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Shrimp breeding problem


popimac

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Hi guys,

this is my first post in SKF and im happy to find SKF as I noticed the forum is quite active with many shrimp enthusiasts which I hope to learn more from.

Right now I have a 2 feet crs tank which i had started 1 year ago. It is fully planted with moss and buceps, and floating plants. Over the past 6 months I have been seeing berried shrimps and newborn shrimplets but the survival rate of the shrimplets growing to adult size is less than 10%.

Here are more details of my tank:

- canister filter with eheim substrate pro as medium. I also have a sponge filter and HOF filter with purigen pack as medium

- Ada africana as substrate

- led lights

- chiller (connected to canister). Temp is around 73-78F

- NH4, NO2 and NO3 are kept at zero. Ph at 5.5. Tds around 150

- dosing of bacter ae every other day.

Wondering what do I need to do to increase the survival rate of the shrimplets. Hope to hear feed backs from you guys! Thanks!

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im sure you will nail it soon as you are in very good hands here on skf.

im only a noob with shrimps and I only keep neos - but I do note your tds seems highish for crystal shrimping :-)

good luck!

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Do you know what your GH and Kh is?

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Hi Disciple, Gh at around 4-5, kh 0.

Hi revolutionhope, I had gradually increasing my tds as I was trying to increase gh from 2 to 4 earlier using Mosura mineral plus

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  • HOF Member

Are you allowing the back wall of the aquarium to keep biofilm and algae growth? Do you feed powdered food? If the shrimp are breeding but the survival rate of shrimplets is poor then I would be looking at the amount of food the shrimplets are getting as well as water conditions. If you watch the adults carefully you might notice they tend to flick the babies away from food. A really good thing to do is put powdered feed into a syringe with water and squirt it into the moss allowing the shrimplets easy access to the food. Keeping the walls of the tank too clean also deprives them of grazing area. I never clean my back wall and leave half of both side walls with a good layer of biofilm .

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  • HOF Member

DSC_0720_zps97sozvda.jpg

DSC_0722_zps4kw5pisq.jpg

Note the biofilm/algae on the side glass. This tank sits at 170-180 TDS so don't get hung up on the TDS -STABILITY is much more important for the Crystals. Once you go to Taiwan Bees then yes the TDS should be but doesn't have to be lower. I have a thread that shows this tank and there are hundreds of shrimp in there. I feed daily with powdered foods, have always got leaves of some sort in there and give the shrimplets lots of moss amongst the plants to hide in. Temp is another thing to watch too- 78 is getting a bit high- thats about 25.5 celsius and we recommend not going higher than 24 with 22 -24C being the ideal range so thats approx 71.6- 75.20 F. Temprature can make a huge difference to survival rates -especially here in Australia with our summers getting so hot.

Edited by ineke
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Hi ineke, thanks for your advice. You have been an inspiration to me ! My tank walls used to be coated with algae (not sure if there is biofilm) but after introducing ramshorn snails about 2 months ago, the walls are clear of algae. Do those snails also cleared the biofilm in any case? I have been dosing bacter ae every other day, hoping to create biofilm for the shrimplets.

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  • HOF Member

Biofilm covers everything in the tank and can't necessarily be seen. Not cleaning the glass gives a much larger surface area for it to grow. Algae is not actually biofilm but the shrimplets graze on it and it's a very important food source for all shrimp. Supplementing the food with powdered baby food or any food crushed to a powder will help the babies while they grow quickly. Having lots of moss etc also helps as they can get deep into it and graze on food there. When I first started out breeding shrimp I was told you either have a nice shrimp tank - all clean and neat and tidy or you have a breeding tank with algae growth, lots of hiding places and healthy shrimplets. It helped me as I was always cleaning and tidying my tanks, now they aren't pristine but the shrimp are happy and I have learnt to live with leaves breaking down and shrimp snow over the substrate.. I suggest you either put a bit of extra food out for the snails so they leave some algae etc for the shrimplets or remove the snails for a while to let the tank recover. Good luck you will get there.

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that is really really good advice ineke!!

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Noted on the advice. Great stuff there. For sure, my tank has plenty of hiding spots as it is overwhelmed with moss. I have since removed majority of the snails. Will monitor and update again in couple of weeks time. Cheers.

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Good luck man. Cant go wrong following Ineke's advise.

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  • HOF Member

I never stir my substrate - it's a bit different than using gravel and I was of the understanding that it could cause an ammonia spike - I may stand corrected on that- but other than vacuuming from the surface of the substrate I don't touch it unless there are no shrimp in there then I use an internal power filter and give the substrate a good stir . When I had fish and just used gravel I always used a gravel vacuum cleaner and got really stuck in to clean it but since having shrimp and knowing how susceptible they are to even a slight amount of ammonia I've been pretty careful.

