My Second Shrimp-Only Tank Journal

[The Fisherman]

Thought I'd start another journal for my current shrimp-only tank.

Stats:

10g glass tank
50 Watt Hydor Heater
Whisper Power Filter (I'm either getting a screen cover for the intake, or just switching to a sponge filter.)

Decor:
Thin layer of sand/gravel
River rocks
Large thickets of Java moss
Several Java ferns
Driftwood

Inhabitants:
Lots of RCS, and 3 Amano shrimp, including one female Amano that is pushing 2.5".

I do a 25% water change once a week, and feed a small pinch of different varietys of food 2-3 times per week.

My last tank ended on a not so happy note...This one is going very well! I've recently seen at least one berried female cherrie, and I can find about 8 more females with developing bright patches. I'd say I'm headed in a good direction, and I should be overrun with shrimp soon.

I will keep this updated with my progress.

-John

[The Fisherman]

Here is a picture of one of the berried females:



Sorry the photo is so small, it is the only way I can get decent clarity on my pictures, because of my bad camera. I also patched it up in Photoshop a bit. I started watermarking all my photos too.


-John

[The Fisherman]

I thought that the female in the picture was berried...turns out shes not! The eggs hatched yesterday and there are baby RCS on the glass and in the Java Moss!

I think I'm headed to the LFS to get another 10g....Hehe.

[The Fisherman]

including one female Amano that is pushing 2.5".

Gah, typo! That should say 1.5"...


-John

[The Fisherman]

Just installed a sponge on the filter intake. We will see if it is small enough to prevent baby RCS from being sucked in. It is a Power Head Pre-Filter Sponge.

Also, just an observation, but the tank appears to be very healthy - there are lots of little 'bugs' running around on the glass, just like I see in my reef tank that is doing well.

-John

[The Fisherman]

Just picked up some bluish amanos.

I'll get some pics later.

One of the females is almost berried too.

I also got 2 free small pond snails. I'll be looking for some MTS too.

I'll get a tank shot up later.

-John

[The Fisherman]

No pics of the bluish amanos yet, although I did observe the new Amanos try to hide right after introduction. The existing Amanos tried piggybacking on the new Amanos.

I observed the same hide/piggybacking behavior when I introduced my first Amanos.

I'm going to try raising larvae of the Amanos.

Here are some more Cherry pics:





-John

[The Fisherman]

Heres a Tank-Shot:



I haven't done much aquascaping yet. I really don't like the substrate either, but I'm going to have to live with it. I guess the tank looks kinda okay...I learn a little more aquascaping with each setup.

-John (Yes, I have nothing else to do today )

[The Fisherman]

Just from casually looking around the tank, I count eleven baby RCS. I can see a little red coloration already in a few too. Also, there are about eight females with almost full saddles.

The Amanos seem to want to take the food first. When I put the flakes in, the Amanos are the first to dash out and grab it. They even try to take the flakes from a RCS that already has a flake.

The 'bluish' Amanos, definitely have different coloration. They have the normal stripe, but the stripe turns almost blue in the right lighting. There is also a 'sunburst' pattern around the head area. Some speckles turn blue in correct lighting.

I'm working on setting up a Saltwater Greenwater tank to raise Amanos in. I guess the plus side, is I can put my Peppermint Shrimp Larvae in there too.

I am also seriously debating another Ten Gallon Tank.

-John

[The Fisherman]

More pictures:









-John

[apistomaster]

Hi Fisherman,
Just a couple of questions:
1. Do you think the Amano Shrimp ate any of the cherryshrimp young?

2. Have you already been successful raising any Peppermint Shrimp past the larval stage? I have had the Peppermints drop hue numbers of larvae before I became interested in shrimp raising and only made a woefully inadequate attemt to save them.

Thank you,
Larry

[The Fisherman]

1. Do you think the Amano Shrimp ate any of the cherryshrimp young?

No, I'm 99.9% sure that Amanos will not eat Cherry shrimp young. I see the young grazing right along next to the Amanos. Infact, I actually saw a medium sized Amano just walked along, grazing. Suddenly, a 3 day old Cherry shrimp came up and 'poked' the Amano. The Amano freaked out and speeded away into a hiding spot as fast as he could. Quite humerous really.

2. Have you already been successful raising any Peppermint Shrimp past the larval stage? I have had the Peppermints drop hue numbers of larvae before I became interested in shrimp raising and only made a woefully inadequate attemt to save them.

Well, I haven't tried yet. I've been waiting, and reading. I've dug up as many scientific papers as I can. I feel 'armed with knowledge' now. I actually printed all the papers off and put them in page protectors, in a binder. I call it the 'Shrimp Journal'. I have a section for tank logs, a section for my research/findings, a section for hobby articles, and a section for scientific papers.
I've got the tanks set up and ready to go. I've got a 55 gallon main Saltwater tank, a 6 gallon smaller tank, and I'm setting up the 10 gallon green water tank for larvae rearing. I'm going to start out with 4 Peppermints. I'm going to buy them all at once to make sure they are all the same species. While I was at IMAC, I saw a lecture, there are actually 6 species of shrimps all commonly called Lysmata wurdemanni. I have 1 Peppermint right now, and I'm fairly he certain that it is a Lysmtata ankeri. The ones that normally come in to my LFS are Lysmata boggessi.
When I get some succesful larvae rearings, I'm going to experiment with population density with Peppermints. I'm hoping, and what I've read backs it up, that this type of shrimp can live in larger groups. That would be a good.
I'll start the thread when I buy the Peppermints and when I get a greenwater tank setup.

-John

[The Fisherman]

Oh - the only thing I'm really confused about raising the Peppermint Larvae, is if they actually will feed on green water and phyto, or if they need things like artemia and BBS....I'll keep reading. I've got a 44 page scientific paper I'm about to go read through.

I'll just start a new thread soon. I don't want to go too far off topic.

-John

[The Fisherman]

The first batch of RCS babys are doing well. I can see a faint red striped down some of their backs now.
Amanos are doing well. I don't think the new 3 are actually bluish. It was just the lighting at the LFS.

Heres a new pic: (I like taking pictures.)



Two of the Amanos are almost berried.

Shrimp keeping is so addictive...I am drawing up plans for building a stand that will hold 4 ten gallon setups. I might even double the size and go for eight.

-John

[The Fisherman]

As of last Saturday night, an Amano is berried. We will see if I can get the rearing tank up in time. The female is not very healthy - I took a chance with her, and I couldn't see it in the LFS lighting, but she might be slightly milky colored...Not a good sign.

I trying to come up with ways to collect the larvae as soon as possible. I hear that 'getting it right from the start' can make a huge differance.

-John