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I thought it would be worthwhile to start a little journal here on the forum showing my progress with the amazing Malawa shrimp.

My shrimp arrived today from Mustafa... amazing packing job. Really well done. After acclimating per the instructions into a very well seasoned tank, we let them "run"...

Some observations:

First off - these are the most fun shrimp to watch! Of the dozen I bought, an average of 3-4 are swimming around at any time... they aren't frantically swimming like cherries... they swim leisurely and even stop mid-swim to hover/float in the water! As soon as I released the shrimp into the tank, my girlfriend was laughing because they immediately were "swimming and hopping" around the tank. They will walk, skip a little and then swim... and continue.

Secondly - these are hard shrimp to photograph! I'm not using a flash... I don't want to freak them out. They are constantly moving... so I'll keep trying... but here are some initial shots. I have a couple funny shots with even more blurry shots of shrimp darting around...

-steve

OK... I've been working on the camera technique.

A couple more - we are just fascinated by these guys! They are CONSTANTLY swimming around, checking stuff out.

Looks like they are feeling right at home. In case anyone is wondering...these are still juveniles and don't show much coloration or any patterns. Just make sure that you relocate the fish if you want to have any babies survive in the future.

We moved the Dario Dario (shown blurred in one of the photos above) into another tank this morning.

Mustafa - you may not be surprised to hear that our Juvenile Malawas were actually were harassing the fish - more than the other way around... they would swim up to and then almost LAND on the fish! Hilarous to watch... they are fearless.

Question: How long do you expect it to take for these to reach breeding age?

I thought it was a D. dario. Very nice fish. Their natural diet consists of tiny crustaceans so the baby shrimp would fit the bill (even if the juveniles you have right now don't fit in its mouth). Also, if fish aren't used to seeing shrimp they don't regard them as food. However, once they happen to take a test bite they discover that shrimp are pretty tasty and want more of that yummy treat. I've seen this happen with various species of fish. The juveniles should reach breeding age in about a month or two.

Kinda scary - we found a dead juvenile Malawa last night... and then saw 3 tiny hydras on the glass, all within 1 inch of each other in a triangle formation! I've never had hydras before, so searched and searched on here and elsewhere and learned a lot of scary information.

Considering the options... I decided to suck the hydras out right away... I am now actively monitoring the situation.


I do have a VERY small backup tank populated heavily with "orange shrimp", but don't want to move the Malawas in there.... however, if I see another death... or more hydras cropping up, I will be forced to move them over right away.

I am stopping feeding for now - the shrimps have enough biofilm to stay busy anyhow - and will keep y'all posted. The other shrimp are happy as ever, and one in particular - the largest - is noticably starting to show some color and more iridesence.

Code red... just found a dozen more hydras... and even saw one sting a shrimp. The shrimp seemed to take it in stride... for now.

Moving on Code Red evacuation.

OK... here is a picture of the problem... and then a picture of (my) solution... I moved all shrimp to Tank 2 and threw these guys in and they mopped up the Hydra overnight. Leaving them in there for a while - and keeping them hungry - until I don't see Hydra for a few days.

Some photos from the holding tank - quite the shrimp party going on!

Is this boring everyone?

Video added showing some swimming behavior in the holding tank... I'm guessing there is no chance of cross breeding between my cherry and orange shrimp... correct?

Video post at Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7727&hl=en

Update with photos from tonight. These shrimp are also good at hiding - I've seen these juveniles squish down into my relatively course substrate... and sometimes panic because I don't see them only to see a bunch hanging out in a log...

I'm entranced by them - I love how the arc across the tank in a perfect parabola, leisurely swimming.

They are starting to show some color...

Last one for now...