raising newly-hatched ghost shrimp

[lampeye]

Well, I can say with near-100% certainty that adult females will hunt/eat offspring. I moved two berried up females to a 2.5 gallon Lustar tank with a substrate of oak leaves and two small pieces of Jf for "cover." On Friday, one's eggs hatched. By the following afternoon, there were only 3 remaining. Today, there are none. So, provide a LOT of cover and/or large quarters for berried fems.

Years ago when I had accidental success with them (my last surviving female was berried and I tossed her into a jar of her own), it was in an even smaller tank, and the water became quite foul, but there was a good deal of cover.

[Neonshrimp]

Good information for anyone expecting ghost shrimp hatching Thanks again!

[rugie]

If you arrange for your berried females to spawn again and provide you with an opportunity to try to save the fry consider this, for about the first 24 hrs the fry need special foods, esp live, in the form of infusoria type items = stentors, paramecium, rotifers etc. these can be maintained on a small scale in a birthing tank, by adding some scalded frozen spinach or raw slice of zuc squash a few days prior to installing the female the count will come up to good levels. females ready to throw off the fry should be placed in the tank at least 8 days prior to the event. the tank must be well cycled, well aerated, the same temp & ph as the tank she came from. the birthing tank must be old & well established or the fry will die. I use the fry food that comes in a tube one day prior to hatch and then for 6 days after. keep a sponge filter running in the tank 24/7/365 add beneficial bacteria on occasion. remove the mother after all are thrown off. I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED A SHRIMP EATING A LIVE FRY. most likely the fry died of starvation and then were eaten by the larger shrimp. I keep ramshorn & mystery snails in the tank as they provide infursoria.

[badflash]

I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED A SHRIMP EATING A LIVE FRY.

I have. If you leave the female in the tank, or other females are in the tank with them, the larva will be eaten. You can hedge your bets with thick plants that would protect the larva.

Rotifers and moina work well for food as so golden pearls.

[lampeye]

Yeast worked for me.

[badflash]

Yeast worked for me.

Active or dead?

[rugie]

Badflash, at what point did you observe this cannibalism?

[badflash]

I had 5 berried females in a tank at once. As one would release her larva, the others would eat them. It was several hours after release that a mother would start to eat her own larva.

[Neonshrimp]

If that isn't proof, I don't know what is!

[rugie]

5 berried females in a 2 1/2 gal tank? is a lot overcrowded for the circumstance. if the fry were not provided with dense cover then yes may become food for others. you say the mother waited several hours to start feeding on them, obviously not adequate hiding places. my birthing tanks are 10 gal loaded with java moss, low light. fry are almost impossible to catch esp since the shrimp are not designed as predators.

[badflash]

5 berried females in a 2 1/2 gal tank? is a lot overcrowded for the circumstance.

I think you have posts mixed up. I don't see where anyone put 5 in a 2.5 gallon tank. I did not state the tank size I used, but it was a 10 loaded with plants, mostly riccia.

These shrimp agressively eat any little thing that swims. They don't care if it is their own larva.

I have an on-going experiment with ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp. In the tank with the ghost shrimp I and seeing no babies at all. I have yet to see one eat a baby, but there were berried females in the tank. My other tanks give me loads of babies.

[Neonshrimp]

I have never seen a adult CRS or RCS attack/eat a baby as long as I have been raising them. I think it is just a built in instinct not to as it is a instinct for the macros to do the opposite.

[badflash]

I have never seen a adult CRS or RCS attack/eat a baby as long as I have been raising them. I think it is just a built in instinct not to as it is a instinct for the macros to do the opposite.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm talking about ghost shrimp eating baby RCS.

[rugie]

badflash, lampeye stated the use of a 2 1/2 gal tank. at the start of the thread. my error in getting the posters mixed, sorry

[Mustafa]

If you arrange for your berried females to spawn again and provide you with an opportunity to try to save the fry consider this, for about the first 24 hrs the fry need special foods, esp live, in the form of infusoria type items = stentors, paramecium, rotifers etc.

For the longest time I thought that P. paludosus larvae absolutely need food to survive, but I read a report (again...I forget which...I read so many) where larvae morphed into postlarvae without food. It was reported that there is better larval survival with food but I thought it was interesting that they can survive without. Having said that, I have always fed mine with crushed/powdered flakes. They also hunted down copepods in the tank. In a well established, fed, tank there should be enough little critters in a pocket of java moss or sponge to feed a brood.

I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED A SHRIMP EATING A LIVE FRY. most likely the fry died of starvation and then were eaten by the larger shrimp. I keep ramshorn & mystery snails in the tank as they provide infursoria.

I have never witnessed a ghost shrimp eat a live shrimp young either, but I can confirm badflash's observation that there are fewer surviving dwarf shrimp young in a tank with ghost shrimp than in a tank without. Same applies to their own larvae...they do eat them in my experience. If you have dense java moss growth, mor larvae might get away and survive.