Hawaiian Red Shrimp...my turn.

[LiquidBee]

One Question.

I noticed that some of my Opae Shrimps have these dark red spots right on top of their head (between the head and the body). The spots are much darker then all the rest of their body...

Are these spots some kind of disease or is it just because they're turning colors ??

Let me know if you guys need a picture for reference.

Thanks

[LiquidBee]

Day 2 of the hatching:

I noticed 12 free floating little larvae.

The mother still has 1 egg attached to her.

Question:

Should I separate the larvae from the main tank ?

What do i feed the Larvaes ??

[Solaris]

try taking pictures at an angle to avoid flash in glass, works sometimes

[chlorophyll]

I don't have first hand experience with these larvae, but no separation from the adults is necessary, and may be harmful to them. There should not be any strong aeration that could harm them though. I'm not convinced that these larvae don't eat at all throughout their larval life, but I would suggest just feeding the tank as usual and the larvae may find little things to eat if needed.

[Mustafa]

One Question.

I noticed that some of my Opae Shrimps have these dark red spots right on top of their head (between the head and the body). The spots are much darker then all the rest of their body...

Are these spots some kind of disease or is it just because they're turning colors ??

Let me know if you guys need a picture for reference.

Thanks

Those are eggs being churned out in the ovaries.

[Mustafa]

Should I separate the larvae from the main tank ?

What do i feed the Larvaes ??

No separation necessary. Separation would probably kill your larvae since I noticed die offs even if you just top off the water in their tank and thus *slightly* change the salinity.

The larvae do not eat anything. I have observed them under great magnification and they do not even have any body parts to hold on to and chew anything. They are basically just little swimming yolk sacks. The yolk sack feeds them until they turn into post-larvae. Plus, I never feed my H. rubra because they have abundant algae growth in the tank and I still had larvae turn into juveniles. Never ate a thing. Others report the same and there are also many other shrimp species known that produce non-feeding larvae. I have a few in my tanks, so it's not all that unusual that larvae don't eat.

For more info check out this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=779&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Now all you can do is just wait. There is nothing more left to do for you.

[LiquidBee]

Thanks for the answers Mustafa

Day 3....around 13 Larvae survived....

The larvae seem to be able to move, it is attracted to light and will move towards it when I have the lights on, I also caught the larvae doing mini popcorn action when the larger shrimps run into to..

Hopefully all of them will survive to adult hood....

[frugalfish]

I finally have some free floating larvae! Cute little headstanding buggers. At the moment I can count three, but hopefully there will be more coming. I'm also hoping that they will make it all the way to being small shrimp and become new members of the colony. It's taken a month or so for the larvae to appear and the females that were carrying haven't been seen in a week or so. Perhaps when they get close to releasing the offspring they tend to hide more.

I had changed things around in my tank, but since I'm not scientific about my hobby there is no way of knowing what or if the changes had anything to do with the resulting larvae. I lowered the salinity to 1.003, added more rock, and set the temp in the low 70's F. Also before making the changes I found that my heater had failed. I'm not sure how long the shrimp were in mid 60's F. or if that had anythng to do with the shrimp reproducing. I know there had been some talk of them having a seasonal habit and if so perhaps the change in temperature had some affect. I do know that shortly after the new arrangement I found two females with eggs.

Sorry for no photos, but my camera and I are not capable of taking anything other than a picture of a big blurrrrr.

[Mustafa]

I finally have some free floating larvae!

That's awesome!! I absolutely love these shrimp and it's great to hear that another person is starting to breed them! You should be able to see tiny shrimp in about a week or two. They are really small so make sure you don't miss them when you start looking for them. My tank has adults, larvae and juveniles of all stages at this point.

Cute little headstanding buggers. At the moment I can count three, but hopefully there will be more coming.

They are attracted to light, so if you hold a flashlight into the tank after their lights go off, you might be able to count them all since they will swim towards the light.

I'm also hoping that they will make it all the way to being small shrimp and become new members of the colony.

They should be fine as long as you do not drastically change anything in their tanks.

It's taken a month or so for the larvae to appear and the females that were carrying haven't been seen in a week or so.

Sounds about right.

Perhaps when they get close to releasing the offspring they tend to hide more.

Yes they do. I was lucky enough to take pictures of them (for my shrimp varities page) when they were looking for food in the morning.

I had changed things around in my tank, but since I'm not scientific about my hobby there is no way of knowing what or if the changes had anything to do with the resulting larvae. I lowered the salinity to 1.003, added more rock, and set the temp in the low 70's F. Also before making the changes I found that my heater had failed. I'm not sure how long the shrimp were in mid 60's F. or if that had anythng to do with the shrimp reproducing.

Speaking from my experienc I don't think any of those factors had anything to do with your success. I keep my shrimp at much higher salinity levels (1.008 - 1.016 depending on the water level due to evaporation in the tank) and keep them constantly at about 78-82 degrees. The temperature does not fluctuate much over the year. I don't have a rock in my tank either, but just an old box filter behind which they hide if they want to hide. I personally think that the water parameters are finally to their liking and/or they might have *just* become sexually active again after adjusting to your tank. I remember that my shrimp took a while, too, before they started breeding.

