are all those little white things fry? holy crap! I think one of my cherries has berries too! I'm a poet and didn't know it!
Small Planted Setup
- Thread starter MaloK
- Start date
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The white speckles...
Nope, they are some kind of crustacean. I have some that are brown and some white. They are inoffensive for shrimps of any age, they will much on plants a little and they are super top of the line deep substrate cleaner.
Under the microscope. They look like the millenium falcon. With an hard shell, 6 legs and a pneumatic vise clipper as mouth, they also have a kind of paddle in the butt that they swirl like a propeller providing them great autonomy. I cannot find anything like that on google image.
They are also competing with hydras, directly, stealing food from their tentacles and sometimes ripping their arm off. Loll.
Cherry Shrimps frys are 1.5-2 mm at birth these are less than 1mm adult. But they are fast and can swim at Good speed and fight current.
The first thing you will see from cherry shrimps "larvae" are their eyes. The rest is transparent they nearly not bend light going through them. And they will be hidden all the time. This is when you need lots of bio-film to make them come out.
All water parameters are on pin.
Performed a 1/3 water change with no sign of any disruption. The water is starting to clear out after the alder cones black water incident...
2 of the baby girls already outgrown their mother and I was able to register 5 berried mommy
1 blue Dream, 1 Blue velvet, 1 Fire Red and 2 pumpkins. there is a couple weeks of difference between them and I expect new babies in around 2-3 week now.
I started to slowly reduce my water temperature 1 degree per week. The tanks was in breeding mode for 3 months... I think it will do, loll.
Even if I don't see a single shrimp, I know they are foraging like crazy from all the crap swirling around that they are lifting in the water. then it settles down and the water become limpid again. This occurs 2 times a day.
Many say that shrimps prefer low water current and are clumsy swimmer... I witness the complete opposite. Some are rolling like dragsters, they love to race in the current up to the output of the filter then apply the hand brakes, do a 180 and fly down the current at high speed doing a large U turn in the tank. Sometime there 6-8 males playing at this.
After a couple days awol, the berried blue velvet came out, running on N₂O, fast and aggressive about everything she did. Driving off other females from the food, rocketing around the tank and bullying all she crosses. Then disappeared as quick as she popped, I nearly not had the time to see that she was still holding her eggs. I don't know why.. But she was mad.
I'm preparing for the arrival of the babies and working on a diy baby shrimp feeder that I'm going to try.
Performed a 1/3 water change with no sign of any disruption. The water is starting to clear out after the alder cones black water incident...
2 of the baby girls already outgrown their mother and I was able to register 5 berried mommy
1 blue Dream, 1 Blue velvet, 1 Fire Red and 2 pumpkins. there is a couple weeks of difference between them and I expect new babies in around 2-3 week now.I started to slowly reduce my water temperature 1 degree per week. The tanks was in breeding mode for 3 months... I think it will do, loll.
Even if I don't see a single shrimp, I know they are foraging like crazy from all the crap swirling around that they are lifting in the water. then it settles down and the water become limpid again. This occurs 2 times a day.
Many say that shrimps prefer low water current and are clumsy swimmer... I witness the complete opposite. Some are rolling like dragsters, they love to race in the current up to the output of the filter then apply the hand brakes, do a 180 and fly down the current at high speed doing a large U turn in the tank. Sometime there 6-8 males playing at this.
After a couple days awol, the berried blue velvet came out, running on N₂O, fast and aggressive about everything she did. Driving off other females from the food, rocketing around the tank and bullying all she crosses. Then disappeared as quick as she popped, I nearly not had the time to see that she was still holding her eggs. I don't know why.. But she was mad.
I'm preparing for the arrival of the babies and working on a diy baby shrimp feeder that I'm going to try.
I'm interested in this- would love description & pics if you can
Sure, no problems.
It's simple, I did the same for Guppies in the past and it worked great. I Only scaled it down for cherry shrimps... Will it work with the mindset of baby cherry shrimps. Is the question...
The principle is that only baby can come in and out, not adults... It provides a copious feeding area without competition. It additionally help a lot with water pollution, by keeping the food off the water movement. You can also siphon uneaten food easily right there. Still have to spread some around in the beginning until enough shrimps finds the "pot of roses". and bring their friends along.
So, with "my calculation". A 3mm wide hole can give access to cherry shrimps up to nearly 10mm long... Squeezing in.
