Newbie Needs Help (American Glass)

[animal1998]

Okay my setup:

I have a maybe 1/2-1 gallon container with 4 adult American Glass Shrimp and 1 juvenile in it. This is temporary, I will likely turn a currently unused 10gal into a shrimp tank but other options are possible, all larger. I read about the food-not-left-in-overnight thing and did a quick 40-50% water change, the shrimp are acclimating now. The adults were in a 2.5 gal with my betta and got about 3-5 pellets a day. The betta shared the meal though the shrimp were VERY fast. Now they are eating on the algae and detritus (I think) that is on the plants. I plan on dropping in about 1/3 or 1/4 of a Hikari Bottom Feeder Wafer every other day until I can figure out what is better for them.

The Shrimp:

I have 2 bluish adults, male maybe, I really can't tell, Figaro and Bingo. 2 berried females, one brownish red and the other clear. And then Junior Bug, the little juvi. They were sold as feeders. Bingo has been with me for a few months, Figaro around 1 week, the other 3 I got yesterday. The coloring is new on all. The blue has developed over a week or so. They were all clear at first.

My biggest problem is the females. I have gotten 2 females to drop eggs in a separate PetC@ betta container and them and all of the babies died overnight. However, they dropped the eggs a few hours after getting out of the feeder tank so that might have something to do with it? With one of the females showing eyes on her pale green eggs, I want to get this sorted out so she won't die. Our current theory is it's something in the eggs, like a toxin, the causes them to die? I would go with starve to death except I don't think mom would die to with that. I really need this resolved please.

*Also, is Hikari Shrimp Cuisine a good diet for them? I'm not quite sure if it would be okay, it says it has copper for blood regeneration and is for herbivorous shrimp mainly.*


Any other tips would be greatly appreciated but please don't ask me to spend a ton of money. I am between 10 and 18 and get 10 dollars a week. Not the best paycheck for fishies.

[animal1998]

I think the coloration is stress related, they lose color during the water change. And my berried girls are cat fighting. Using their little claws against each other if they bump into one another. Is this normal?

[KenCotigirl]

A word of caution, this is an open forum do not state your age. Especially if you are a minor. As for the shrimp you may be over feeding. Check out the specie description. I do not have glass shrimp but most shrimp do not need to be fed as much or as often. As for their behavior I will let others comment.
Ken

[animal1998]

Wow I am an idiot. I must have been really tired. I am a mod on a forum! I know this stuff. Thanks for the over feeding idea. The color is stress related I think. It is slowly returning to the ones who show it.

Mom Clair, with the the soon to hatch eggs, has eggs getting clearer and clearer with the little eyes of course but they she has lost about half. They have fallen off her pleopods but not hatching. They still have a light green hue and are round. Not the shape and color for young to hatch from. Is this normal? What happened that killed the other moms and larvae do you think? I added in more plants and there is a lot of algae and biofilm for snacking on that all of the shrimp are eating.

[animal1998]

Claire's eggs were never seen once they hatched. We think they got stuck in the undergravel filter since the outtake was underwater (that's where we found Claire after she disappeared, she's fine now.) However, other mom Sarah has dropped some of her eggs. I saw one of her larvae today and covered the tank and will let them grow as undisturbed as possible, i.e no peeking for 3-5 days. Any tips?

[Mustafa]

I think it's great that you are trying to grow the larvae, but I don't think you will be successful no matter what until you have a larger tank that has fully cycled. The larvae are much more sensitive to ammonia than the adults, so just putting them into small containers won't do. They need to be in fully cycled tanks. On the bright side, if they are truly Palaemonetes paludosus, they don't need to be fed to turn into mini shrimp (although they are capable of eating). They turn into "postlarvae" in about a week. I'd say that you should get the 10 gallon going and attempt breeding the glass shrimp in that tank once it's ready.

[animal1998]

One of the larvae lived for a long time but I now can't find it now so is it on ground or not, I don't know. They were in a fully cycled tank, at least that's where I put the babies.

[Mustafa]

How long is a long time? They morph into postlarvae after about a week anyway. After that they crawl around the ground just like the adults...except, they are tiny.