Archive for October, 2007
On October 22 the larva morphed into their adult form. That was a little under a week of larval stage. Now that they have morphed they are now kept in a 2.5-gallon aquarium to establish a breeding population.
Observations:
- The larva seemed to eat from the water column as well as from the surface and bottom of their container.
- The head down floating larva were attracted to light.
- After morphing to adult for the young shrimp actively swam in the water column for 2-3 days.
- The aggressive feeding response that adults display has not yet developed.
Here is a picture of the young shrimp. 4 days after metamorphosis.
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The first larvas have been found in the American Glass Shrimp aquarium. I was able to separate a few from the main tank into their own dedicated rearing container. They will be kept in a small container and fed powdered Spirulina and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs until they morph into an adult form.
Once they have morphed they will be kept in an aquarium dedicated to captive raised American Glass Shrimp. These shrimp will only be allowed to breed with other captive raised shrimp. This should increase the hardiness of this species and greatly reduce the extremely high mortality rate experienced with this species.
This is a picture of a day old larva. I will attempt to keep updating photos as the shrimp grow and metamorphose into other forms.
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I am often asked if snails should be kept in the dwarf shrimp aquarium. The short of the answer is yes! I almost all of my shrimp tanks I have Red Ramshorn Snails and Malaysian Trumpet Snails. And many of my aquariums also have the common pond snail that have found their way in and established a population.
So why would you want snails in your dwarf shrimp aquarium? Well, they are great scavengers. They help keep the aquarium clean by devouring any uneaten food. The snails that I mentioned will not eat baby shrimp and most times do not harm plants. There are no down sides to these species, that is, if you don’t mind their appearance.
Some hobbyists are even selectively breeding the Red Ramshorn Snail for color. They have bred bright red, pink, and even a gorgeous blue. These snails tend to be quite expensive, but are easy to breed and a sustainable population will be reached quickly.
So if you do not mind the appearance of snails in an aquarium, they are quite beneficial and I recommend them whole heartedly, as long as you pick shrimp safe species!
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Breeding behavior observed.
Today I observed the male Cherry Shrimp swimming franticly around the aquarium that he is housed in with a female wild type Neocaridina heteropoda. He was also observed hanging out with and rubbing against the female. This is typical of behavior displayed before this species of shrimp breed.
This pair of shrimp has been together since the 19th, so a little over 10 days.
Here is a picture of the pair.
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The American Glass Shrimp is the most common dwarf shrimp in the aquarium hobby. It is most often sold at local fish stores as a feeder shrimp and because of its feeder status it is often mistreated. The poor shipping methods used when dealing with feeder shrimp and over crowded holding aquariums often lead this shrimp to have a short lifespan in the home aquarium.
TheShrimpFarm.com has started a breeding program in hopes of providing a steady source of captive raised Palaemonetes paludosus. This shrimp is one of the more active shrimp found in the aquarium hobby and is a great shrimp to keep in a non-aggressive community tank as part of a clean up crew.
The goals of TheShrimpFarm.com are to be able to provide a healthy source of this shrimp at an affordable and competitive price. While captive raised shrimp will always cost more than the feeder shrimp found at local fish stores, the captive raised shrimp will live much longer and will be a much healthier addition to the home aquarium.
To learn more about the American Glass Shrimp please visit our species profile on this shrimp. (or click on the name)
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