Caprichoso Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 Ok, I have to ask this as I absolutely cannot find the info anywhere online. I recently got a whole lotta shrimpies and they have some odd behaviour. Please tell me what this is all about...y'know, if it's the "birds and bee's" kinda thing.... Random male shrimps jump on the back of another shrimp (female AND male)...and just holds on for almost a minute. While holding on, the male shrimp on top taps the other shrimps head with it's front feet. Sometimes the bottom shrimp just starts walking around, la di dah, like all is normal AND the best yet (couldn't take a pic fast enough), was a THIRD shrimp got on top of the second shrimp which was in top of the first shrimp.... and the bottom one was just walking around! With 2 shrimps on it's back! I've heard of shrimp mating with the male UNDER the female but this? Well, I just don't know. When I first saw this, I thought they were attacking and trying to kill eachother but they eventually let go and go about their merry way and no one is harmed. Ok, you can laugh know...but seriously, I don't know if this is bow chicka wow wow or some kind of other issue or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 Yes. It's the "bow chicka wow wow" thing: freshwater shrimp reproduction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I've witnessed mating a couple of times and it's always belly to belly. So I don't think riding on the back would be doing the deed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted March 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 Hmmmm, has anyone else witnessed this behaviour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I've seen my shrimp riding on top of each other but didn't pay much attention to what he was doing up there. I've seen them ride each other, the snails and even perched on top of the BN pleco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I would assume they are cleaning each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted April 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I think I might know one of the reasons for this behaviour now. I've discovered that they ride around on each other a lot more at feeding time. Sometimes if one shrimp detects that another one has food, it will jump on top of the other shrimp's back and try to steal it away. If it can't get the food, it just stays on the shrimp for awhile, grabbing little particles off the face of the shrimp that has the food. Since we started our shrimp breeding tanks, I've spent a lot of time watching them and I find them to be totally fascinating little creatures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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