Hi everyone! I'm curious about my coral banded shrimp...
Due to an error in shipping I ended up with 2 coral banded shrimp. I know they do not get along and I figured I would have to take one to my LFS but in the mean time I threw them on opposite ends of the tank and crossed my fingers.
Lo and behold they are best friends and always stay within antennae distance of each other, usually touching or standing back to back guarding each entrance of a tunnel. I've even caught them spooning a few times :smileykiss2:(the first time I panicked that the "big spoon" was devouring the "little spoon" tail first!:rotflmao:)
So here's my question-could they possibly be a mated pair? My research (which involves googling "how to sex coral banded shrimp":read:) has shown that having blue on their belly (ovaries) is a good indicator of a female, males are smaller and have more slender bodies, and one site even mentioned blue dots below the big claws of females. I also found that mating generally occurs within 24 hours of molting-does this mean they wouldn't pair until they molted?
Both of my cbs have blue bellies. One is considerably larger than the other but they have very similar "girth". No blue dots on claws of either. The one big difference I noticed is that the larger one has 2 bands on each big claw that appear blue-ish at the center of the band. Has anyone seen this before? Could it be a sexually dimorphic characteristic?
Also, the smaller one seems to constantly be "dancing"-moving left and right-while the larger one does not move much and tends to move in a given direction when it does. Could this be a mating dance or a male protecting his female?
They've been in the tank together for 3 weeks now and I first noticed them hanging out together less than 24 hours after adding them to the tank. They both molted at the same time almost exactly 2 weeks later.
Last question-should I worry about my cbs suddenly turning on each other or if they've been friendly for several weeks should that relationship continue to be peaceful? :help:
Not the greatest pics in the world but they were the ones that show the coloration of each the best. In each pic the smaller cbs is on the left and the larger one is on the right. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide me!
Due to an error in shipping I ended up with 2 coral banded shrimp. I know they do not get along and I figured I would have to take one to my LFS but in the mean time I threw them on opposite ends of the tank and crossed my fingers.
Lo and behold they are best friends and always stay within antennae distance of each other, usually touching or standing back to back guarding each entrance of a tunnel. I've even caught them spooning a few times :smileykiss2:(the first time I panicked that the "big spoon" was devouring the "little spoon" tail first!:rotflmao:)
So here's my question-could they possibly be a mated pair? My research (which involves googling "how to sex coral banded shrimp":read:) has shown that having blue on their belly (ovaries) is a good indicator of a female, males are smaller and have more slender bodies, and one site even mentioned blue dots below the big claws of females. I also found that mating generally occurs within 24 hours of molting-does this mean they wouldn't pair until they molted?
Both of my cbs have blue bellies. One is considerably larger than the other but they have very similar "girth". No blue dots on claws of either. The one big difference I noticed is that the larger one has 2 bands on each big claw that appear blue-ish at the center of the band. Has anyone seen this before? Could it be a sexually dimorphic characteristic?
Also, the smaller one seems to constantly be "dancing"-moving left and right-while the larger one does not move much and tends to move in a given direction when it does. Could this be a mating dance or a male protecting his female?
They've been in the tank together for 3 weeks now and I first noticed them hanging out together less than 24 hours after adding them to the tank. They both molted at the same time almost exactly 2 weeks later.
Last question-should I worry about my cbs suddenly turning on each other or if they've been friendly for several weeks should that relationship continue to be peaceful? :help:
Not the greatest pics in the world but they were the ones that show the coloration of each the best. In each pic the smaller cbs is on the left and the larger one is on the right. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide me!
