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Am I missing any info for breeding Amano Shrimp?


Zoidburg

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This is a bit of a condensed version of several articles and videos below. Just wondering if there may be any additional info that may be beneficial on this journey. I have two berried females, the first one which already hatched out a handful of zoes? (didn't find hundreds of babies... only what could maybe be counted on one hand... only fish are kuhli loaches) Grabbed them last night and transferred to saltwater, this morning the female is already berried again. (can't seem to find a molt, so a little surprised there...) Second should be hatching in about two weeks, and hopefully there will be more.

 

~5 weeks from berried to hatch
Do not need to be fed while in freshwater (at least the first 3-4 days?)
Transfer to saltwater within 8 days of hatching (no acclimation required)
Zoes are attracted to light
Salinity between 30 and 35 ppt (1.022 to 1.026 sg)
Air stone with reduced flow
Temperature 68° F to 84° F?
Diet

  • Diatoms?
  • Phytoplankton
  1. Tetraselmis
  2. Dunalliela Salina
  3. Nannochloropsis
  4. Rotifers? (zooplankton)
  5. Isochrysis sp. Tahaitian?
  • Liquizell
  • Golden Pearls (5-50 Microns - larger may work)
  • Spirulina Powder (mixed with water)
  • Mosura Shrimpton

Light on for 16-24 hrs a day
Morph into adults around 3-6 weeks of age
Acclimate morphed babies (post larvae form) to fresh water within a few days over a period of 3 days, changing 50% of saltwater to fresh once a day - 4th day, move to freshwater


Side Note: Adults survive salinity up to 17-18 ppt (for hatching in brackish water) - Adults cannot survive full concentration of marine water, eggs will not hatch in saltwater

 

Resources;

https://gabhar.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/breeding-amano/
http://aquariuminfo.org/amanoshrimp.html http://caridina.japonica.online.fr/English/Elevage.htm
http://www.caridinajaponica.de/zuchtbericht.htm (German)
http://www.shrimpnow.com/content.php/129-Amano-Yamato-Shrimp-Breeding (English version of above article)
http://www.shrimpnow.com/content.php/288-Caridina-Japonica-breeding


Video;

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As a general comment, I disagree with the idea that you should leave larvae without food for "X" number of days. You should have food present prior to when the larvae are first capable of feeding for two reasons: 

1. Larvae develop at different rates, so some will be ready to feed before the point where the rest of a cohort of larvae begin to feed. Furthermore, being in the presence of food is likely to illicit a feeding response or hasten the development of feeding structures. 

2. The longer the larvae rely on larval nutritional reserves, the more the reserves are depleted. This has important implications for growth. Larvae with poor nutritional reserves grow slower and are more likely to die. 

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I've been transferring larvae to saltwater as soon as I'm seeing them. Except, it's 3am, I've already moved a *lot* of babies, and there are still a *lot* to be moved and hatched... so those guys may have to wait a tad longer...

 

And this being from a female that dropped her eggs approximately 2 weeks prior to when they were "due", set up in a brine shrimp hatchery, and hatched less than 12 hours later...

 

I fed the saltwater tank with powdered algae before I even added any shrimp. Only a tiny amount. (before I even knew I had babies, which, I guess, was 2 days ago from the first female, and only managed to get a handful... as in, could count on one hand... second female, hundreds of babies!)

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By any chance, do you have any experience raising amano shrimp, or any other shrimp with similar breeding habits? (larvae born and get washed out to sea)

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Not Amano, but other shrimp. in my day job as a postdoctoral researcher, I raise marine larvae, particularly sea urchins. 

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I have received a document on amano shrimp. It is in Japanese. I can get a rough translation, but I'm looking for someone who can read Japanese to better translate it.

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How are the larvae that you transferred going?  If you can get them past the first moult you'll know you're on the right path.

 

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At 4-6 days old now, I still have some that are alive. I feel like I've probably lost many of the ones I originally put into the tank, but I think I still have 30+ zoes?

I want to say that many of the ones that did hatch and were transferred probably didn't make it because they may have hatched 1-2 weeks earlier than they should have??? I was seeing zoes of different sizes, some so small they really weren't much bigger than a copepod with a longer tail, it seems.

 

The majority of them have "colored out", appearing to be 3 white specks. I think I did manage to see one that was still tiny and transparent, however...

 


And with some recent information that I have learned, I should be on the lookout for zoes in 2 1/2 to 5 weeks out. The females apparently start releasing zoes around 3 weeks in, but have a "massive birth" around 4-6 weeks...

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  • 3 weeks later...

As an update... oldest zoe lived to be about 2 1/2 weeks old before, presumably, dying. Been trying to do some more research. I've got some theories...

 

 

Amano shrimp may have a wide range of when they give birth due to the raining/flooding season. I've seen people comment on how their berried females hold their eggs for a really long time, but some people have noticed that once doing a water change, their females release their eggs and they have baby shrimp! Dropped eggs, even without any current, can still hatch. So my thoughts... Flooding season results in the release of babies (and possibly eggs) which will then very quickly travel down to the ocean. About a month later(?), when it's the "dry season", the newly morphed shrimp can then travel back upstream.

It can take anywhere from 15-50 days for amano eggs to hatch.

If my understanding is correct, zoes do not require food while they are in freshwater as they are eating the remains of their "egg yolk". They may not be able to eat, anyway, until after a certain stage in growth, which can only be achieved in saltwater. That is to say that they can't molt and evolve if they are in freshwater.

Japanese have found that highest survival rates for zoes is at 16.9 ppt, where-as many hobbyists notice highest survival rate at or around 35 ppt. In the same study by the Japanese (which I have not read), shrimp metamorphosis faster in higher saltiness. I'm not sure if the difference here is due to nutrient content of the water? As in, the higher nutrient content of the water, the less importance salinity may be?

The water the zoes are in, in the wild, may have .2 to .6 phosphates, 2 to 6 nitrates, although I could be completely off here, too. I'm just thinking in terms of using tank water plus ocean/marine salt vs RO water and salt. My first set of zoes were in RO + Salt with a 30-32 ppt salinity, and the last one dyed around 2 1/2 weeks of age. The second batch are being put in 1/2 tank water and 1/2 RO + extra salty water.

Zoes should probably ideally be kept in temperatures between 68° and 77° F, but no less than 64° F.


Still having issues with zoes surviving, but the newest zoes should be no more than 1-9 days old and I'm still waiting on a hatch from the remaining female. I had 2 berried females, only 1 is now berried, and at most, I only got around 20 zoes...

I think I need more amanos.... and more tanks.

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