How fast do Halocaridina rubras grow?

A forum for discussing everything about the Supershrimp (Halocaridina rubra, Opae ula).

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gerd
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How fast do Halocaridina rubras grow?

Post by gerd »

Who can tell me by experience how fast (slow) the just benthic juveniles grow?
After what time do they grow for example 1 mm ?
During their expected live time of approximately 20 years, when do they reach 12 mm?
When do they become pregnant the first time, …which length in which time?
Tnx Gerd
Mustafa
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Re: How fast do Halocaridina rubras grow?

Post by Mustafa »

Hello Gerd,

The young of this species grow surprisingly fast actually. I would say that they grow about as fast as other atyid shrimp. It all depends on food and water parameters. I would say that you can see animals reaching half the adult size within 3-4 months. At that point some can actually start carrying eggs. Most of them start carrying eggs at probably around 6-9 months of age. The shrimp I usually send out to customers are usually at least about 3-4 months old and only a few months away from actually reproducing. They should reach 12 mm in about another 6-8 months (so about 9-12 months after hatching)...again depending on food supply, like with any other atyid shrimp. Again, they don't need to be fully grown to start reproducing..they can reproduce at about half to 3/4 adult size. The thing with these shrimp is that they grow faster when fed a little more than usual, but they don't reproduce if fed too much. And if fed too much they stop being active and start dying slowly. Finding the balance can be a challenge. They may go without food for years in extreme cases, but you feed them too much on a daily basis for a few weeks and they start dying due to water pollution.

In any case, for a shrimp that lives 20+ years these are actually extremely fast growth and reproduction rates...relatively speaking of course. There is no other way I went from 35 shrimp to over 70,000 (all hatched in my tanks) in a few years. :-D

Take care,
Mustafa
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