Disclaimer: For the moment this is a pure Prototype., It could result in a shrimp death trap or a really neat copepods harvester.
So, do you put it high enough so that the tube is out of the water and then put the food down the tube? this is cool! Did you just use a regular drill to put the holes in the container?
Yes and yes !
gilltyascharged
Fish Fanatic
I've been trying to get all of the scuds out of my 6.6 gal and into a gallon habitat for breeding purposes. That looks like it might do the trick!
All liquids are level.
Cap 10, there's Nauplii iiiiiiin the water !!! All hands on deck !!! Broadside Baby Food shelling, all batteries... 2,1,0,K !!!
It's been a week and more are coming out they double in size per week. Already, some are orange some are blue some are... Strange.
After doing a bit of more playing around, I found that mixing a little Glasgarten baby food with bacter AE and letting it soak a bit helped a lot with film development and quicker sinking of Bacter AE in the tank. It also helped in film development on my par-boiled, pre-soaking catappa leaves, That are tender now and munched under a week.
At mid day I can see them everywhere taking a sunbath and chilling after a copious meal... Some of the kids are still playing in the filter output... There is less of them. The others started minding more crucial things.
PrawnRow's growing !
babies in the sun ! And a couple more.
Cap 10, there's Nauplii iiiiiiin the water !!! All hands on deck !!! Broadside Baby Food shelling, all batteries... 2,1,0,K !!!
It's been a week and more are coming out
they double in size per week. Already, some are orange some are blue some are... Strange.After doing a bit of more playing around, I found that mixing a little Glasgarten baby food with bacter AE and letting it soak a bit helped a lot with film development and quicker sinking of Bacter AE in the tank. It also helped in film development on my par-boiled, pre-soaking catappa leaves, That are tender now and munched under a week.
At mid day I can see them everywhere taking a sunbath and chilling after a copious meal... Some of the kids are still playing in the filter output... There is less of them. The others started minding more crucial things.
PrawnRow's growing !
babies in the sun ! And a couple more.
Water parameters are all on par, 0 nitrogen and minerals are good.
This is getting out of hands, loll... There's nauplii everywhere and new ones are coming out everyday.
I dropped a slice of boiled cucumber in the tank and it disappeared in 48 hours... I was able to catch a glimpse of the ongoing party.
Everything is going well, I have to rinse the filter every other day to maintain a good water flow, It's a couple minutes and pretty straight forward job. But still, I'm thinking to get something bigger, Like a HOB sump with a surface film remover. I installed a feeding plate and it does help with having less food getting lost in the substrate. It still leaks a lot when there's a bunch of shrimps feeding at the same time. The war with hydras has been won and none are to be found for a couple weeks now and no other undesirable have shown up.
At the moment it's easier to count the females that are not berried than those that are... I think they're all berried except 2, but they have large saddles growing. My oldest mom is getting ready too...
Watching them rolling their humps is a total blast. I never envisaged having that much fun in many years, with only a "Shrimp Tank".
This is getting out of hands, loll... There's nauplii everywhere and new ones are coming out everyday.
I dropped a slice of boiled cucumber in the tank and it disappeared in 48 hours... I was able to catch a glimpse of the ongoing party.
Everything is going well, I have to rinse the filter every other day to maintain a good water flow, It's a couple minutes and pretty straight forward job. But still, I'm thinking to get something bigger, Like a HOB sump with a surface film remover. I installed a feeding plate and it does help with having less food getting lost in the substrate. It still leaks a lot when there's a bunch of shrimps feeding at the same time. The war with hydras has been won and none are to be found for a couple weeks now and no other undesirable have shown up.
At the moment it's easier to count the females that are not berried than those that are...
I think they're all berried except 2, but they have large saddles growing. My oldest mom is getting ready too...Watching them rolling their humps is a total blast. I never envisaged having that much fun in many years, with only a "Shrimp Tank".
Pristine water is all that matter... Keeping up the filter maintenance is a chore, but the tank is crystal clear.
It restarted Friday, All the shrimps where racing in the water coming from the filter output... ALL OF THEM. babies, berried moms, kids, teens and grand 'ma...
It's the third time it occurs since I started the tank and it lasted 3 days this time, While that period They completely ignored all food in place and kept swimming and glass surfing under the output. Some are still at it today.
I had to get to the bottom of it, this time... I still wasted all the time testing all water parameters that lead me to closer and more thorough observation.
