Berried RCS!

[dooboogoo]

To begin, I'm a newbie to shrimp, so I decided to start with cherries as I hear they're the easiest to keep. I came back from a one week vacation home and found one of the females in my 5.5g planted RCS tank berried! I'm so excited! A couple more are saddled, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have tiny babies swimming around. And all this after receiving them two weeks ago!

I have a couple questions, though:

I'm thinking of putting a trio of endlers in the tank (1 male, two females). Would these eat all the baby shrimp? The bottom of the tank is full of riccia and rocks on top of gravel, so there are a lot of little caves where the babies can hide. I know I should just keep a species tank if I want to breed them. I just want some, but not exponential, population growth in the tank.

Also, in my 10g, I have a couple RCS in there, but I want to add a pair of Bolivian Rams or some other dwarf cichlid. Should I move the shrimp to my other tank to keep them safe?

And finally, a bunch of the shrimp in my RCS tank are clear, almost colorless. They're small (less than 0.5 in), so does that mean that they're young, or stressed? The saddled ones have more red coloring to them.

Thanks,
Adrian

[pixl8r]

Welcome Dooboogoo,

Your questions are answered extensively in the shrimp FAQ, and the intro articles here;

http://www.petshrimp.com/articles/keepingshrimp.html
http://www.petshrimp.com/articles/faq.html

The colorless small shrimp are young shrimp. It's never a good idea to keep cichlids with any shrimp you wish to keep alive.

Good luck with your shrimp!

[Mustafa]

Hello Adrian,

I know it can be exciting to have ovigerous females for the first time, but I urge you to read the *rules* first before making any further posts. One of the rules is to perform self-directed research on this website. This website has been around for years so most of the common beginner questions (and even advanced topics) have been covered here quite extensively.

Give it at least a few hours to a few days of research. It is expected here (you got at least two emails when you signed up that asked you to read the rules first before posting).

[Moss Ball]

So I wasn't bold enough to start a new thread, but I'm still excited. My largest female suddenly is carrying quite a load of yellowish eggs! I can't help my enthusiasm, I'm a newbie "egg" afterall!

[badflash]

Just keep watching! It takes about 4 weeks for them to hatch. If they drop off shortly, you'll know they were not fertilized.

[Mustafa]

So I wasn't bold enough to start a new thread, but I'm still excited. My largest female suddenly is carrying quite a load of yellowish eggs! I can't help my enthusiasm, I'm a newbie "egg" afterall!

Any babies yet?

[Shroob]

Don't want to hijack the thread but...
I have had saddled shrimp, for what must be 2 months now, I always see the yellow saddle on my 3 female RCS, however never see them berried (carrying the eggs) and when looking around the tank see bundles of eggs occasionally. However 2 days ago, I saw a baby shrimp, I couldnt believe it, deffinately a baby, and may have seen another though not sure. Im guessing it hatched from an aborted egg bundle.

[badflash]

However 2 days ago, I saw a baby shrimp, I couldnt believe it, deffinately a baby, and may have seen another though not sure. Im guessing it hatched from an aborted egg bundle.

I doubt it. Without constant stirring and water flow the eggs die. Also the mother would hold fertilized eggs, not drop them. One of your females probably went into hiding until the eggs hatched. This is pretty common. Look carefully around the tank. If you have no fish with them, you'll probably find 10 or so more.

[Neonshrimp]

However 2 days ago, I saw a baby shrimp, I couldnt believe it, deffinately a baby, and may have seen another though not sure. Im guessing it hatched from an aborted egg bundle.

Hi Shroob, It is great that you have baby shrimp now. Keep you eyes open and you may spot more little shrimp. I have to agree with badflash about it being very unlikely that the aborted egg bundle hatched.

And to Moss Ball and dooboogoo, Congrats to getting the berried females I remember the first berried shrimp I had and the great moment when the eggs hatched. I still enjoy seeing this every time Please keep us updated on this thread or a new one when you are ready/bold enough.