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Just to clarify, on the degree of stirring, it is only gentle stir within 1-2 cm of surface substrate. But I do understand your point. As I am dosing biodigest once every 15 days, I thought it may help with the efficiency by doing so. Think I better refrain. ;)

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just thought id chime in, i remember a forum discussion about gravel vacuuming in cherry tanks (gravel, not even plant substrate) here not too long ago and if im not mistaken - most of the thread contributors said they dont ever disturb the gravel and instead allow the mulm to accumulate and if the substrate is disturbed it will only upset the shrimp!

love n peace

will

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that is a good article shrimpydaddy :-) just wanting tto ask you something about it - you mention that the shrimplets drift after being released and that too high flowrate can be bad for them.. what might happen to shrimplets if the current IS too strong? i have a lot of water movement in my 2 foot tanks and i wonder if it may be too much perhaps?

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In worst case that they can't find anything to clinch on, they will be tired and die.

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In worst case that they can't find anything to clinch on, they will be tired and die.

OK thanks - i have a lot of moss around most of my tank so i should be OK i think unless im not understanding properly! i was just worried for a moment that perhaps they could be harmed if the flow causes them to bump into the substrate or the glass wall of the aquarium or something?

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Thanks Shrimpy Daddy. Do you reckon that low PH may be a big problem? I have Ph of 5.5, using Ada africana soil.

 

Low pH has it's own problem. I do keep shrimp in pH 5.6 to 5.8 successfully before, but later on I discovered that anything that is below 5.8 is unstable and may not have high survival rate as above 6.0. Hence, nowadays I will try to maintain pH at 6.0 to 6.4.

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OK thanks - i have a lot of moss around most of my tank so i should be OK i think unless im not understanding properly! i was just worried for a moment that perhaps they could be harmed if the flow causes them to bump into the substrate or the glass wall of the aquarium or something?

 

That will not happen. They are very good swimmer, unless you have Sulawesi shrimp.

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  • 7 months later...

I have just joined SKF and found the above postings. I am experiencing the exact problem and I am wondering if Popimac was able to correct it. I have a 10G planted tank with lots of java ferns, mosses, annubias and water wisteria in Fluval plant/shrimp substrate. There is also a layer of duckweed on the water surface to remove nitrate. There is a sponge filter and a separate air stone for aeration. The water parameters are PH=7, KH=1, GH=4 and TDS=120. There are on average 10+ berried shrimps. But after 1.5 months, I can only find 3-4 babies surviving. The only other inhabitant of the tank are Assassin snails. Some of the berried shrimps lose the entire batch and I don't see any surviving babies. The shrimps are fed with Zoomed pellets and Shiakura powder. I only clean the glass on the front of the aquarium. And I do about a 10% water change every week with RO water and Seachem Equilibrium 

Please suggest what could be hurting the shrimplet survival rate.

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gday notshrimpboy,

I'm far from a veteran on the subject of shrimp keeping, there are many others here with a lot more experience - but i'll try to give a few suggestions that will hopefully help.

Can I ask are there many assassin snails? I've heard before that they like to eat baby shrimps, although i'd be surprised if they could have THAT much of an impact, perhaps it's a combination of that and/or other factors?

You didn't say what type of shrimps you're keeping? if it's bee shrimps they would be happier if you can bring the pH down to slightly acidic.

Other things that come to mind is could they be escaping or getting sucked up into any filter/equipment? Also what is the temperature of the tank?

Of course the most common reason I've seen people mention why there is a low shrimplet survival rate is lack of food but unless your tank is very heavily stocked then it doesn't seem very likely to be a problem given that the tank seems quite well planted.

Would you be able to share any pictures of your setup? It may or may not help but we'd still love to see anyway I'm sure :-)

love n peace

will

ahh nevermnd :-) i just saw this is duplicated here and that my suggestions are very similar to those you already received!

 

 

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Thank you Revolutionhope.

There are about 30-40 Assassin snails in the tank. However, I have another tank with Cherry shrimps and even more Assassin snails in there. The presence of the snails doesn't seem to bother Cherry shrimplets at all. It is entirely possible that the snails have been feasting  on Cherry shrimplets. As Cherry shrimps are so much more prolific, the predation is not noticeable.

I am using sponge filter and the temperature of the water is 72F or 22.2C. The photo is attached. The sponge filter is on the left. There is an additional air stone in mid-rear. There is a layer of two different types of duckweed on top to reduce nitrate levels.

DSCF0971.JPG

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