Zoidburg,
I guess the reason I mentioned not wanting to kill them when culling was that I had just been reading breeding posts on another board, where a guy was talking about how much his Cichlids enjoyed his culls. He went into graphic descriptions about how much fun it was to drop the culls into his Cichlid tank one at a time in order watch the young fish them apart as they fought over each one. He said it was lots more fun than watching the large Cichlids eat the goldfish and koi culls he collected from his pond, since they normally just swallowed them whole. I realize that in nature it happens, but it sort of creeped me out that he got so much enjoyment out of feeding his pets to one another in captive tanks where the prey had no chance of escape or hide in unplanted Cichlid tanks.
It is funny that you mentioned trying to hatch the dropped eggs. I am already trying to do so and thought I was probably silly to try. I have a large plastic cup clipped to the side of the tank so that it has about a liter of water. I cut holes near the cup's top, that are just below the water level in the tank, so that the tank's water can gently flow through the cup, while the eggs are at the cup's bottom. There are about 1/4 teaspoon full of the eggs. Every few hours during the day, I take a chop stick and gently swirl the water just enough that the eggs will move gently about at the bottom of the cup, They are still free of any visible fungus, bacteria, or algae. I was planning to keep attending them for a few weeks to see if they might hatch before getting covered in mung. Call me Mr. (Shrimp) Mom.
After 8 days, I have had 5 shrimp die since they arrived.. Of the 40 in the shipment, 3 were DOA, and I find a dead one every other day. I didn't find any dead today, and every day that I do not, I keep hoping the rest are okay. I am hoping it was that a few were overstressed during shipping, rather than something wrong with my tank. They are also all fully grown, so it's possible that the ones I've lost were already senior shrimp citizens. Of the remaining 32, I only see half out feeding at any time, so I hope the others are hiding and not dead under something. I see them coming and going all of the time from their hiding places, so it's impossible to count them all.
I found 3 molts this evening. One of them I think is from a big female. She was the biggest shrimp of the lot, and I think she was female from her underbelly shape. Her shell had begun to turn pale crusty looking across the back. She was normally visible much of the time, but she's gone into hiding. I pretty sure one of the molts is hers, because it is way bigger than the other two.
I am not feeding them hardly anything so far. I have 2 large leaves in a small unplanted area at one end, which is where I plan to feed them. I drop a sinking pellet on to the center of a leaf, so that it won't dissolve and get lost in the sand. The shrimp that are nearby when I drop the pellet will run to it and feed, but the others remain oblivious to my offering. Two of them will quickly eat most of a small pellet and others eventually clean it all up, so they seem to like it. It is a sinking food formulated for shrimp and crabs, without any copper sulfate preservative. The pellets are small, with one being all that 2 shrimp will eat at a sitting. Until they have had time yet to learn that this area is where to find the food I give them, is this enough to feed them?
My Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and Phosphates are all below detectable levels using API brand test kits, which is great since my tap water that I use for weekly changes has detectable levels of both Ammonia and Phosphates. I live in a rural agricultural area, and our county water comes from the river, which gets fertilizer run off. We've had a lot of rain this winter, which results in more cow poo in the river. My plants keep Nitrates sucked up, so I only do about 10% water changes in my tanks to remove excess dissolved organics.
My KH is 100ppm, and CA is 180ppm. My biggest water problem is that my tap water has a higher PH than I would like, at just above 8. Besides several giant Almond leaves in the tank, I have 2 cups full of small ones in the filter, in hope that the tannins will help keep the PH a bit lower, I'm trying to avoid adding chemicals to lower it, because they result in levels going up and down too much in my experience. The tetras and barbs in my fish tank have been doing well for 5 months in similar water, and I hope the shrimp will be okay.
Since the PH is high, I was extra careful when I acclimated the shrimp (and eggs) to the tank's water. I floated a stainless steel bowl on the water ahead of time for its temp to equalize. When the shrimp arrived, I poured them from the bag into the bowl. The seller had put less than 1/3 liter of water in the bag, and it was 1/3 full of shrimp, who looked like sardines in a can. I started adding a tablespoon of tank water once per minute for the next half hour.
As much as I enjoy watching my fish, I'm finding that I spend much more time watching the shrimp tank than my fish. This is partly because they are new, and I'm concerned over their health, but mostly it is because they are so different from the fish. While they can swim (and fast when they kick their tails), they spend most of their time walking about. I think part of what makes them so captivating, it that it that they looking like they are walking on the moon, as sudden movements cause them to bump and float like an astronaut in low G. (I watch too much SciFi.) Then of course there is their ability to walk up the side of even a freshly cleaned glass like SpiderMan! They are so cool to watch, I'm thinking of setting up a third tank to raise some of the fancy freshwater fairy shrimp. I've ordered some eggs that are supposed to grow to more than 30mm. They are nearly as large as RCS, but rather than walking on walls, they do the backstroke to get everywhere.
Thank you all for your advice.
Greg