Caridina japonica larvae?

tnnlynch · Post by **tnnlynch** » Tue May 03, 2005 8:02 pm

I have quite a few amano and red cherry shrimp in my 120g. While netting a few of the smaller red cherry's out of my over flow (in a white brine shrimp net) I noticed a very small dark wiggler. It's almost only eyes and a tail. I found quite a few of them in the overflow. Some of the larger ones reminded me of the amano's.

I assume since I am not varying the salt these guys (if amanos) are doomed? How big do amano larvae get before they die in freshwater?

Tom

bochr · Post by **bochr** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:44 am

They have to be transfered to saltwater within 6 days after the female releses them.

Here's a picture of a 16 days old Amano larvae

Shroitaka · Post by **Shroitaka** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:46 am

I say leave them in there and see if they'll live.
I have heard of someone that successfully raised their amano shrimplets in freshwater before.

amber2461 · Post by **amber2461** » Wed May 04, 2005 8:09 pm

I have never had any of my shrimplets live in freshwater, and they are in a shrimp only tank and therefore no predators either.

Good luck then !

Aphyosemion · Post by **Aphyosemion** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:53 am

It has been mentioned and tested by some amano breeders and apparently confirmed that amano larvae do not survive in fresh or brackish water, but need full strength saltwater. The more the salinity drops below full strength saltwater, the more larvae die. It was also noted that there is a closely related shrimp that does not need saltwater and it's larvae can survive in freshwater. Everytime I see someone bring up amano shrimp breeding, someone says, Hey, I heard you don't need saltwater, so just cross your fingers. The following is an exerpt from a breeder named Mike Noren who has the only followable guide that I have found on the net regarding breeding amanos:

"While there are numerous reports of Amano-shrimp reproducing in freshwater, my own experiments at using pure freshwater met with total failure. There does appear to exist a closely related species occasionally for sale which is virtually indistinguishable from Caridina japonica, and whose larvae can complete development in freshwater, however I believe most reports of freshwater breeding are cases of mistaken identity (e.g. Tow Fui's guide, which surely concerns some smaller species with direct development, not Caridina japonica)."

I think it is important to clear up the confusion on this subject and not to perpetuate it.
-Aphyosemion

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:17 pm

Aphyosemion wrote: Everytime I see someone bring up amano shrimp breeding, someone says, Hey, I heard you don't need saltwater, so just cross your fingers.

I think it is important to clear up the confusion on this subject and not to perpetuate it.
-Aphyosemion

You hit the nail on the head. The mother of all sources of confusion about this is right here:

http://www.jayscustomcomputers.com/wilm ... page1.html

This so called "article", has been quoted and copied and distributed ad nauseum so that now we have this problem of people perpetuating information that was nonsensical to begin with and *insisting* that it's the gospel. Wilma Duncan has been "recommended" for years as the person "to go to" if you wanted to know how to breed Amano shrimp "since she has done it."

And here is what Wilma thinks are "Baby Amano Shrimp":

http://www.jayscustomcomputers.com/wilm ... /baby.html

Anyone with half a brain will realize, after reading her "article" and looking at the alleged "baby amano shrimp", that Wilma is very confused and is definitely *not* breeding anything even resembling Caridina japonica. First, in her "article" she writes:

"The tank was full of baby shrimp hiding among the plants." (describing her first time noticiing that shrimp had hatched).

Caridina japonica has free swimming larvae *not* "baby shrimp." These larvae *never* hide anywhere but are obligatorily *always* in the water column. They can't hide in plants even if they wanted to. Wilma does not report seeing any free swimming larvae.

At this point one could think: "Well...so she is probably not breeding any Caridina japonica, but some shrimp that produces fully developed mini-shrimp."

However, if one takes a look at her supposed "Amano Shrimp Baby" one realizes right away that even that conclusion has to be severely doubted. She is showing us an Amphipod/Scud as an Amano Shrimp Baby, for heaven's sake!! That's not a baby...that's a totally different animal! It's like showing a guinea pig and saying that it's the baby of a Lama! I have tried telling Wilma that she has an Amphipod picture on her website, but she keeps insisting it's an Amano Baby and takes offense to my suggestion that it's an Amphipod. Oh well...at least I tried.

So, all this "information" on her website is out there for everyone to see (including the picture of the Amphipod) and there are *still* people going around citing her article as an authoritative "source."

In any case...I hope that as more and more people learn more about shrimp, these kinds of reports will be rejected right away as nonsense instead of being perpetuated for years.

Now that this website with info on shrimp is availalbe (and it's been available for almost a year now) there should be absolutely no excuse for giving credence to nonsensical reports and perpetuating them.

Take care,
Mustafa

Aphyosemion · Post by **Aphyosemion** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:43 pm

She insists that is an amano shrimp even after being told otherwise? ROFL! I wonder how long it will take her to realize that it doesn't seem to be "growing up?"

Maybe she will decide there is something in the water that is stunting it's growth.

-Aphyosemion

Post by **Mustafa** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:45 pm

Aphyosemion wrote:She insists that is an amano shrimp even after being told otherwise? ROFL! I wonder how long it will take her to realize that it doesn't seem to be "growing up?" Maybe she will decide there is something in the water that is stunting it's growth.
-Aphyosemion

As they say, you can lead the horse to the water, but you can't make it drink. Same situation here. You can show a person an Amphipod but you can't *make* her believe that it is actually one.

.

Mustafa

tnnlynch · Post by **tnnlynch** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:36 pm

I couldn't find any of them when I went looking again. Not sure from what legitamate infromation I have read I would have the equipment, time & patience to successfully raise them anyway.

The red cherry young are all over and seem to be doing well in the overflow filter box. I figure I'll leave them in there until they get a bit larger and then move them back into the main tank.

Tom