Breeding Tiger Shrimps

[wheezo]

Hello, I'm new here and I just obtained 9 tiger shrimps. How would I go about breeding them? I have them in a 20 gallon tank with java moss and killifish fry at the moment. I also have an empty 5.5 gallon that I can use. What type of set up should I have? What substrate, plants, driftwood, etc? Anything special that I would need to do to trigger breeding behaviors? Types of food?
Thanks in advance.

-newbie

[Bradimus]

I have them in a 20 gallon tank with java moss and killifish fry at the moment.

I suspect the killies will make quick work of any baby shrimp.

I also have an empty 5.5 gallon that I can use.

I would say that is too small. Buy a 10 gal.

What type of set up should I have?

Read Mustafa's introductory artilcle.

What substrate,

Unimportant.

plants,

A nice moss helps. Any plant is fine. Just remember that they compete with the algae, the shrimps' prefered food.

Anything special that I would need to do to trigger breeding behaviors?

Make sure you have males, females, food, and patience.

Read (search) the threads in this forum. Mustafa and others have related their experience with this shrimp.

[Shrimpmania]

Make sure you get a drift wood for them as a so call "shelter" for them . It will make them happier and help them alot during molting. I got RCS , Yamato and india ocean shrimp and all of them are gathering at 1 spot in the driftwood.. Looks great man

[kimco]

I got RCS , Yamato and india ocean shrimp and all of them are gathering at 1 spot in the driftwood.. Looks great man

What is India Ocean shrimp??? Do you have any picture of them?

Cheers,

KG

[theshrimp_123]

Do tell.

[Shrimpmania]

sure do

[theshrimp_123]

Could we see the pics? If we can't get a pic, at least give us a description and a latin name.

[wheezo]

What should I feed them? Anything special to get them to breed? How big do they have to be?

[wheezo]

Also, how many should I keep together to breed? A big group? a few?

[DanHagan]

I would keep as many together as possible. The more shrimp there are the better the chances of breeding!

[retardo]

how do u sex tiger shrimp? is there a telltale way to identify a male from a female? i have 5 of these guys and i can't tell them apart. i'd like to figure out the m/f ratio if i could. thanx.

-r

[Bradimus]

In general, male shrimp are smaller and paler than female shrimp. The easiest way to tell (other than seeing eggs) is to look at the carapace on the tail. If it hangs lower than the fleshy part of the tail, your shrimp is a female. If it does not, then the shrimp is a male or an immature female.

If you're shrimp are imported (assuming you are in the US), there is a good chance that all of your shrimp are female.

There are several threads in this forum where this is discussed, along with photos of what to look for.

[hwchoy]

tiger shrimp is easy to breed. just make sure there are lots of vegetation for them to hide. thick moss or hairgrass seem to be ideal. these thick vegetation appear to encourage microorganisms which feeds the fries.

I just dump a whole of these shrimps (along with cherries and malayan) in my hairgrass tank (see pic) and they bred like no tomorrow. every few weeks you will observe waves of baby shrimps emerging and darting around, and this is a tank filled with barbs, rasboras and tetras, plus a few hungry loaches!



btw this tank is 80cm long, and started with something like 200 malayans, 100 cherries and 100 tigers.

[hwchoy]

oh and just a note of caution. tiger seem to hybridise with bee (those common ones) I get hybrids coming out with stripes and mottled/peppered patterns, which I decided to name as Jaguar shrimp

cherries seem to breed true. malayans too.

I'm an amateur naturalist so I'm not into artificial hybrids nor selective breeding.

[Shrimpmania]

Oh my.. i realli wan to be fren wit u after i saw yr tank... where do u buy yr grass? PMPM