By
Crabby,
in Australian Caridina spp.
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Similar Content
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By Crabby
Hey all! I’ve been super busy so I haven’t been active on the forum, just lurking for a while, but I’ve got the time (and a great reason) for a post now.
Against all odds, I’ve managed to snag myself a group of 4 captive bred honey blue eyes (pseudomugil mellis), an endangered and very rare blue eye endemic to Australia (for those unaware). I’m picking them up locally once I get back from an overseas trip, so I’ll have another post once that’s all done, but I thought I’d set up this thread so I can ask questions, share findings (particularly for other breeders and aspiring breeders) and simply document my experiences with this fish.
The group is 2m2f so I’ll start them off in a cycled 5 gallon, which at the moment is just scaped with sand and some inert natural rocks collected from a river bed, so I’ll be chucking in a bunch of plants and maybe an Indian almond leaf or two in order to give them a cosy little breeding environment. In terms of the actual breeding, I think I’ll be using a couple small mops on one side of the tank (one floating, one sitting), and pulling daily for a week or so, perhaps even just a few days the first time so I can work with a smaller group. I’ll be getting some brine shrimp eggs (what are your recommendations for cheapish eggs that are good quality and have a good hatching rate?) for both the parents and the fry, once the fry are large enough. What are your recommendations for a first food for the fry? So far I’ve still not succeeded once with an infusoria culture, despite following a variety of different methods.
Obviously, I’ve been wondering about shrimp as well. Would they eat the eggs? If not, which species would be found in a similar region and would be compatible? It’d be fun to have a little bit of a biotype for these little fellas. If I get shrimp perhaps I could order from Dave at aquagreen and get some cool native plants while I’m at it.
The main thing I’m debating is whether to breed them in a tank or give them a go outdoors. Outdoors seems riskier but potentially more fruitful and a tad easier (because it’s natural), whereas the tank seems much much safer but I’m just not sure how easy it’ll be to get them breeding. Anyways, I’ll see how they go in the tank and reassess later on. I’ll be asking plenty of questions when I pick them up as well, so I think it’ll all work out. I’m very excited to be joining the captive breeding conservation effort for this beautiful fish, it’s honestly been a bit of a dream of mine ever since I heard of the species, and I’ll be pulling out all the stops to make sure this opportunity doesn’t go to waste. I look forward to sharing many exciting posts with these cute little honeys.
Cheers, Crabs.
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By KUNJULAKSHMI K
I found 2 gravid females in my freshwater caridina tanks. I am planning to transfer them to another tank before it hatch to avoid any stress. The eggs are kinda dark or black now. How long it will take to hatch? Please give your valuable suggestions on when I should transfer them to another tank?
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By Crabby
Hey folks!
This thread is intended as a documentation (and space to ask questions of course) of @Frosty and my venture into caridina shrimp.
We’re starting off this weekend with 15-20 mischling shrimp (tibee x CBS), and maybe in a couple months if everything is going well we can add some TTS or KK or pandas or something.
The tank is a 4ft, with inert gravel and rocks, lots of moss, Java fern (crested and regular) and assorted crypts, and a couple big pieces of driftwood.
Current parameters are the following (please advise us if you think we should fix anything):
22°, 6.8 pH (we might try ageing our water change water with peat moss, so with a couple water changes we’ll bring this down to 6.4-6.6), 3GH, 2KH, and 0 nitrates, nitrites and ammonia.
We’re thinking maybe to make it more interesting to the average onlooker, we might add a small school of chilli rasboras, but that’s hopefully going to be it for fish.
The tank is in direct sunlight, so there’s a possibility we’ll need ottos at some stage.
I’ll update later with photos and our plans. Please let me know if you’ve got any advice!
Cheers!
