Breeding Amano Shrimp Journal – Day 1

Day 1 - 8/22/08

Today I observed a berried Amano Shrimp.  The berried female is about average size for the females in my aquarium.  Her eggs are extremely small, almost see threw with a slight tan tint.

After first observation I started to prepare an isolation aquarium for her.  I selected an old 2-gallon aquarium that I bought on clearance a few months back.

I then put some fast growing floating plants and an air stone in the aquarium and transferred water and the berried shrimp from its original aquarium.

This aquarium will also be used for the larval stage and will eventually be converted to full salt water after the eggs hatch and the female is transferred back to original aquarium.

After the transfer of the berried female I started a green water culture.  I put full strength saltwater into 2 separate mason jars.  I then added some plant fertilizers to the water to encourage algae growth.  The mason jars are set out side with an upside down aquarium above them to keep rain water out.

The rains from Hurricane Fay are still hammering Florida, so I don’t expect the green water to grow rapidly and that is why I set it up so early.

Stay tuned for more updates

Helpful Resources:

• Breeding Amano Shrimp Journal
• Amano Shrimp

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Caridina sp. (update #2)

It has been almost 2 months since I received this species of shrimp from a member of one of the forums I participate in. After quite a bit of observation and a few comments from knowledgeable shrimp keepers I believe they are Malaya Shrimp (Caridina sp.).

I am not 100% positive of this identification because I have not had a berried female. The Malaya Shrimp has a short larval stage, and is the major factor I have not been able to test out yet!

I am afraid that I will not be able to test that theory out either. It looks like the one shrimp I thought could be a male is developing to be female:

It is hard to see, but it looks like there is a saddle beginning to form.

Well, I guess I will have to wait and see. If this shrimp turns out to be a female I am not sure what I am going to do with these shrimp. I don’t want to mix them with confirmed Malaya Shrimp because I am not sure that they are Malaya Shrimp.

I will update as soon as any progress is noted.

Helpful Resources

• Caridina sp. Update
• New Shrimp (Caridina sp. ?)
• New Shrimp (Caridina sp. ?) New Pictures

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water (update #3)

I have found another berried female in my soft water aquarium! That makes a total of 3 females that are now berried!

This female is the smallest of the 3, but it looks like she is carrying close to the same amount of eggs as the other females.

There are still no berried females in the hard water aquarium, and they seem to be just a little bit smaller (I have not taken them out to measure them!)

Helpful Resources:

• Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water (update #2)
• Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water (update #1)
• Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water
• Tiger Shrimp

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water (Update #2)

First Results

I set up this experiment on June 20th and I have my first results.

My first female Tiger Shrimp have become berried! There are two berried females in the soft water aquarium.

The aquarium parameters are as follows:
Temp:  74.8
pH:       6.4
TDS:     112 ppm

These shrimp appear to be growing just a little bit faster than the shrimp in the hard water, but it seems to be by a slight margin. There is no sign of breeding activity in the hard water aquarium as of yet.

There have been no losses of Tiger Shrimp to this point.

One observation that was unexpected is in the soft water aquarium. One of the Tiger Shrimp has developed an interesting color pattern. Similar to the shrimp that are being called Red Tiger Shrimp.

Helpful Resources:

• Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water (update #1)
• Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water
• Tiger Shrimp

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program (update #5)

After observing my 2 100% captive raised berried females for a while now I have decided to move them to their own aquarium in preparation for the larval hatch.

The females were first observed to be berried on June 24th and I plan on keeping a close eye on these females so I can give a rough estimate of gestation time. It looks like eyes are starting to become visible in the eggs so it shouldn’t be to long before they hatch.

Helpful Resources

• American Glass Shrimp
• American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program
• American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program (update #1)
• American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program (update #2)
• American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program (update #3)
• American Glass Shrimp Breeding Program (update #4)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!