I've got baby green shrimp!

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 9:03 pm

I just got my first shipment of Caridina cf. babaulti three days ago, and today I have babies!!! I was told they would be tiny but I had no idea just how tiny until I saw something I thought was lint

Once it landed on the glass, I could clearly see legs and antennae. My newborns are about 2 mm in total length and a clear-white color. I hope they weren't born 'premature' from the stress of shipping.

I had no idea one of the girls was even berried

It's hard to see through those opaque shells.

Anyway, here's some pics of the adults.

I apologize for the picture quality, as my camera is a cheapo point-and-shoot which doesn't allow me to focus manually. There was no way it would focus on the babies, so unfortunately no pics of those.

These pics were taken the day before the babies came. Since then I've changed the sponge covering the intake tube you see above, to one with a much much smaller pore size. Eventually I'm going to transition to just a larger sponge filter than the one you see here.

Also, I noticed my guys aren't very green compared to some pics I've seen. Does that mean the ones I received are of lower quality or grade? Of course, they change colors readily (ranging from dark brown to tan to green) but at their greenest they are more of a lime green.

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:18 am

you green shrimp look like heteropoda yellow or greenish for me , and not the two specie mustafa listed, who had name in the past "Caridina cf babalbaulti green"

bue beautiful shrimp

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:37 am

Congrats! There are several species of yellow-green shrimp. Who knows what they are, except nice!

Keep up the good work!

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:22 am

Congrats indeed! Regardless of the exact species, it's always fun to see healthy shrimplets swarming about.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:31 pm

zapisto wrote:you green shrimp look like heteropoda yellow

no, I don't think so. Their heads are quite different from my RCS.

Thank you, everyone! I feel extremely lucky that my batch arrived healthy, for the most part. Too many horror stories of people receiving dead or dying green shrimp

That makes me sad and angry at whoever shipped them. I had 2 DOA's and a couple died shortly thereafter, but as you can see everyone else is feeling fine

I can assure you, when it comes time for me to start sending out my own shipments of green shrimp, they will be packaged with the utmost care. I've gone through too much for these guys to lose them like that.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:39 pm

oh, here's a pic of the shrimp looking brown. This was taken on their first day. I've noticed they tend to be tan/brown if they are feeling uncertain, because the next day the majority of them were that lovely lime green.

I doubt yellow N. heteropoda have the ability to turn brown. Correct?

I've also noticed that one female in particular seems to be dark brown all the time. She looks larger than the other girls, so maybe it has to do with age? But does anyone know if her offspring will tend to be less green?

Kenshin · Post by **Kenshin** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:15 pm

My Green shrimps, the Caridina cf babalbaulti green actually stayed green (lime green to dark bright green) most of the time. If they start to turn into a tan brown color, it shows that they are not healthy. Female green shrimps (at least for my) always stay green and do not turn brown in color at all. Also their eggs are bright dark green in color as well.

Also, Neocaridina heteropoda has the ability to turn brownish in color. The wild type of that species is actually brownish or darkish brown color. Even the yello N. heteropoda does not remain yellow at all times if the water conditions are not suited to their needs.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:03 pm

Kenshin wrote: If they start to turn into a tan brown color, it shows that they are not healthy.

uh oh, that's not good news. Does that mean I should be worried about mine? Grr, that brings me back to my statement above about unscrupulous sellers who not only package poorly, but send out inferior livestock. But I got mine from Frank's Aquarium, and as far as I know he's usually pretty good.

Interesting that wild N. heteropoda can change color to brown. I did not know that, as I have only been exposed to the domesticated RCS variety. So perhaps mine are indeed a variety of N. heteropoda? But their head is just so different

Kenshin, do you have any pics of yours? I'd love to see them. At the very least to compare your guys to mine, in an attempt to identify them.

Kenshin · Post by **Kenshin** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:09 pm

If you received your shrimps from Franks Aquarium, then I believe you have received a number of different species. Frank does not breed shrimps, but he just buy them as imports in which all of the shrimps are wild-caught. Then basically it is up to us as hobbyists to try to separate them into each species (which is very hard to do already). Also, you might have received some Rainbow shrimps from Frank (the Caridina species).

My Green shrimps' pictures are in my forum gallery. Just check it out.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:34 am

Thanks for referring me to the Gallery. Mine kinda look like yours (similar color and head, horizontal stripes all along carapace), but none of mine was visibly berried like I see in your pic. As I said, the shells are pretty opaque so that I saw no eggs at all! *shrug*

Kenshin wrote:If you received your shrimps from Franks Aquarium, then I believe you have received a number of different species.

hmm, all mine look to be the same but I'm certainly not counting body parts under a dissecting microscope so it's hard to say. Goodness gracious, now I'm worried that I'm going to raise a mess of hybrids. From your words though, at the very least I'm going to separate the female who is always dark brown. That may be the best I can do.

Anyone else with words of wisdom or advice? I would appreciate the guidance.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:44 am

Sigh, I just re-read Mustafa's description of this species. Indeed, he says they change color when sick or stressed. As I said, the first day several were tan or brown. I attribute that to the stress of transport. By the second day most of them were back to green. Today theyre still mostly green, but a few will turn tan if they're uncertain (like moving around the tank - they don't seem to like being out in the open). Perhaps theyr'e still getting used to their new home. The good news is they're all eating very well. They had already started picking at the java moss I put in with them during acclimation! The other day I even saw two females 'wrestling', 'boxing', and playing tug-of-war for a strand of algae! Plus only a couple molts so far, so they're probably not terribly stressed, right?

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:45 am

Just keep them together. These are the "green shrimp" with the white line..should be the same as what kenshin has (they are definitely not a Neocaridina sp. or anything). This species only changes color in response to adverse conditions or close to molting...i.e. in physically stressful situations. Healthy, active specimen will always stay green.

I would not separate any brownish shrimp....just leave them in the tank. The brownish shrimp in your photos is also a green shrimp..just stressed. Being stressed does not mean they will necessarily die, although many do. But others can recover and turn green again.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:48 am

Thank you, Mustafa! Your words made me I feel better Just an overly worried mom to new shrimp

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:37 am

Sigh, well I lost another adult female today. She was actually almost a red or salmon color, but not opaque yet. She had lost her sense of equilibrium and did not respond much to my touch, so I just euthanized her. It is my experience that once a shrimp fails to keep itself upright and does not immediately jerk away from my hand, that they are too far along to save.

I don't see any of the babies anymore, so I don't think they made it either.

I really hope that this is just 'working out the kinks' since I've had these guys less than one week.

I'm seriously starting to lose sleep over these shrimp.

What's puzzling me is that the tan shrimp seem to be eating just as well and are equally active as the green ones. I placed some leaves with yummy algae growth (harvested from one of my fish tanks) in there and several had found it in less than in a minute. The first one to find the prize was a tan female so they don't seem impaired at all. Still, the very fact that they're not green worries me. Plus, of course, the losses (about one death every day or two).

I tested my water this morning. Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=10 <- So I did an immediate water change. Keep in mind though that my tap water reads NO3=7 so I'm not horribly negligent

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:07 am

Are you using Oak leaves? They are magic when it comes to nitrates. It keeps them so low I can't even grow java moss.