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By Rare Aqua
The in depth guide to keeping as well as breeding Amarinus lacustris by Hervey Doerr-Rolley
Overview
The aim of this article is to educate and warn people of the mistakes I made and how I was successful with breeding and keeping this species. I published an article about this species several years ago so thought it was time for an updated guide for anyone wanting to keep and breed this species. All my knowledge about this species has been developed over the 4 years I've kept this species as well as the many scientific articles I've studied, I first kept this species when I was 15 and now 19, my colony is still going strongly. Currently studying a bachelor of Marine science. Firstly I'd like to point out this species does not have a larval cycle, it is a far too common misconception people have. I believe this thought is derived from their much larger cousin the Amarinus laevis and the Thai micro crab, Limnopilos naiyanetri. Amarinus lacustris have fully formed offspring, meaning their offspring are essentially miniature adults once hatched from their egg. Some points of interest about this species, there are 8 instars before their pubertal moult. Females up to two moults before their pubertal moult can copulate and store spermatozoon, once she reaches the pubertal moult she can then impregnate herself without the need of copulation. The stored spermatozoon can then be used up to 15 separate brood cycles (15 clutches of eggs). Adult females can carry up to *35 eggs (anecdotal) and take around 25-30 days at 15 degrees Celsius to hatch as fully formed offspring.
Water chemistry
A. lacustris have a strong preference for hard water, I keep and breed mine in;
pH: 8-8.2
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
KH:125ppm
*25% water changes are done weekly*
Breeding and Husbandry
Key points for their care;
Gravel substrate - fine pea gravel is best.
Air pump sponge filters are essential as this provides cleaner water as well as a feeding ground for the offspring as well as adults.
Mulm and moss are essential.
A good rule of thumb from my experience is 500ml of aquarium space per baby-sub adult, and then 1L per adult crab, this allows for less aggression from male to male behavior. It is up to you but the less stocking density the better due to the aggression of breeding from males, keep in mind this aggression is only towards other males however females that are being copulated with may sustain serious injuries if too many males are kept together. The best ratios are two males to 8 females. When a female sheds she releases hormones into the water column just like shrimp, if any of you are familiar with breeding shrimp you can note this by the erratic and fast speeds the males zoom around the aquarium searching for the female, this is the same case with A. lacustris except the swimming, rather they crawl quickly around the aquarium in search for the female to copulate with. Once the male finds the female he will grasp the female tightly underside to underside in a 'hug' embrace, he will then fertilize the female. This embrace can last minutes or hours depending on the male. Eggs will soon become visible and as described above hatch within 25-30 days*. This species is a cold water crustacean so you must remember that, breeding will cease if the temperature goes above 22 Celsius. Keep them in a mature mulm filled aquarium with leaf litter (I use oak leaves) with plenty of hiding spots and moss, a 8pH and 15 Celsius and before you know it you will have berried females.
Feeding
Surprisingly my A. lacustris do not eat commercial foods, I feed mine cultured white worms which are perfect as they grow to a max size of 3cm and survive underwater for several days. I also add snails to my aquarium as the crabs feed on their feces. Funnily enough baby crabs will eat the white worms too once they are 2 instars old, so it is not uncommon to see a 2mm baby crab hanging on to a 2cm long white worm! I feed my crabs every 3 days and small amounts of the worms to reduce water quality issues.
Common questions I am asked
As I was the first person in Australia and the world to raise fully tank raised F2 offspring i have come across many commonly asked questions. "can I get these crabs in country x?" so far you can legally only get these crabs in their native geographical regions, however once these crabs are even more commonly bred their popularity over the Thai micro crab will be clearly abundant simply due to their ease of breeding which you know, therefore I wouldn't be surprised if these hit the international market once they're being large scale bred. "Do you have any for sale?" when I have crabs for sale I have a waiting list, If you want to ask questions or be on the waiting list email me: [email protected] "can these go with fish x?" if the fish is 4cm or less they are fine generally, my opinion is keep the species only or with shrimp which leads to the next question "are the shrimp safe" and yes they are, however they are naturally scavengers so if you have dead or sick shrimp they will eat them, if your shrimp are healthy they will not predate on them. "how long do they live for?" they live for around 2-3 years+. "why are all my crabs dying" this question is addressed below;
Major issue that needs to be addressed
Since my first sales of A. lacustris I suddenly saw a spike of ads for them in Australia, unfortunately I could tell the individuals for sale were all wild caught and at best had only lived in an aquarium for a couple weeks of their life. This then would result in people encouraging the decimation and local extinction of the species in our waterways due to peoples greed of wanting to make a quick buck off this amazing native species. The crabs that I breed and sell are all aquarium raised individuals ONLY, I have put time, money and effort into the crabs I breed to ensure I do not impact the wild populations and offer aquarium suited specimens for people wanting to keep them. I have had a plethora of emails from people asking me why crabs they had sourced outside of my individuals had suddenly died off, this is simply due to the fact these crabs have not been aquarium raised and selectively bred for years like mine have. I find it horrendous that people think it is okay to collect many wild individuals to then sell knowing full well they will die within around a 3 month period just for their sake to make some 'fast' money. So please before you buy from a seller of these crabs ask as many questions as you can to find out how many generations old your crabs are and how long they've been bred for etc. If they cannot supply a high amount of detail or simply quote my articles about them do not buy from that seller. Do not support poachers for your aquarium! This applies with all species, worldwide.
