Breeding Glass Shrimps

[toofawon]

Hi everybody.
i have got 3 Glass Shrimp in my 70L community tank and 2 of them are carrying eggs again. I think that the first clutch of eggs they laid were munched by the other tank inhabitants (3 bronze and 3 peppered corys, 5 head and tail light tetra, 5 harlequin rasboras and a pair of fork-tail blue-eyed rainbow fish) as i never saw anything of the eggs once they'd been laid.

This time round i would really like to try and raise the shrimplets once they hatch but i only have one tank and can't really afford to set up a nursery tank. What can anyone suggest as my best course of action to be successful ? I was considering separating the egg bearing shrimp into a Fish Net Breeding Trap type idea that can be hung into my existing tank but i don't know if it would be any use or not.

Any help that you can offer will be very gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[jourdy288]

If you have any plastic food safe containers, capture the shrimplets and have the container floating in the tank. Feed them well! Or, you could just plant your tank alot more.

 

[vancouver]

I believe the baby shrimps need brackish water to survive.. Keeping them alive is not an easy thing to do.

 

[fishboy619]

TRUE freshwater glass shrimps dont need brackish for their young to survive. the american and amazon glass/ghost shrimp can breed in freshwater and provided there is no predators and enough food, the young to survive too.
i would try your hardest to catch the babies and put them in a breeding net or something, feed plenty and watch them carfully, have lots of plants in the net with them, even cuttings are ok. gives them somewhere to hide and feel safe. i wouldnt move the mother, may stress her out.

 

[Invader Xan]

If it's a true glass shrimp and not some other, it'll be a palamonetes sp (and no, they shouldn't need brackish). The shrimplets will have a brief larval stage of a few days before they grow legs and moult into tiny shrimplets. The biggest danger they'll have (aside from being an easy meal) is probably your filter intake.Try and cover it with some sponge or something.

Personally, I'd spend a little money on a small plastic nursery tank (they're dead cheap). You just fill it with tank water and use the suction cups to stick it to the side of your tank at the top. A piece of Java moss should give them all the infusoria they need to eat.

Catching the babies could be difficult though. If it's easier to catch the mother and let her spawn in the nursery, that might be a better option (just take her out again quickly afterwards, in case she feels hungry). It might stress her a bit, but as long as you're quick about it, it should be ok. I find chasing them into a glass jar with a net is the most trouble-free way to catch a shrimp.

Good luck!

 

[toofawon]

Thanks for all your help. I will let you know how i get on and post a pic of the new arrivals when they've grown big enough to photograph (if all goes to plan )