highly pregnant amano shrimp... HELP

[DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR]

one of my amano shrimp has a huge mass of eggs under her belly!!!


what am i going to do?
what is the protocol?

i say a tupperware with airstone as a container, now how do we salt this up?
what is needed for a chance that some of these can make it?

help me out!
i dont want to waste this opportunity..

[fishsandwitch]

you will need a LOT more that a tupperware...you need a real tank and micro foods. It is tons of effort and you really need a fishroom and a ton of time

[Ebichua]

You can actually raise the larvae in a one gallon tank. Just transfer the mom when she's expected to give birth soon. Once she releases all the eggs, remove her and change that water into brackish water instantly. Aim for a 30ppm salinity. No acclimation is required when changing water from fresh to brackish. They can live up to about a week at the most in Freshwater.
Foods need to be extremely micro. Green water is a part of their diet.

The process is long and hard, most people don't bother. I, for one, have a pregnant amano and I'm not even gonna bother. At least, I don't really feel like it right now. However, if you do step up to the challenge, it can be rewarding :-)

Whatever you do, good luck with her!

P.S. I packed the snails up for tomorrow's shipping. There's a total of 12 so that allows about 4 per tank :-)

[DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR]

thanks ebichua,
i cant wait to see the snails!!

i was refferring to a big tuperware, probably half gallon.

but i do have an empty 10 gallon that i busted an inch of glass off part of the top section while i was trying to make it rimless.
i got another and finished with sucess, but kept the broken one...

and times like this it could come in handy.

i could fill it halfway and stick her in there tommorrow.
i really have no idea how far along she is or how long till she lets go. but there are so many eggs it looks ridiculous, and i think it should go soon.

so, how do we estimate 30 ppm salinity using teaspoons or grams?
how much of what kind of salt do i add to about 5 gallons water?
can i use plain sea salt from the kitchen? non iodized salt? or do i actually need to buy some at the lfs?

what kind of "micro foods?" i heard a rumor they can use anarchis for this? am i just hearing things?



shrimp are so awesome....

[DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR]

how can we "grow" green water in a cup?
is putting fish food in a cup of water under a light going to do anything?

[clwatkins10]

put some ferts in a cup of water in bright sun. or you could order some euglena from a lab company, but I dont know if that would work

[Ebichua]

Double dose on ferts in a bucket of water. Let it sit outside in direct sunlight and put a very fine mesh over it. Make sure no insects or pests can go in. This will create a constant source of green water for you. Suck a small amount of green water up and squirt it into your larvae tank.

Here's an amazing link for you to read up on, if you decide to attempt this breeding method.
http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

[gmccreedy]

I am actually doing this now and have just removed my shrimp from salinity.

There are many methods to "feed" the zoes. I personally used a commercial marine phytoplankton and just dosed as I went. Water never went "green" but they grew and went through their first metamorphosis. I only have a few that survived the full cycle in the salt tank, but its worth the experiment if you have some time.

The key to the whole thing, the lights must remain on 24/7!!!

Don't just think that you can just throw them in a bucket of slt water and come back in a month.

BTW, the little hatchlings can take a while to catch because they are so small. I used a syringe and just sucked them up, added directly to salt water.

To measure salinity, use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity (their is no direct way to measure "actual" salinity", only the specific gravity of the solution at a specified temperature.

You can tell when the zoes are about to hatch by a the appearance of a very dark shadow under the shrimps belly. It gets darker right towards the end.
Good luck.

[epicfish]

Originally Posted by gmccreedy

I am actually doing this now and have just removed my shrimp from salinity.

There are many methods to "feed" the zoes. I personally used a commercial marine phytoplankton and just dosed as I went. Water never went "green" but they grew and went through their first metamorphosis. I only have a few that survived the full cycle in the salt tank, but its worth the experiment if you have some time.

The key to the whole thing, the lights must remain on 24/7!!!

Don't just think that you can just throw them in a bucket of slt water and come back in a month.

BTW, the little hatchlings can take a while to catch because they are so small. I used a syringe and just sucked them up, added directly to salt water.

To measure salinity, use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity (their is no direct way to measure "actual" salinity", only the specific gravity of the solution at a specified temperature.

You can tell when the zoes are about to hatch by a the appearance of a very dark shadow under the shrimps belly. It gets darker right towards the end.
Good luck.

You can also use a refractometer that measures the refraction of light by differing concentrations of salt water. They're a bit pricier though, so if an exact salinity level isn't crucial, go for the hydrometer.

Good luck, post pictures, and detail your progress! I've had berried amanos before but thought it'd be too much work. Maybe I was wrong.

[gmccreedy]

I wouldn't say its difficult persay, but volatile seems the best way to put it. One slight misstep and its finished.

This is the furthest I have ever made it and I have tried quite a few times. I did have one misstep in this current process and lost almost all of them within a few hours. Only a few survived.

[DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR]

i think il go with a hyrometer.
i cam across that mikes machine link last night before you posted and read it from top to bottom.

i will follow his method and see where it lands me.

and for the ease i am going to seperate the female into her own freshwater tank, wait til she drops the eggs, scoop her out, then get that water at marine salinity.


i wonder for what purpose the light needs to be on 24 hours a day. in the wild it is not like this...?

anyway, if i get even a few shrimp out of this it would be worth it.
next time they decide to mate i wanna watch

[Ebichua]

Come to SJ and pick up my pregnant amano so you can raise her babies too :-D I feel like I'm wasting her eggs because I don't really want to go out and buy a new tank and equip for her larvae.

[gmccreedy]

Those eggs aren't a waste. Fish will eat them.

Discus, I have wondered about the light thing myself, but that is what happened to me this time around, I burnt a bulb out on the fixture I was using and sure enough, wammo...almost everything was dead.

[Ebichua]

Yeah, I know my fish will eat them :-( I love inverts though, so I feel kinda sad.

As for the light, I believe it's to keep them moving. The larvae are attracted to light, similarly to BBS. Maybe they burn a lot of energy, therefore, requiring them to constantly be feeding. And with light, they'll be always moving and as a result, constantly eating as well. I'm just pulling this out of my arse, but it would be a possibility, no?

Discus, please keep us updated if you follow through on this! I'd love to hear your outcomes and experiences. perhaps it will sway me to raise my pregnant amano's larvae too!

[lauraleellbp]

Originally Posted by Ebichua

Double dose on ferts in a bucket of water. Let it sit outside in direct sunlight and put a very fine mesh over it. Make sure no insects or pests can go in. This will create a constant source of green water for you. Suck a small amount of green water up and squirt it into your larvae tank.

Here's an amazing link for you to read up on, if you decide to attempt this breeding method.
http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

Great link, I've been looking for something like that!