Thank you for reading my article,
again if you have any questions feel free to email me as I'm always happy to help out ethical keepers and potential breeders of this species.
Author and credits: Hervey Doerr-Rolley
View full article
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By Rare Aqua
The in depth guide to keeping as well as breeding Amarinus lacustris by Hervey Doerr-Rolley
Overview
The aim of this article is to educate and warn people of the mistakes I made and how I was successful with breeding and keeping this species. I published an article about this species several years ago so thought it was time for an updated guide for anyone wanting to keep and breed this species. All my knowledge about this species has been developed over the 4 years I've kept this species as well as the many scientific articles I've studied, I first kept this species when I was 15 and now 19, my colony is still going strongly. Currently studying a bachelor of Marine science. Firstly I'd like to point out this species does not have a larval cycle, it is a far too common misconception people have. I believe this thought is derived from their much larger cousin the Amarinus laevis and the Thai micro crab, Limnopilos naiyanetri. Amarinus lacustris have fully formed offspring, meaning their offspring are essentially miniature adults once hatched from their egg. Some points of interest about this species, there are 8 instars before their pubertal moult. Females up to two moults before their pubertal moult can copulate and store spermatozoon, once she reaches the pubertal moult she can then impregnate herself without the need of copulation. The stored spermatozoon can then be used up to 15 separate brood cycles (15 clutches of eggs). Adult females can carry up to *35 eggs (anecdotal) and take around 25-30 days at 15 degrees Celsius to hatch as fully formed offspring.
Water chemistry
A. lacustris have a strong preference for hard water, I keep and breed mine in;
pH: 8-8.2
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
KH:125ppm
*25% water changes are done weekly*
Breeding and Husbandry
Key points for their care;
Gravel substrate - fine pea gravel is best.
Air pump sponge filters are essential as this provides cleaner water as well as a feeding ground for the offspring as well as adults.
Mulm and moss are essential.
A good rule of thumb from my experience is 500ml of aquarium space per baby-sub adult, and then 1L per adult crab, this allows for less aggression from male to male behavior. It is up to you but the less stocking density the better due to the aggression of breeding from males, keep in mind this aggression is only towards other males however females that are being copulated with may sustain serious injuries if too many males are kept together. The best ratios are two males to 8 females. When a female sheds she releases hormones into the water column just like shrimp, if any of you are familiar with breeding shrimp you can note this by the erratic and fast speeds the males zoom around the aquarium searching for the female, this is the same case with A. lacustris except the swimming, rather they crawl quickly around the aquarium in search for the female to copulate with. Once the male finds the female he will grasp the female tightly underside to underside in a 'hug' embrace, he will then fertilize the female. This embrace can last minutes or hours depending on the male. Eggs will soon become visible and as described above hatch within 25-30 days*. This species is a cold water crustacean so you must remember that, breeding will cease if the temperature goes above 22 Celsius. Keep them in a mature mulm filled aquarium with leaf litter (I use oak leaves) with plenty of hiding spots and moss, a 8pH and 15 Celsius and before you know it you will have berried females.
Feeding
Surprisingly my A. lacustris do not eat commercial foods, I feed mine cultured white worms which are perfect as they grow to a max size of 3cm and survive underwater for several days. I also add snails to my aquarium as the crabs feed on their feces. Funnily enough baby crabs will eat the white worms too once they are 2 instars old, so it is not uncommon to see a 2mm baby crab hanging on to a 2cm long white worm! I feed my crabs every 3 days and small amounts of the worms to reduce water quality issues.
