Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I've done some research [and will continue to do so] but I want to run what I have so far by you guys and ask for some advice. Basically, I have 10 ghost shrimp living hapily in a 10 gallon heavily planted tank with 6 neon tetras. This is the 4th time that my females are carying eggs but no larvae survived, as you can imagine. Therefore, I want to set-up another tank to raise the fry. Can you offer some insight for this secondary set-up? My plan is to put the females in it as soon as I see them with eggs and raise the babies in it.
-5.5 gallon tank filled with 2.5 - 3 gallons
-Hagen Elite Mini pump [is this one OK?]
-50w heater for a steady 77*F [I know, BIG heater, only one I have tho]
-gravel substrate
-fake plants or some real java moss, but it may become problematic since I don't have adequate lighting for the tank
-regular 8w under-desk fluorescent light

Here's some questions.
Lighting: should I skip it altogether? I'm concerned about the java moss though, although a low-light plant, not sure if it's going to like the new environment. Right next to the tank there's an alarm clock that gives off a cool, dim, blue color, the same you'd get from a nocturnal light. Good idea, or should I just turn it off at night?

The eggs that the females are carying are not clear, they are a deep green with a dark spot. Does this mean they are not fertilized?
How should I go about moving the females? Do I move them right away or do I move them with males together and hope they will get fertilized? I know that females have to be comfy in their new home otherwise they will not release the eggs.

Filtration
I was told that the Elite Mini might be too strong and kill the fry even on the lowest setting. I was told by a friend that has bred ghosties in the past that I should skip filtration altogether for the week before the eggs are going to be released and the week after. I'm concerned however about water quality if I do this.

Feeding
I have natural plankton that I feed to my fan shrimp and the ghosties also love it, they go crazy when they sense it in the water column. It's like a very fine powder. I also have some Hikari First Bites. Would these do?


Any other advice?

Oops, I read over my post and I need to clarify a couple of things.
The plankton I'm talking about is in fact dry phytoplankton comercially available from Two Little Fishies. Should I just drop it in the tank [reasonable amounts of course] and let it float at first and then sink by itself, or should I dillute it in water?
The alarm clock I was talking about ... I was actually wondering if there's a need for nocturnal lighting at all. I do have one on my 10g tank for some very subdued night lighting.
I'd also like to add that I do have an air pump that I could use should I really have to turn off the filter, if that makes a difference. And yes, I am dilligent with my 25-30% weekly PWCs.

Here is my Picasa album of the 10 gallon I'm talking about. There are a few close-ups of the glass shrimp, hopefully they will be good enough to ID the species.

http://picasaweb.google.com/fishbon3/10GallonFreshwater

Use a sponge filter. Establish the tank so there are lots of copepods. Don't feed until after the shrimp morph, then VERY little.

Light normally.

Look at the shrimp varieties page.
http://www.petshrimp.com/glassshrimp.html

Don't be fooled by the coloring in the pictures. Most don't look like that. If yours are the common "feeders" found in many LFS that is what they are.

I have had 2 batches of ghost shrimp so far but they ended up dying later on. I kept my adult females in it normal tank for about a month. then when I see the eyes in the eggs and the color change from pea green, to a darker green I then put the shrimp in one of those containers that the pet stores have which hanges off the side. Also I had copepods in there which reallly helped the shrimp. I had hornwort and some java moss in it. My shrimp thrived in it for about 2-3 mounths with no problems but then I added some baby snails and all my baby about 2-5mm died in the molting process.

Just so you know I had no filter and no bubbler, or heater( heat was provided by my 55 gallon tank.

I would try and get more respondes though because I am still not sure about when to move the berried females into a tank right away or later on.
Good luck.

I have yet to separate my ghost shrimp when the females get berried up. Most of them do not survive. I have had several survive, they are still alive and eating after several months.

There are several different species of shrimp found at LPS that are called ghost shrimp. As a matter of fact, the last order of ghost shrimp that I got in the store had three different species mixed together. All of them were Palaemonetes, I believe.

I have seen eggs of two colors green and clearish-white. I have not successfully reared any of the clearish-white ones. I have reared some of the green one's though. I am still trying to pinpoint exactly what species I am receiving in my shipments, but there are tons of documents with very few pictures and I do not have a microscope.

I would recommend what has already been recommended. Sponge filter with very little movement. Toss in an older gob of Java Moss with some pods and let them go. I believe mine have been dying due to the current in my planted tank coupled with a bit of predation on the discus' part, although they can't get at certain places in the tank.

Sounds good, I'll go ahead and separate the pregnant females. Hope I won't manage to kill my java moss due to inadequate lighting I was told that even if the filter intake doesn't kill the fry, water movement will. Really, NO water movement whatsoever?

Hi fishbone,

As long as the java moss get any light they will survive. They will just have slower growth in less light.