My Tiger Breeding Journal (with Photos)

[TheTeh]

This is my tiger/cherry shrimp setup (10L) picture taken several days ago. Notice the baby Endlers in this tank, I have transferred them to another tank after reading that baby Endler eats shrimplets!! I don't want to risk it!



Water parameters are: 23C, pH 7.6, KH8, GH18, NO3 10, NO2 0. No CO2 supply, no filter but just a pump to circulate the water (notice the pump inlet is embeded in the substrate, it is a Hydor Thermopump so it regulates temperature too!). Substrates are minigravels of 3-5mm diameter. 10-30% water change daily.

Note that the cherries are pale colour perhaps to matched the substrate. When they were kept in EcoComplete substrate, they were bright red!!

Lighting is office table halogen light (20W; produces bright yellowish light) from Ikea, on for 12hrs daily.

Daily suppliments: 3 drops (0.3ml) of Seachem Excel, 1 drop (0.1ml) of Potassium Iodide (8mg/ml concentration), 3 drops of blackwater extract (Kent). Weekly, 2 drops (0.2ml) of Seachem Fluorish. I am not sure if these suppliments are any good but I certainly see dramatic growth of my Cladophora and java moss, despite no CO2 injection!

Last month the eggs looks solid brown:



The tiger carried the eggs for after about a month, during this time the eggs gradually turned from brown to transparent!

During the last few days, the eggs have turned from brown to nearly colourless. At first I thought they have hatched but a closer look, all the eggs were still between the swimmerets.



Today, I noticed that most of the eggs were gone, except one left in the mother!! First thought was the eggs must have hatched!!!!!



Look around the tank and found one BABY TIGER!! )




The first two days after hatching, babies all went hiding and inactive. Today, I saw at least 8-12 babies scattered all around my 10L tank!! They are no longer hiding and brave enough to walk about under bright light looking for food!!! For size comparison, by chance I captured this image when the mother landed on top of the baby stading on an Anubia leaf:



Now, I hope that they will survive till adulthood!!!

More photos of the baby shrimps can be found here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_macro_closeup.html

And Tiger shrimp movies here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/macro_shrimp_movies.html

[mr.gaboozlebag]

Wow great pictures. this is a great step by step journal.

[TheTeh]

Thanks!

Latest updat:
Just found out that this female Tiger (shown in the pics above) is now carrying eggs again!! She had only two weeks rest after she hatched the eggs!!!! Now, both of my female Tigers are carrying eggs!! ( I have only three adult tiger shrimps in total, two female and one male)
Population explosion soon?!!

[fishcrazee]

What is that weird algae like ball on your drift wood?

[JerseyScape]

hey, now you're here too . Good job on the journal.

[jake]

Wow - I didn't know they made electron microscope attachements for digital cameras now. Nice pictures, and congrats on the shrimplets.

[TheTeh]

Fishcrazee: That is indeed algae (Cladophora) which I have now removed!! It was kind of cute at the begining but later got out of control. When I remove it, millions of tiny fragments spread all around my tank!!! UGhhhhh... I am trying to dose Excel at the moment to stop them.

Jerseyscape: Yes, I just found out about Plantedtank.net!!

jake: Thanks for the comments! The attachements are just closeup filters. Actually it is due to increase in camera resolution (my camera has 8 megapixels) so that one can crop right in and the picture still retains its resolution pretty good.

[StLouisGuy]

Well done! Have you noticed any tiger shrimp that are blue? I have had a few blues in my tank and I am curious how common they occur.

[TheTeh]

Hi StLouisGuy,

Thanks. I have not noticed any blue tigers, they are all reddish/brown.

P/s: I have been to St Louis last year, it is a beautiful city indeed!
Here are the pics I took:
http://www.theteh.com/html/st_louis.html

[GreenerSideofLIfe]

How do you take photos like that?!?! WOW

[TheTeh]

Update:

I was worried about cross breeding between my Tigers and Cherries as they are kept in the same tank. For the first 2 weeks the baby shrimps look like cherries!! But...today, I noticed the development of Tiger bandings on some of the baby shrimps which are 3 weeks old now...



More photos were added to the gallery here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_macro_closeup.html

[TheTeh]

Update:

3 1/2 weeks old tiger baby showing tiger stipes and no sign of cherry, confirmed no hybridisation with Cherries:

[TheTeh]

another pic taken today. This baby Tiger shrimp is about 10mm long:

[bigstick120]

Nice journal and great photos to boot!! Keep us posted

[StLouisGuy]

I don't think tiger shrimp will cross with cherry shrimp but don't put tigers with crystal red shrimp or they might cross breed.