Common questions I am asked
As I was the first person in Australia and the world to raise fully tank raised F2 offspring i have come across many commonly asked questions. "can I get these crabs in country x?" so far you can legally only get these crabs in their native geographical regions, however once these crabs are even more commonly bred their popularity over the Thai micro crab will be clearly abundant simply due to their ease of breeding which you know, therefore I wouldn't be surprised if these hit the international market once they're being large scale bred. "Do you have any for sale?" when I have crabs for sale I have a waiting list, If you want to ask questions or be on the waiting list email me: [email protected] "can these go with fish x?" if the fish is 4cm or less they are fine generally, my opinion is keep the species only or with shrimp which leads to the next question "are the shrimp safe" and yes they are, however they are naturally scavengers so if you have dead or sick shrimp they will eat them, if your shrimp are healthy they will not predate on them. "how long do they live for?" they live for around 2-3 years+. "why are all my crabs dying" this question is addressed below;
Major issue that needs to be addressed
Since my first sales of A. lacustris I suddenly saw a spike of ads for them in Australia, unfortunately I could tell the individuals for sale were all wild caught and at best had only lived in an aquarium for a couple weeks of their life. This then would result in people encouraging the decimation and local extinction of the species in our waterways due to peoples greed of wanting to make a quick buck off this amazing native species. The crabs that I breed and sell are all aquarium raised individuals ONLY, I have put time, money and effort into the crabs I breed to ensure I do not impact the wild populations and offer aquarium suited specimens for people wanting to keep them. I have had a plethora of emails from people asking me why crabs they had sourced outside of my individuals had suddenly died off, this is simply due to the fact these crabs have not been aquarium raised and selectively bred for years like mine have. I find it horrendous that people think it is okay to collect many wild individuals to then sell knowing full well they will die within around a 3 month period just for their sake to make some 'fast' money. So please before you buy from a seller of these crabs ask as many questions as you can to find out how many generations old your crabs are and how long they've been bred for etc. If they cannot supply a high amount of detail or simply quote my articles about them do not buy from that seller. Do not support poachers for your aquarium! This applies with all species, worldwide.
Thank you for reading my article,
again if you have any questions feel free to email me as I'm always happy to help out ethical keepers and potential breeders of this species.
Author and credits: Hervey Doerr-Rolley
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Must Read SKF Articles
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Posts
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By jayc · Posted
Welcome to SKFA. It's a Macrobrachium of some sort. Those claws give it away. But don't know which exact species of Macrobrachium. Might be able to narrow it down to which species if we knew where the shipment was from. Where are you from? Don't put this fella in a tank with other Neo Caridina or Caridina or Taiwan bee shrimps. It will eat those smaller shrimp. -
By JLRiggs73110 · Posted
Hey all! First of all, thanks for the add! I really appreciate it! I hope I am not breaking any rules by posting this in this thread, so if I am, please relocate this post to where it belongs!! So, about a week or so ago I got a blue crayfish from the local pet store, and they told me that this "Little Dude" (His name!) was sent along with that shipment in error and it wasn't identified, or at least the pet store didn't know what it was, or told me it was another type of crayfish. After his first molt (Just last night and the fastest to complete one yet) he is a different color, slightly bigger, and I don't think he is a crayfish at all. I am thinking he is a shrimp, but I am not sure. If someone could confirm this for me, and possibly even identify what species of shrimp it is, that would be amazing!! Please don't judge the dirty tank I have been working and then he molted so I haven't had a chance to clean it properly in a little bit. I appreciate the help! -
By sdlTBfanUK · Posted
Great news that everything seems to have settled down! When you do set up a new folter system, leave the old sponge in the tank for a couple of weeks while new one is running as it will be full of bacteria but the new one won't have any at the start etc! -
By alkemist · Posted
It's been awhile but things have been going ok. I got my water parameters back to around where it needs to be. KH back to 4 but I can't seem to increase GH past 5, even if I only add GH remineralizer back during a water change. Anyhow, the tank has been stable. I haven't seen many shrimp deaths or anything alarming. They are still consistently breeding. I do have to feed them much more aggressively, on a daily basis. I also started to add in mulberry and dandelion leaves for them to graze on every few days on top of the other foods. They are a bunch of hungry buggers. I need to swap to a more powerful filtration system than a sponge filter system. While the shrimp poop is awesome for growing my plants, the water has become dank and dark. I'm fine with tannins, but there are way too many particulates in the water. Going to swap to a mini canister filter system with a spin pipe to keep water flow low.. so things are going to get shook up a bit again, but hopefully it all stays stable. -
By Don 78 · Posted
Simon, Thanks for your input. I will recheck my water parameters. Don
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