating on the top, and replace with RO. I probably get about 5% evaporation every week as well. 

Other then that lots of plants, keep temp between 21-23 and give them some places to hide, 12-14 hours of light, I feed twice a day, small amounts and usually skip a feeding every other day, and once a week don't feed them. I make sure not to over feed them, but enough small pieces over the tank that no one has to fight over some food.


----------



## archgop (Sep 19, 2010)

Beijing08 said:


> take a good look at these two photos. I've discovered that she was almost ready to molt a while before I took the picture, but you can't see the saddle until the lighting is at a particular angle, i.e. shining from the side.
> 
> you can almost make out the "dark area"
> 
> ...


Great pics! Now I finally understand what "saddle" is.... Almost all of my cherries developed them and I was freaking out! I thought they were getting pale and I could see their insides! LOL


----------



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

My crs that I put in my contest tank jan 1st took a while to get one berried, i thought maybe I had all males because it was a long time, but finally around march 16 one got berried - so it took around 2 1/2 months .. Guess they needed to get settled in the tank
Yesterday she had babies(well one baby was all I could find) but maybe theyre hiding
The saddle on my female crs is really hard to see, she is a very solid white/red, i can only see it when shes at the top of the tank close to the light and i look underneath her as the light shines through her body


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

As promised!


----------



## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

Woohoo! Congrats!!!!


----------



## mr_bako (Dec 23, 2010)

*beautiful site*



laurahmm said:


> Woohoo! Congrats!!!!


highly agree to laura. congrats!

(too bad i cant fix the spelling mistake "sight" instead of "site")


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Ugh Why does my camera keep focusing on everything around the shrimp I want???









MORE MORE!!!


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

*Babies!*

Saw one of my berried CRS no longer had eggs anymore, and I searched frantically yesterday for them and couldnt find them.

Well, i guess they are just masters of camouflage (except in this case), because I just found them! 

Good thing they were on the sponge or else I wouldnt have seen them at all.

Spot the babies!









These buggers are so hard to take a picture of.


----------



## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

Congrats!


----------



## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Holy crap, is love in the air?
I now have 8 berried CRS, do they just all breed at one time?

How many babies will I be expecting in a month? lol


----------



## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

8x30 Expect 240+ babies


----------



## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Congrats Angie.

All it takes is a little patients.
For a higher survival rate of babies make sure to feed a baby food like shirakura every 2 days, and give them indian almond leaves which they love on climb on.

Keep water changes as less and small as possible as they are extremely sensitive to parameter changes in the first 2 weeks. Goodluck! And pretty soon you'll be ready for selective breeding.


----------

