Ok so some of you may know I have some cardinda wilkinsi and they are in a heavily planted tank (to the point I really need to go looking for them at times). They've been in there a week and no issues I've noticed, some have moulted successfully, etc. 

 

Some came berried and, ultimately I'm at this point where I'm trying to determine if breeding will be successful...but heavily planted, lose track of shrimp...see problem?

 

I'm just wondering if a breeding box would be useful, as in put the berried female in until she drops her eggs and then see how the shrimplets develop? Or would keeping a berried female in a breeding box for a few weeks be a problem? The berried females that came were small and so that doesn't help me in locating them to see if they are still berried or have dropped (not noticing any tiny shrimplets though)....I dunno what to do, maybe I should just wait a month?

 

Anyone able to provide any thoughts/suggestions/experiences/anything. I suspect I'm just being a little impatient.

just be patient and let them do thier thing ,naturally, jmo

on a tangent, in the tank with only 5 (one was a berried female) I believe I've successfully counted all 5 and the female is no longer berried but I did notice these things (kind of look like tiny water boatmen, about 1 to 2 mm) doubt they are connected but they are the same colour the eggs were.

anyone know what they are? They seem too tiny to be water boatmen (let alone how'd they get in the tank)

 

 

They certainly look like water boatmen. Water boatman can fly, so its not impossible for them to have arrived that way. Also could have been transfered in as eggs. I seem to remember that water boatmen are predatory, so it might be best to remove them.

With regards to the breeder box, tge stress of moving berried females from the tank to the box can be enough to cause them to drop their eggs. Best to leave them and try to spot the shrimplets when they drop. Feeding time is always a good time for spotting new shrimplets. They often come out to feed as well and if not, the collection of the adults around the food makes it easier to see the movement of the shrimplets.

What are water boatmen ?

Boatman in water :)

What are water boatmen ?

Insects that 'swim' on the surface of water. They are characterised by two long legs which they use kind of like oars. Can also be easily confused with back swimmers, another insect that swims in a similar fashion.

okay so i can rule these out