Mysterious Cherry Shrimp

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JoshuaA

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Firstly I would like to say Hello, Hello!

My issue here is... I bought some Cherry shrimp (5) for my nano tank that had been cycled and planted for some time now (2 months) before I put the shrimp in. I placed the shrimp in and I found out one of them was already carrying eggs from the LFS. 2 days after them being in 2 shed their shells and nearly a week later I found another 2 shells had been shed over night so that meant 4/5 had shed within a week. Unfortunately 2 of the the 5 shrimp were completely missing? No trace of their bodies or parts of them.

I had performed a water change in hope of seeking them out and I was upset to find one of them 2 that had gone missing appeared to be the one carrying eggs, I searched the entire tank (nano tank so didn't take long) apart from digging up the substrate I could not find any trace of them apart from their ghostly like shell, there is no way the other shrimp could of possibly eaten then over night from when I last saw them? No trace of them in the filter media or anything.

Finally as I was topping the tank back up I noticed some small beady eyes... Babies! Yep they were there, so the babies hatch within hours of being laid as eggs, or the eggs being fertilised? I'm not sure how the shrimp do it these days. Anyway up to now I have managed to count at least 5 baby shrimp though I still haven't found my other two shrimp.

So my questions are...

How long do these babies take to mature to say at least 1-2cm?
How much bioload do they have compared to their parents?
Will other shrimp eat baby shrimps?
Will they be happy eating either small parts of their parents food or will they eat the algae on the glass etc?
How many can you expect from a clutch of eggs?
Any idea if the 3 shrimp could of possibly eaten my other 2?

It would be a great help to me if you can answer a few of those questions, my plan is once these babies get to a notable size I will remove the adults and put them in my Rio 125. The only "Aggressive" fish in there is a Bolivian Ram, however that ram has lived with shrimp before and never bothered them over a space of 3 months until I moved the shrimp to another tank. So that is the plan and then let the babies grow out and if they breed give some to my girlfriend.
 
hay joshua
iv just orderd 20 Cherry shrimp
for my guppy tank
to help keep it clean and
keep the plants clean ( well kinda ) lol
sound so bad lossing a cupple but how are the babys doing ??
any pics ?
jay
 
hay joshua
iv just orderd 20 Cherry shrimp
for my guppy tank
to help keep it clean and
keep the plants clean ( well kinda ) lol
sound so bad lossing a cupple but how are the babys doing ??
any pics ?
jay

I would love to get a picture but I haven't got a magnifying glass or good enough quality camera to capture a picture of them.

What you can see of them is there general body shape and their black eyes with a tiny tiny tiny amount of red forming on their body.
 
hello mate

I;m getting some in next couple of weeks

where did you get them from?
 
So my questions are...

How long do these babies take to mature to say at least 1-2cm? They become sexually mature around 3 months. To reach 1cm, about 6 weeks or so depending on temperature.
How much bioload do they have compared to their parents? Negligible
Will other shrimp eat baby shrimps? Adults don't eat babies unless they are already dead.
Will they be happy eating either small parts of their parents food or will they eat the algae on the glass etc? Both. You can crush some adult food for them.
How many can you expect from a clutch of eggs? Depending on age, on average 25-35.
Any idea if the 3 shrimp could of possibly eaten my other 2? Only if they were dying or dead.

You will be surprised how well they hide if you have any wood or plants in your tank. Good luck finding them :)
 
So my questions are...

How long do these babies take to mature to say at least 1-2cm?
How much bioload do they have compared to their parents?
Will other shrimp eat baby shrimps?
Will they be happy eating either small parts of their parents food or will they eat the algae on the glass etc?
How many can you expect from a clutch of eggs?
Any idea if the 3 shrimp could of possibly eaten my other 2?

I can't help with all your questions but as far as I am aware shrimp will not eat other shrimp. They might if they are dead however.

Baby shrimp eat the exact same thing as the adults do.
 
Thanks a lot for the responses some good information there, I have scoured the internet many times over this but find such varying statistics. I usually trust one place though...

The Shrimp could be good hiders but there is absolutely no way they have hidden from sight in this tank, there are Pogostemon and Gloss plants and a small rock in the middle. I Found it odd though that 2 had gone missing and 2 had shed themselves that night but I also couldn't find the slightest part of shrimp body parts/remains there was nothing. Only the ghost like shells, considering my shrimp take forever to eat their Dernnele shrimp food I imagine they would probably take longer to eat through 2 shrimps.

I'm expecting that the shrimp would probably be of a young age, you could visibly see around 20~ eggs in it's sack and well I can expect many weren't fertilised or died perhaps? I just hope it wasn't my female who died/went missing.

Edit: The light just came on and one has shedded again during the night, that could mean all 5 (including the missing 2) have done it within a week, this one is immaculate though it's impressive how they've wiggled out without even breaking it. Advisable to keep the shells in then so that they can reabsorb the nutrients?

Is it a good idea to knock up my water change schedule to daily for these baby shrimp? I usually do it every 3 days since it's a Nano.

hello mate

I;m getting some in next couple of weeks

where did you get them from?

I got them from Maidenhead Aquatics in Sefton, during Uni time I live in a flat in Liverpool and other times I go back to Irby. The Sefton MA has such a variety of stocking much more than Andy's Aquatics. It's a shame it is a good 30 minute drive though however I've bought quite a lot of fish from there. The only problem I find with MA is that they have a very powerful filtering system for their tanks and then they use that as a reason to "overstock" their tanks. What ends up happening is they have like 100 guppies in perfectly good water but in a small space.

They have a good plant selection too when it is stocked up, if you ever plan on going you should phone up and ask about their stocking. I've never left disappointed from there and amazingly they had a shipment of Panda Corys in but I was too late as I had already stocked my tank.

My RCS were 5 for £8 or £10 I can't remember now. I could of got cheaper ordering over the internet but I'd prefer these fragile critters to arrive home safely!
 
Keep the shells in it helps keep the calcium up in the water column, they also sometimes eat them. If the shell hasn't been touched in 2 weeks then I would remove it to stop shrimp shells piling up.
 
Keep the shells in it helps keep the calcium up in the water column, they also sometimes eat them. If the shell hasn't been touched in 2 weeks then I would remove it to stop shrimp shells piling up.

Pretty sure I watched the one who shedded their shell consume nearly the entire thing since I asked that question :crazy: :blink:

Noticing a lot of the baby shrimp are starting to gain size but still have no idea of the quantity, so far I have seen 5 at a single time but could quite possibly seen a lot more. I even saw a baby shrimps shed a shell which was weird and then swam off eventually.

Changing the water every other day by 50% now that the babies are in there.
 
Well I'm up to 8 babies being spotted all at once with 3 adults still remaining and no signs of the 2 missing ones. Nor has there been an ammonia/nitrite spike as I've been monitoring it with my test kit pre empting that this will probably happen if 2 are dead somewhere. However that hasn't happened so I'm assuming their bodies were consumed by something as there really is no hiding place for them.

Already have a home for these new little critters when they mature, hopefully I will get some more so I can give some to my girlfriend too.
 

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