must be spring the riffles are berried

[Paul Minett 93]

Since the warmer weather the riffles are in gear and starting to breed.

[Disciple 1,003]

Cool man

[Grubs 215]

great news.  I've been trying to breed my riffles for a couple of years.  last year only 2 (of 10) got berried and I didn't get any larvae - havn't seen a berry since!  Wishing you luck with bubbas.

[Paul Minett 93]

Grubs if you can raise the temp for a day or two to around 30 I have about 10 berried girls had a few very hot days a couple of weeks ago where the temp in the tank hit 30 after each of the hot days I would find a few more berried girls they seem to like the high temps. I had the same thing as you last year very few girls berry still have the same in another chilled tank no berried girls.

so worth a try if you want some berried girls.

 

[inverted 218]

Do the babies make it through to adulthood?

[Paul Minett 93]

had a couple last year but they are in different tanks this time so will see in a few weeks how it goes

 

[Grubs 215]

Nice advice re:temps Paul thanks  My tank room is warmer now and I have one berried but will drop in a heater and see what eventuates.

[Grubs 215]

I've got 3 berried now.  Feeding paramecium (you can see the "trails" in the pics).  Have begun a daily watch for larval release as I'm fairly confident these will need transfer to salt to develop.

 

[fishmosy 995]

Nice work. I agree that they will likely need salt water to develop. The eggs look quite small, amongst the smallest that I've seen on riffles.  

[Grubs 215]

I thought I might have missed the big release but the shrimp pictured in my previous post ^ Nov 14th are still carrying the eggs (that look to be well matured).  I cant make out the detail in the eggs (phone camera) so cant tell what the pale parts vs the dark brown parts are.  I'm still hoping to harvest and raise a bunch in salty water but that assumes my tank inspections coincide with egg release!  I was surprised they take so long to mature.

 

Pale flecks could be eggs that didn't fertilise but I would have expected them to break down or fall off.

[Grubs 215]

I've been checking the tank by torch light every couple of nights since November -  what a waste of time lol!

[Paul Minett 93]

yeah some seem to take forever to drop good luck with it

 

[Grubs 215]

 

Finally!  I've harvested them to a coffee jar and have started raising the salinity by adding 20ppt salty green water.

[Crittski 1]

Thats cool!!  Good luck!!

[inverted 218]

Awesome ..... I wouldn't mind a lesson in raising the salinity with salty green water?

Whats the method?

And how long do you think they need in that before they can go back to fresh water?

Edited March 10, 2016 by inverted

[Grubs 215]

Well last night they went off with a bang.  During the day I did a 1/3 water change (rainwater + DIY GH booster) and I also noticed the sponge filter was running slowly so I upped the air and therefore the flow in the tank.   This seems to have simulated  a rainstorm event resulting in significantly more larval release.

 

So I siphoned them out into a 50µm sieve and then into a moccona coffee jar with some of the tank water.  Over the next few days I slowly add salty greenwater culture a little at a time.

For DAS I increase the salinity to ~20 ppt.  It takes about 1 month for them to metamorphose into post-larval juveniles.

For Riffles its an unknown quantity - lots of people report breeding big egged Riffles without salt in the tank with the parents.  I've not been successful over a couple of years and the literature says they need estuarine conditions.  My shrimp from livefish.com.au originally may have come from locations closer to salt water than some other peoples shrimp.  So I'm trying some salt at a number of concentrations. I will split them over multiple coffee jars with different salinities and hope one is successful.

 

The black sticks are irrigation risers connected to air lines as a convenient way to put a few bubbles into the jars.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Grubs

[waffle 150]

Any progress updates @Paul Minett and @Grubs?

[Paul Minett 93]

with mine as I always have a few survive each drop not many but enough to keep the population growing. mine are just left in the tank to survive if they can had a few of the dae make it as well.

[Santa 5]

Ohh congratulations!

I noticed you mentioned feeding paramecium to your rifles, would you know of where I might get a starter culture?

[Grubs 215]

no luck with mine.  The larvae lasted longest in 15-20ppt salt water but the food (algae) clearly wasn't right.  I have more berried so should get another go at it.

[waffle 150]

Hmm @Paul Minett I wonder if over many generations the success rate will increase? If you end up with riffles that breed better in fresh water then it would be very cool

@Grubs good luck on the next round!!!

[Paul Minett 93]

possibly some of mine have come from places a long way from any salt water maybe that has helped.