My success story

[tooth]

Well, here's my supershrimp story. I bought 10 shrimp from Mustafa last April. I have them in a 10 gallon tank with crushed shell and coral substrate, artificial coral decorations, and macroalgae, lit by a single HO bulb in the hood. The tank gets no direct sunlight. No filtration or aeration is used.
There must have been organic material in the substrate because I had considerable ammonia for the first 3 months. I changed a little water off the bottom of the tank occasionally, to keep the levels down. I lost one shrimp the first month, but no others so far.
Algae began to appear after 4 months. It now covers the substrate, some of the tank sides, and a little of the decorations. The macroalgae has grown a little, not much.
I have not fed the shrimp any outside food at all, just topped off the evaporation. The shrimp seem to find enough food in the algae. I'll likely need to feed after the algae have run their course, using up the organics from the substrate.
Two berried females appeared last month. Today I see 2 shrimp larvae floating around.

[shmohney]

So jealous!

[tooth]

Two more larvae today. I assumed all the eggs, fertilized at the same time, from a given female would hatch within a short period. It looks like eggs from both females have hatched, but each female is still carrying eggs.

[Mustafa]

Congratulations! The eggs can hatch in batches, as you already noticed. Patience usually gets rewarded as long as one is on the right track.

[tooth]

The newly hatched shrimp are now about 2 1/2 months old, and are benthic. I originally counted 10, but I've never seen more than 7 at any one time for the last month. They behave just like the adults--fun to watch. Another female is now carrying eggs as of a week ago. I still have not fed any food at all--the tank has been up and running 8 months now. The shrimp seem to be totally content with the green algae growing on the substrate and tank sides. I assume I'll know when it is time to feed.
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.
Brad Hills
Alpine, Utah

[Barrows123]

Congratulation , one of my cherry shrimp are pregnant now , can't wait !!!!!! Quick question , how fast have you baby cherry shrimp grown ?

[tooth]

Congratulation , one of my cherry shrimp are pregnant now , can't wait !!!!!! Quick question , how fast have you baby cherry shrimp grown ?

Very slowly. They have grown maybe a millimeter in the 2.5 months.

[Barrows123]

Cool , I can't wait for mine

[Mustafa]

Congratulation , one of my cherry shrimp are pregnant now , can't wait !!!!!! Quick question , how fast have you baby cherry shrimp grown ?

This is totally off topic..please discuss red cherry shrimp in the General Shrimp Forum.

[tooth]

Seven new larvae showed up today, from the female that berried the end of last November. She was originally carrying about 12 eggs. I think it took a little longer for them to hatch compared to the last batch because of cooler water temperatures. The tank is unheated, and during the winter months has averaged about 65 to 68 degrees. In the summer it was about 70 to 72. I still have not fed the shrimp a single thing. They seem to be content just grazing the substrate algae.

[KenCotigirl]

Great news. Back on Nov. 30, 2013 you were talking about how slowly your baby supershrimp were growing, 1mm in two + months. How large are they now?

[tooth]

Great news. Back on Nov. 30, 2013 you were talking about how slowly your baby supershrimp were growing, 1mm in two + months. How large are they now?

They are 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the adults--about 6-8 mm. They have picked up the pace. A couple of them are large enough that I must look carefully to tell them from the adults (I have a couple of small adults).

[tooth]

Two more larvae showed up today, making 9. These are amazing creatures.

[KenCotigirl]

Nice. That is about the same results I have experienced. Some after four to six months some were as long as adults but a little less massive. If you can be massive at 12mm. Also i found by seven months they were mature enough to breed. Several females berried but dropped most of their eggs. Only two larvae developed into shrimp. They stared breeding again Dec. 2013 and Jan. 2014. Still not holding all their eggs but doing better than before, maybe half the eggs are geing held.

I was surprised that something that lives so long would mature at a early age.

[Mustafa]

The tank is unheated, and during the winter months has averaged about 65 to 68 degrees. In the summer it was about 70 to 72. I still have not fed the shrimp a single thing. They seem to be content just grazing the substrate algae.

Thanks for the update, Brad! Just pointing out in bold that you have not fed them anything since you purchased them last April to reassure people who seem to have a problem believing that these shrimp need very little food. And the fact that they are breeding for you with your tank temps in the 60s should also convince people that a heater is not needed. I did mention that I saw larvae even at 39 degrees when I kept a few tanks outside here in San Diego, but the more data points the better.

Keep the updates coming! Seems like things are going really well for you.