My new project.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:58 pm

Saw only two of these remaining in a shrimp tank at my local shop a while ago and snatched them up to try my hand at them. I assume that they are bee shrimp. Well they have been growing up quickly and I am happy to report that the female has held onto her eggs for a little over ten days so I'm hoping they're fertile. The odds of buying only two shrimp and having opposite sexes is getting lucky.

Sorry for the poor quality, just a cheap one megapixal camera and me.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:24 pm

Congrats!

Yes, they are bee shrimp. Just make sure that the PH is below 7 (6.0-6.5 should be perfect) and the water very clean and most of the young should be able to survive. Keep us updated!

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:39 am

The pH is my problem. Unfortunately I have discovered that the gravel in their current tank got contaminated with some crushed coral so even though the water is really soft, adjusting the pH is futile. Since discovering this I started adjusting a separate tank to proper water parameters. I'm lucky enough that my local store has R/O water that tests out at 6.5 with my Hanna so all I have to do is add a little Kent R/O right to it and alls go. I'll just ever so slowly acclimate her to the new tank and cross fingers.

Post by **Mustafa** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:13 pm

Yeah, ph is everybody's problem when it comes to acidic water shrimp (unfortunately). I have a feeling that the R/O right won't be needed. It will have no benefit to the shrimp at best and might actually raise the ph at worst (since it has alkalinity builders, too). R/O water that has not been deionized still has more than enough trace minerals left. The natural waters of these shrimp are basically "natural r/o" water with extremely low conductivity/TDS values. Just a tip.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:23 pm

I followed Mustafa's advice and went to pure silica sand and pure R/O water, then adjusted it with Muratic Acid. It took a couple of weeks, but it settled down and has been running 6.4-6.5 nice & steady. Water changes are pur R/O water. My bumblebees are fine with that, but no eggs so far. Its only been a few weeks though. I had to remove the "perch" rocks I had as they were a sandstone with some carbonate in it. Screwed up the pH.

Most of my plants are doing poorly, but the riccia loves it.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:06 pm

One of the concerns I had was about how stripped the water was and if there was enough traces in it to sustain life. My TDS checks at around 10ppm. I'm going to double check with the store to make sure the don't deionize their water, pretty sure they don't, but why guess. The pH did increase a bit after adding the R/O right, but I'm correcting that now. The only frustrating thing about the substate being contaminated is that I have to set up a separate tank sooner than I'd like. I was planning on replacing it anyway with a dark substrate such as my favorite Tahitian Moonsand. Plus I wasn't expecting to get lucky with these shrimp, but then that's how it goes, right when you don't expect something, it happens. In this case it's a good thing.

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:53 am

I bought a pregnant one (which looks like exactly the same as the two in your photos) over three weeks ago but I still can't see babies for the time being. Besides, the shopkeeper told me mine was a Rainbow Diamond Shrimp. Mine got some white stripes near the tail. Mine doesn't look like an ordinary Bee I can see in fish shops. Now I wonder what species she is.

I wish to ask what "RO" means.

Besides, this shrimp has been pregnant for quite a long time. The eggs could be clearly seen when she was in the shop. That means she has been pregnant for over one month. By the way, do shrimps deliver babies only in the dark (at night) or any time of the day?

Thank you !

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:15 am

Amendment:

Finally I saw some Rainbow Diamond babies one minute ago !!!!

Hey, there are still some eggs inside the mother's body.

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:54 am

beckypyyeung wrote: I wish to ask what "RO" means.

RO mean Reverse Osmosis

geeze

i have no prob with acidic water , just problem with found the shrimp

keep us inform

Shrimpmania · Post by **Shrimpmania** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:19 am

CONGRATS!

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:44 am

Thank you everybody

I'll keep you informed of their growth

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:17 am

Congratulations on your shrimp. I hope they all do well.

By the way, do shrimps deliver babies only in the dark (at night) or any time of the day?

I don't believe there is any preference for when they deliver. When the time comes, out they pop.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:00 pm

It has been nearly four weeks and finally the day has arrived for the eggs to hatch into tiny little baby 'Bees'.

Now it's a matter of seeing how many will survive. I have the water parameters steady at around 100 TDS, pH is 6.0, and temperature is 73.5 F.

Post by **Mustafa** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:26 am

frugalfish wrote:It has been nearly four weeks and finally the day has arrived for the eggs to hatch into tiny little baby 'Bees'. Now it's a matter of seeing how many will survive. I have the water parameters steady at around 100 TDS, pH is 6.0, and temperature is 73.5 F.

As long as you've been doing regular water changes most of the young should survive. Your water parameters are pretty much perfect for this species so the only "job" left would be to keep the nitrates and other dissolved organic matter at a minimum in the tank. If only a few of the young survive, you might want to try 40-50 percent water changes every 2-3 days for about a week or week and half before you go back to your weekly schedule or whatever schedule works for you (this, of course, all depends on stocking levels, size of tank, plants etc.). Bee shrimp babies are a LOT more sensitive to nitrate and dissolved organics than red cherry shrimp young. My bee shrimp and crystal red shrimp don't seem to mind such large water changes even if the temperature drops by a few degrees in the process. Even if you do not measure any nitrate in the water there may be an accumulation of other dissolved organics. The large water changes should take care of that.

So, how many have you counted so far? They are *very* hard to see the first few days since they are tiny and their colors have not fully developed yet. You should start seeing more next week if you don't see all that many today.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:38 am

Environment:

5 gallon tank
Tahitian Moonsand substrate, inert
Sponge filter
Heater
Taiwan moss
Mini moss
R/O water properly conditioned

Inhabitants:

3 Caridina simoni simoni, all males
3 Caridina sp. 'Bee', two male, one female

I've so far consistantly counted 20 baby shrimp. Definitely tough to see

, but they contrast well against the Taiwan moss. This tank has been going for about two weeks with very carefully monitored feedings. No measureable nitrates, etc. due to low bioload and plants.

Do not panic about the fact that this tank has only been going for two weeks. Sponge filter was seeded in an already established aquarium weeks prior to being added to this tank. Couple that with healthy plants and only a few shrimp, wallah, easy set-up.

Although the adult Bees and Sri Lankans were doing fine in their prior tank, they are showing much better health in this new tank. I especially notice this with the Sri Lanka.