Halocaridina rubra reproduction question

[KenCotigirl]

This question is for our moderator. One month or two ago in a responce to an inquiry you stated that your colony of H.rubra is growing but not enough yet for the distribution of any shrimp. I have had a colony of about 100 since Nov. 2008. My tank parameters are as you have suggested in the species profile. My shrimp are active, moulting and apparently healthy. The last shrimp that I lost was back in Dec. 2008. However there have been no signs of reproduction. Do you have any suggestions? Should I vary temp., salinity, light and/or food? Just be patient? Is breeding seasonal? Are hiding places needed, ie. pvc pipe caves? My shrimp are not shy. They moult out in the open.

Thank you in advance, Ken P

[Mustafa]

This may sound like a strange question, but do they have enough to eat?

[KenCotigirl]

How can I tell?

I was using 30 watts of flourescent light but that seemed to cause excessive algae growth. I have MTS? (I think) in the tank that multiply rapidly. I have reduced the lighting to 15 watts about a week ago that is on for about 15 hours a day to reduce the algae growth. I feed the shrimp spiralina flakes about the size of a dime twice a week and twice a week they get pure spiralina powder about the size of a match head. The flakes are consumed within 5-10 minutes. The powder takes a little longer since the shrimp need to invert themselves to get the powder on the water surface.

After thinking your question through I can say that not all the shrimp have a full digestive track. It is hard to quantify but I would guess that less than half have a full digestive track. Maybe a 1/4 are empty and 1/4 are partially full.

They are really active if not agressive towards each other when food is offered. I would love to feed them more often because they fun to watch but I am concerned of over feeding.

[nick11380]

I was thinking about asking the same question about my Malawa shrimp. Their about 5 months old and 1.5 - 2 cm and haven't started reproducing yet. I have a 75 watt flourescent light for algae growth. Because of all the algae. I haven't been feeding them. But their growing, moulting, and pooping but not reproducing. My Malawa shrimp aren't very active they just sit and pick.

Could they be too young? Need more food? Could there be something in the water that doesn't show up on the tests?

[ernopena]

In my experience, my opae ula stop breeding when there's no more space for them to grow. My tank is a 2.5 gallon with around 100 shrimp. I had to give away around 20-25 to my friend for the colony to start breeding again. There's definitely enough food, since the back wall is green with algae. And the water is warm enough at the right salinity.

In the beginning, the key to getting the first 16 shrimp to breed was providing them a lavarock "cave" made from well-cured liverock with plenty on dark interior space for them to hide in. About a month after that, I discovered 3 berried females. And they kept breeding from then on until the population got to about a hundred.

If you search the forum, you'll see my old posts with plenty of pictures...

[KenCotigirl]

In my experience, my opae ula stop breeding when there's no more space for them to grow. My tank is a 2.5 gallon with around 100 shrimp. I had to give away around 20-25 to my friend for the colony to start breeding again. There's definitely enough food, since the back wall is green with algae. And the water is warm enough at the right salinity.

In the beginning, the key to getting the first 16 shrimp to breed was providing them a lavarock "cave" made from well-cured liverock with plenty on dark interior space for them to hide in. About a month after that, I discovered 3 berried females. And they kept breeding from then on until the population got to about a hundred.

If you search the forum, you'll see my old posts with plenty of pictures...

I checked your post from 2006 but the pictures did not load.

[KenCotigirl]

I checked your post from 2006 but the pictures did not load.[/quote]

I found your pics. from 2008. I think it is worth a try to provide some hiding places. It has worked for you.

Ken P

[angry pirate]

is they are being hostile to eachother i would up the feeding slightly and try more fresh foods they always seem to stimulate breeding in my tanks, amazing what a peice of cucumber will accomplish.

[KenCotigirl]

is they are being hostile to eachother i would up the feeding slightly and try more fresh foods they always seem to stimulate breeding in my tanks, amazing what a peice of cucumber will accomplish.

I am feeding a little more. Started about 2 weeks ago. They never seem to not be hungry. I avoid live food. Nutrition is questionable. Also seems too easy to overfeed. I bumped the temp. to 80-82f. Will buy pieces of branch coral from the LFS to create a ruble pile. This should provide some privacy if needed. Hopefully and with patience this may stimulate breeding.

[Mustafa]

If they are not too crazy about the food that means that there is enough food for them. Just leave them alone and everything will be fine in time. Yes, overfeeding and deteriorating the water can happen all too easily.

[thgng]

I had over 100 Halocaridina rubra in a 10 Gallon tank with some Malaya Trumpet Snail (MTS) for years.
The shrimp were breeding fine... until yesterday.... I found none left.

I did a nitrite test and found the level below 0.9mg /l, which was tolerable.
Unfortunately, I did not perform the Amonnia test.

Then I realized my mistakes:
a) Since it was a blackish tank, I just top up the water and never change them, some chemical properties in the water might have spiked !
b) The MTS were growing and reproducing to a level which were just too many. MTS poo a lot !
c) Both species of animal need CALCIUM to grow and live ! The MTS were producing more than the shrimp and the calcium in the water were been depleted by them.
d) The ammonia might spike at a certain point in time, killing my shrimp !
e) I did not wash my biological filters ! I added good beneficial bacterial believing it will help the tank, whenever I top up the water. After I torn down my tank, I found the filters badly choked.

The moral of the story is to do the aquarium maintenance regularly, especially if you have snails in the tank.

If you suspect you tank has a calcium deficiency, check your snail immediately and observe the following:
i) Are the adult snail smaller than they used to be ?
ii) Are their shells more brittle than before ?
iii) Do you see more baby snail dying and not grow to adult hood ?

The following is a good source of calcium to check out:
1) calcium carbonate
2) oyster shell calcium
3) coral calcium

If you take care of all the above, I bet reproduction will improve again.

[KenCotigirl]

Hello all. It has been months since my last post. The reason was that I had no news. Today I feel almost like a expectant father. This week has been a triple play. First my red cherry shrimp is with eggs. I have been killing them for the last 2 years. I had only 4 left and considered giving up on shrimp. I even purchased some dwarf crays several months ago. The four are still alive after several months which for me is almost a first and more maybe on the way with the female with eggs. Secondly one if not two of the dwarf crays is with egg. This is pretty neat. Finally and to me the most important I saw one of my Halocaridina rubra with eggs! Four eggs in fact. I even had my with verify that I was not seeing things. After a year the Halocaridina rubra are reproducing.

I realize that the above good news could be fleeting but I don't care. My current good luck has made up for my past failings. I am glad that I have stuck it out!!

[Terran]

Well congrats!.... Hopefully things continue to work out for you. It is so much less stressful(for the human) when you have a self perpetuating population(of shrimp/crays).

[thgng]

Recently, I found a University website who are into the research of these shrimps:
http://www.auburn.edu/~santosr/

I followed their setup in the photo gallery and guess what ? They are breeding !
They don't breed immediately but as they get more acculmate to their environment, they do.

Mine breeded after 4 months.

[KenCotigirl]

thgng

I went on the site you posted but did not find what you were talking about. Please provide more info where on Mr. santos' site is the info for how he set up a H. rubra tank.

Ken P