I know there had been some talk of them having a seasonal habit and if so perhaps the change in temperature had some affect. I do know that shortly after the new arrangement I found two females with eggs.

I don't believe in the seasonal breeding theory as my experience disproves it. My shrimp bred 4-5 times last year at various times of the year and it looks like they are going to breed at least as many times this year. Maybe in nature it's seasonal, but in the aquarium it most certainly does not seem to be.

Sorry for no photos, but my camera and I are not capable of taking anything other than a picture of a big blurrrrr.

Don't worry about it. These shrimp are hard to photograph with to begin with and their larvae are close to impossible to capture. It takes a lot of tries and some luck.

Please keep us all updated on your progress with these shrimp.

[frugalfish]

They are attracted to light, so if you hold a flashlight into the tank after their lights go off, you might be able to count them all since they will swim towards the light.

I may go back and read, but I can't remember if they release larvae little by little or all at once. Still only counting three. At night I put a "Moonlight"(a one watt LED) on top of the tank and they congrigate under the glow.

I personally think that the water parameters are finally to their liking and/or they might have *just* become sexually active again after adjusting to your tank. I remember that my shrimp took a while, too, before they started breeding.

That's what I tend to believe. I only threw out the changes for observation sake. The only other change I haven't decided on is if I should stop filtering the tank by using a sponge filter. Since the larvae appeared I've shut down the airpump, because I'm not sure what affect current could have on them.

I don't believe in the seasonal breeding theory as my experience disproves it. My shrimp bred 4-5 times last year at various times of the year and it looks like they are going to breed at least as many times this year. Maybe in nature it's seasonal, but in the aquarium it most certainly does not seem to be.

Sounds right, I'll buy that.

Please keep us all updated on your progress with these shrimp.

Will do. These are one of my favorite shrimp and I'm just hoping to become consistent in breeding these unique creatures.

[Mustafa]

I may go back and read, but I can't remember if they release larvae little by little or all at once. Still only counting three.

The larvae are usually all released within a few hours, so whatever you see should be it. It could very well be that the female was carrying only 3 eggs. My females usually carry between 10-20 eggs, but I have seen one with 4 eggs. before.

That's what I tend to believe. I only threw out the changes for observation sake.

Some of the data you gave is very valuable actually. For example, you confirmed that they can breed at at a sg of 1.003, which is way below my salinity. However, it was mentioned in this forum before that some people in Hawaii have managed to breed them at exactly that salinity. This just shows that this species can procreate at a wide range of salinties. The question now is if your larvae will survive at such a low salinity. So keep us updated on that.

The only other change I haven't decided on is if I should stop filtering the tank by using a sponge filter. Since the larvae appeared I've shut down the airpump, because I'm not sure what affect current could have on them.

H. rubra is a shrimp that can do fine at very low levels of oxygen in the water, so a filter agitating the surface is not absolutely necsessary. I still have an old box filter in my tank with them but I only let it bubble once every 7-10 seconds or so. I've turned it off completely for a few months before, too, and it did not affect the shrimp. Since I barely ever feed them at this point, the water quality stays high. As a sort of nutrient export mechanism I have a brackish/saltwater string algae growing in my tank, which I harvest once in a while. It appeared by itself and grows extremely fast. I am going to transfer it to future breeding tanks as I think that it is very useful.

Will do. These are one of my favorite shrimp and I'm just hoping to become consistent in breeding these unique creatures.

You just made the first steps by producing some larvae! That's more than most people have achieved so far with these shrimp. Just don't make any drastic changes and things should work out just fine.

[frugalfish]

After many stares into the tank it looks like there are a total of 4 larva. Here's the best pictures I could get of one of them...





I also spotted another female carrying eggs today...

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the pictures! You have a *very* ovigerous female there, congrats! You'll be having more larvae swimming around in about a month or so. If you do not see at least 10 larvae (looks like she has about 20 eggs) then you might want to increase salinity and see if that affects something. Different salinities might affect larval survival rates as in some other shrimp, although I have not seen any studies on this with the H. rubra. In a few days you should be seeing some tiny shrimp running and swimming around. Don't worry if you do not see them right away as they hide really well and are really, really tiny. But either way, keep the updates coming!

[LiquidBee]

Congrats Frugalfish:

As Mustafa have stated, your salinity might be a tad bit low.

This is the parameters for my tank
Salinity = 1.10 to 1.14
Temp 76-82

besides that I don't test anything else, I had my tank for a little over a year now, and I have seen many larvae during this time, just recently noticed 50+ larvaes plus several more Barried females, not sure if it is the season or if they're just getting busy when it's dark.

I also got a over-population of little snails in my tank that hitched a ride with some java moss, it got so bad that I have to hand pick them out every once in a while.

Like Mustafa, I rarely feed the shrimps..just the occasional water

[Caridina sp.]

Your shrimp are very interesting especially the bright red eggs.. they are beautiful. Congrats on your success, I hope to raise hrs at some point in the near future. Keep the updates coming!