After a while scratching my head, I finally got onto something. I could see that they where picking up "something" directly from the water layer, because some where parked on leaves and where foraging in the water directly...
Finally, I identified a part of the micro fauna I have in there, different ostracods and another one I'm working on. Ostracods nauplii are fitting in the mouth of any size cherry shrimps. I could see with my microscope they where soon to release in the water right on the glass of the tank, but just found out what they are...
So small, they go trough the filter without getting caught... There was a lot... The Cherries looked like they where on live food for 3 days straight. The adults goes up to 1.5 mm in size and are not prayed upon.
I can see first hand that cherry shrimps will prefer to eat live food if available
It restarted Friday, All the shrimps where racing in the water coming from the filter output... ALL OF THEM. babies, berried moms, kids, teens and grand 'ma...
It's the third time it occurs since I started the tank and it lasted 3 days this time, While that period They completely ignored all food in place and kept swimming and glass surfing under the output. Some are still at it today.
I had to get to the bottom of it, this time... I still wasted all the time testing all water parameters that lead me to closer and more thorough observation.
After a while scratching my head, I finally got onto something. I could see that they where picking up "something" directly from the water layer, because some where parked on leaves and where foraging in the water directly...
Finally, I identified a part of the micro fauna I have in there, different ostracods and another one I'm working on. Ostracods nauplii are fitting in the mouth of any size cherry shrimps. I could see with my microscope they where soon to release in the water right on the glass of the tank, but just found out what they are...
So small, they go trough the filter without getting caught... There was a lot... The Cherries looked like they where on live food for 3 days straight. The adults goes up to 1.5 mm in size and are not prayed upon.
I can see first hand that cherry shrimps will prefer to eat live food if available
Well it seems that my faithful little Aquaclear Mini is reaching it's EOL, I had to kick start it last couple filter maintenance, and even after a good complete cleanup, the flow is just pathetic. and will probably block in two days and not restart after a power blackout...
If I knew... The new one was going to be here today, I would have waited... But there was almost no water movement coming out... And my "precious" where in jeopardy.
Sadly all the HOB sumps that are available on the market are 2 inches too long for my tank... And butting one in 2 pieces is not in the agenda. While relatively easy to do. It completely defeated the purpose at the same time.
So I went with an Aquaclear 30, it should be able to maintain a better flow with my thick intake cover. I already got my media ready and it will be (not exactly) 2/3 coarse 1/3 medium sponges + the intake cover that is also a coarse sponge. I keep a small place on top to be able to use disposable media.
I think I'm going to run the filter in a bucket of tank water and completely squeeze my current filter in it, switch the intake cover. let it run until it clears out, install the new filter on the tank and put the old medium on top of the new one for a while.
It should do a seamless transition, I hope. Well after cutting that lid again, some more
If I knew... The new one was going to be here today, I would have waited... But there was almost no water movement coming out... And my "precious" where in jeopardy.
Sadly all the HOB sumps that are available on the market are 2 inches too long for my tank... And butting one in 2 pieces is not in the agenda. While relatively easy to do. It completely defeated the purpose at the same time.
So I went with an Aquaclear 30, it should be able to maintain a better flow with my thick intake cover. I already got my media ready and it will be (not exactly) 2/3 coarse 1/3 medium sponges + the intake cover that is also a coarse sponge. I keep a small place on top to be able to use disposable media.
I think I'm going to run the filter in a bucket of tank water and completely squeeze my current filter in it, switch the intake cover. let it run until it clears out, install the new filter on the tank and put the old medium on top of the new one for a while.
It should do a seamless transition, I hope. Well after cutting that lid again, some more
Filter change seems to be working,
I was able to cram the old sponges in there and removed them one at the time every 48h, today I still have 0 nitrogen in the water running only on the new ones. I also fertilized the plants a little more this time to make sure they keep siphoning nitrogen as much as possible. I try to feed less, but babies are showing up by the dozen... And I can't help myself thinking they are hungry, loll.
Fingers crossed, hoping for a transparent migration.
I was able to cram the old sponges in there and removed them one at the time every 48h, today I still have 0 nitrogen in the water running only on the new ones. I also fertilized the plants a little more this time to make sure they keep siphoning nitrogen as much as possible. I try to feed less, but babies are showing up by the dozen... And I can't help myself thinking they are hungry, loll.
Fingers crossed, hoping for a transparent migration.
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