Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

ok, so it's looks like the baby shrimp are about to hatch after a gestation period of 4 weeks. i pulled out the ol' 5.5 gallon tank and put in a sponge filter, a heater (set at 78dF), some java moss an other floating plants. i've moved "big momma," as i call her, to the 5.5G in anticipation of the hatch. i have instant ocean ready to dissolve and make this a brackish/full salt tank to raise the fry. i still have to go out and buy some yeast as a food source. am i doing everything right so far? what's next?

btw, i moved big momma cuz there are fish in the tank, and i don't want a massacre to the shrimp fry population before they've had a chance to live. i'd rather they die at my hands trying to raise them than become fish feed on their first day.

update: just checked on big momma this morning. she isn't very active and isn't interested in food. i don't know if i stressed her out too much by moving her to a diff't tank. will check on her again when i get home. will she be ok?

ok... it looks like i'm going to ask and answer my own questions....

i have several questions that the article about breeding amanos doesn't quite answer:

the situation is that a little over a hundred (best guess) of the eggs have hatched. i'm keeping the mother shrimp in the same tank as the hatchlings because she is carrying several hundred more eggs that have not yet hatched. i tho't that it might take a few days, but it seems be taking quite a bit longer than expected. is this typical? is there a certain time frame that all the eggs should have hatched? am i simply being impatient?

the article recommends changing the salinity of the grow out tank to full ocean salinity. i have the supplies ready to do that, but i have this fear of killing off the fry and a fear of harming the mother shrimp. is it ok to change to full salinity with mother in tank or is it best outside of this environment? am i being irrational?

the article also recommends feeding the larvae yeast, which i am doing. but i have no idea whether they larvae are eating or not, since the yeast are rather large. they do seem a little bit bigger than they were when they hatched. how do i know if they are eating? what are the indicators?

so that's it. responses welcomed... otherwise, i'll just follow my own thread. thanks.

-r

retardo wrote: the situation is that a little over a hundred (best guess) of the eggs have hatched. i'm keeping the mother shrimp in the same tank as the hatchlings because she is carrying several hundred more eggs that have not yet hatched.

--The eggs should all hatch within a day. If the mother is carrying eggs still after a day, take the mother out and increase the salinity. The larvae can take a salinity increase, but the mother can't for long. The larvae won't eat anything until they are in saltwater so feeding them right now is useless.

Mustafa

ok, moved mother back into fw hatchout tank, as opposed to one that was had a little bit of salt in it... the majority of the remaining eggs hatched within hours. so i guess the lesson to take from this is that mom won't allow her eggs to hatch unless it's in fw. very interesting. i will be moving the hatchlings into sw environment when i get home from work. thanx for the help.

btw, would live sand/rock be a good source of food for the fry? seems like it might be if they are swept down to the ocean after birth. anyone know?

thanx.

-r

Hi retardo,

I have no clue about the live sand/rock question.

There is one thing though, since it is LIVE sand/rock I would be concerned about something eating the baby shrimp.

TKD

TKD wrote:
There is one thing though, since it is LIVE sand/rock I would be concerned about something eating the baby shrimp.

TKD

agreed. i tho't about that exact same scenario after i posted the question. i've never kept a salt tank, but i often read about hitchhikers in live rock/sand. thanx for the insight. it's a good thing i didn't actually implement it. otherwise, i'd wonder why my baby shrimp keep disappearing.