baby red cherry

[kenneth_kpe]

i googled around the net a little and cant seem to get a clear picture of a baby red cherry.... the reason for this research is because i cant determine if my red cherry eggs have successfully hatched or not ? and i cannot tell the difference between my normal shrimp babies and if im lucky, red cherrys they all look

[kenneth_kpe]

Found a really clear pic in the same forum
viewtopic.php?t=848

seems lke they have reddish dots.... i dont think any of my babies might have survived sad sad ...... i have 2 female cherries and 1 male, was hoping i could make more

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi Kenneth, since I already have them hosted, here they are:

RCS shrimplet minutes after it was born. The head still looks like an egg! Except now, with an unfurled tail:




2 day old RC Shrimplet already hard at work doing what all babies do: Eat and poop! They're a little easier to see when they get something in their stomach and intestine.

i have 2 female cherries and 1 male, was hoping i could make more

You probably will make more and if the female that was carrying eggs had them for at least 17 days or more, you most likely have some now, provided you have no predators in your tank and you have a sponge over the intake of your filter to keep them from getting sucked up.

To the naked eye, in a sense, they will not look like the pictures. Those are magnified by the lens, the pictures cropped and made large. To the naked eye, they'll just look like the tiniest sliver of clear-ish/amber colored shrimplet. I find they're the easiest to see when just born - they are disoriented, probably in a state similar to a post-molt strengthwise, and haven't found their way around the tank yet. But soon, they disappear into the plants or gravel (or side of tank) where they busily start picking around for algae and other micro-bits of food. Finally after a couple of weeks, they become easier to see again because they are larger.

-GB

[Lotus]

Yes, I agree, it's really hard to see the detail that's in Gunmetal's wonderful photos with the naked eye. To me they look almost clear when they're babies, with perhaps a very slight tint of pink.

[kenneth_kpe]

gawd thats one heck of a zoom lens you got there, hmmm i did see the female carry the eggs for a long time, i have cardinal tetras in my tank but shrimps always survive them because i have non cherry red's that have a strong population inside the tank... i keep seeing small baby shrimps but without the redding coloration hmmm i should probably wait a month and see if the baby's are really realyl small yet and hard to see, my tank is heavily planted and i dont see small shrimps often, unless i shake the moss aroudn a bit heheh

[kenneth_kpe]

ive been researching around the forums and have been reading that RCS prefer water in the higher PH (7.0-7.5) and harder water.... maybe thats the reason im not seeing any young... my ph is somewhere in the range of 6.5-7 and GH is low i think because KH is low, im also thinking that my GH would be quite low because im heavily planted and i dont supplement yet calcium into my water column.....


so this is what i think... im gonna make a nano cherry shimp farm with a bare bottom and a simple sponge filter and tons of java moss inside....

im gonna raise the PH to 7.5 by adding baking soda to the water, bubble it out with lots of bubbles to to raise the acidity a bit more, then raise the GH by using a mix of epsom salt and calcium carbonate(?) i think to rase the GH....

o ya what is the ideal GH for breeding cherry red.. around 3 -4 ? i think thats what i read a while ago


so what do you guys think ?


hmm after an hour of furthur reading i am more inclined to make them breed with my present tap water conditions, i think the tap water straight out PH is 7.0 - 7.5 shoud i really bother about the GH ? i think feeding them properly and keeping the tank water nice and clean is much more important ... hmmmm

[Lotus]

Mine breed in a wide range of pH values, from 6.9 to 7.6. I do have a high GH, though (somewhere around 10). They also prefer slightly cooler temps than a typical tropical tank (low 70s seems to work well for them). I have found the biggest factor in baby survival is making sure you have a cover over the intake of a HOB or canister filter, and making sure there's plenty of fine-leaved plants, like Java moss, riccia or najas for them to hide in.

Of course, they reproduce much faster in a fish-free tank.

[kenneth_kpe]

i think i might have to raise my GH, who knows its probably the GH and not the PH that they are more sensitive to ? i should create another shrimp tank... maybe thats the reason my cardinlas haven't been hungry too much