Does lighting affect shrimp breeding?

[Callan]

I was wondering if any one has experimented with lighting and times of lighting of shrimp tanks? I have had people suggest to me in the past that they have literally set up shrimp tanks with CRS and CBS in small tanks and have used no lighting at all. They have claimed that when they have eventually checked the tanks the shrimp have breed? I find this hard to believe and I understand lighting needs of low and high light for certain plants. This is just concerning shrimp.

[BlueBolts]

There's several theories on light intensity/colour, vs shell thickness/colour. Ive noticed better shell thickness with 10000k, vs 6500k, whereas colouration (depth of red/black) would be more of a genetic trait/selective breeding.

Good lighting is also responsible of biofilm...etc, which is a important food source.

IMO, lighting between 6500-10000k would be ideal.

[Baccus]

An interesting topic, I was wondering if perhaps shrimp like many fish could have light sensitive eggs. If so it might not be so evident in more domesticated shrimp like CRS etc, but could be a very important successful breeding factor with less commonly kept and bred shrimp.

[Callan]

Thanks for the replies so far it would be good to get some more feedback. I understand where you are both coming from and you both make valid points. I had one person (and I know some BS) tell me that he literally set up a CRS tank, did nothing with it for months, no lighting anything and claimed they bred like flies. I personally doubt this and think that it would have to be beneficial to shrimp health to get some form of UV. I have seen problems with fish from a lack of UV.

[northboy]

I know for a fact that day length influences Shrimp breeding like it does with fish, I am seeing native shrimp with saddles everywhere I go at the moment and they have not been saddled for months. This is also a recurring yearly effect, as for strength I have not looked at that one but BB will be all over that, BB has really good observation skills (its the small thing that make the difference)

Bob

[Callan]

Thanks Northboy, what is recommended. This may explain a couple of things my side.

[northboy]

Hi Mate

Living in the Tropics like I do, I run about 10 hours a day, natural where I can and all my tanks are out side with no heaters, so they get some natural day light at some time of day, just depending on where they are.

I am experimenting with some new very strong LEDs at the moment, these ones are stronger than T5 fluros, but I don't know the Kelvins or temp range of them yet.

Bob

[Callan]

Wish we were that lucky down here. The electricity company love me...They let me know how much every quater..Ha..

I am going to try about 10 hours a day and see if this works for me. I have noticed already that there is definately more activity in the tanks the last couple of days.

[Baccus]

With in creased lighting I would also keep an eye on tank temp. Many of the lights on tanks greatly heat the water, and heated water can be good with regards to quick shrimp growth and breeding, but has the down side of also burning the shrimps short lives out quicker.

[northboy]

Increase and decrease in light is a breeding trigger for some species, Winters shorter days = rest and build up time and the days getting longer in Spring = time to breed. That also gives stronger young and longer life to what ever you are keeping, year round breeding will shorten the life of any thing.

It would be very interesting to do the experiment with what BB said about the light quality having an effect on shell thickness, I know from keeping Reptiles that the quality of the UV in your light has an effect on the Calcium and bone building in Reptiles so therefore it makes perfect sense

Bob

[Callan]

Yes I have seen this as well when I kept snakes and bearded dragons. I have seen bearded dragons with twisted spines but never thought about the UV being a possible cause. The strangest thing I saw was two eggs that had stuck together and it actually hatched with them as siamese twins. They were joined back to back. It was the strangest thing to look at, but didnt survive for long. I didnt have the heart to cull it straight away. I am using a double T5 on my four foot tank and it is divided into 4 sections.

[Callan]

Thought I would give a quick update to those members who graciously took time to respond. I have increased my lighting schedule to 12 hours on both of my CRS and CBS tanks. I have found that there are at least half a dozen berried females in my three footer and I have berried CBS & CBS in my four foot divided tank. "Finally, Yeah" I believe that this is due to the increased lighting periods. The only other thing that I started doing was increasing various powders to help keep a consistent bio film in the tanks. This may have also contributed but I couldn't confirm this. Others may be able to confirm this. Forgot to add that molting in the tanks definately increases so obviously this has caused the shrimp to become berried. I also noticed that the bio film that I add with a syringe increased activity of the shrimp in both tanks. Thanks to all who contributed.

[Squiggle]

They are some awesome results dude, congrats & thanks for sharing. :victorious:

[michael]

Thought I would give a quick update to those members who graciously took time to respond. I have increased my lighting schedule to 12 hours on both of my CRS and CBS tanks. I have found that there are at least half a dozen berried females in my three footer and I have berried CBS & CBS in my four foot divided tank. "Finally' date=' Yeah" I believe that this is due to the increased lighting periods. The only other thing that I started doing was increasing various powders to help keep a consistent bio film in the tanks. This may have also contributed but I couldn't confirm this. Others may be able to confirm this. Forgot to add that molting in the tanks definately increases so obviously this has caused the shrimp to become berried. I also noticed that the bio film that I add with a syringe increased activity of the shrimp in both tanks. Thanks to all who contributed.[/quote']

When u say u added powders to increase bio film what products are u talking about?

[Callan]

Powdered barly grass, bee pollen, kale, super greens, crushed and combined into a powder and then I syringe into moss and also on surface. I do this every second day. I have also been adding the bee pollen and supergreen tablets which dissolve quickly onto feeding trays. I have even been feeding my bristlenose these tablets and they love it. They are breeding like crazy.

[gaz086]

so the supergreen tablets, do you just buy them from a pharmacy or something?

[Wraithie]

Supermarket :) health food/vitamin section