Shrimp Pregnant!

[Maru]

Saw one of my snowball saddle with white lump, pregnant rite? The "eggs" havent move to under the tail yet. Should I remove my white cloud minnows in case they eat the eggs/shrimplets when it hatch?

Tried to take photo but very blur though.

Now left with 3 shrimps in the tank with 9 minnows. Don't know where the 7 shrimps went to (no corpse), altho UA said that they might be sucked into the filter

[Urban Aquaria]

The saddle appearing just means it has unfertilized eggs and ready to mate, but its not actually "pregnant" yet. Once you see actual eggs form up underneath the shrimp, then it means it has mated and the eggs are fertilized and the shrimp is pregnant (ie. berried).

Do note that you do also need a viable male shrimp in the tank, or else the female shrimps will never get berried... some people wait ages and wonder why their saddled shrimps never get berried, end up actually its because the tank happen to have no male shrimps at all.

Disappearing shrimps with no corpse found means the other shrimps and fishes already ate up the dead ones, they are very efficient clean-up crew.

[Maru]

aw...... *disappointed* hopefully one of the other 2 is guy. I saw one like trying to mate with it yesterday. Dunno its a mating call or just harrassing the shrimp..... *finger crossed*

[Maru]

DSC_0160.jpg

Bought some sakura shrimps from Y618 earlier. Acclimatised them for ard 1.5hrs.

The very moment they are introduced into the tank, the 2 snowballs start running around and went over a few of the sakuras (humping?) The sakuras being "humped" just continued their foraging (for algae on the substrate/plant stalk possibly). So can i ascertain that they are not gay and not female? the 2 snowballs without eggs on the saddle

[Urban Aquaria]

DSC_0160.jpg

Bought some sakura shrimps from Y618 earlier. Acclimatised them for ard 1.5hrs.

The very moment they are introduced into the tank, the 2 snowballs start running around and went over a few of the sakuras (humping?) The sakuras being "humped" just continued their foraging (for algae on the substrate/plant stalk possibly). So can i ascertain that they are not gay and not female? the 2 snowballs without eggs on the saddle

If i'm not wrong, snowball shrimps are also neocaridina species/genus? If thats the case, then there is a chance they could crossbreed with your sakura shrimps too.

Best to transfer them to different tanks if you want to keep their breeding lines separate.

[Maru]

Yep. I checked this forum while i was at y618 and there was a thread long ago about it Not that all particular about crossbreeding. Love got no boundaries for colour or status! (the sakura being 1/3 of the price of my snowies )

Ok... i think too much LOL

[Bieffe]

I have a berried mom that just died!.....why?

[Urban Aquaria]

I have a berried mom that just died!.....why?

Could be due to stress or illness... berried shrimps are usually under more stress having to take care of their eggs.

Something could have also triggered it to molt too (ie. water change or change in parameters?) and maybe it couldn't molt successfully, due to its berried state.

[Bieffe]

Was hoping this mother will give me some nice little ones...but died. Didn't do anything except from distilled water use pure brand which many here using right?....then notice 5 death till now.

[IrvineChen]

Did you add in mineral to the distilled water?

[Bieffe]

No leh...I used distilled water and pure brand which is pure drinking water not mineral....another mother died.

[Urban Aquaria]

No leh...I used distilled water and pure brand which is pure drinking water not mineral....another mother died.

I guess IrvineChen is asking if you dosed any beneficial additives to restore minerals back into the distilled water (especially if you filled the entire tank with just distilled water)... because distilled water has no minerals in it at all, in which case the shrimps may be lacking in certain minerals to grow and molt properly.

[Bieffe]

Oic I didn't. OMG is that the reason cos I thought distilled is best. Didn't read abt minerals part.

[IrvineChen]

Oh my god.. 5.5ph.. 0 gh and 0 kh

[Maru]

My condolences Bieffe. My "fertile" snowball still having the eggs at the saddle only. And out of 10 sakuras bought, now left maybe 5/6, or maybe just cos i couldnt see them due to their dark colours

[Urban Aquaria]

Oic I didn't. OMG is that the reason cos I thought distilled is best. Didn't read abt minerals part.

Okay, when you read about people using just distilled or RO/DI water, its mainly for topping up of water, especially if they are using fans which increase evaporation (so that the constant topping up of water doesn't keep changing the GH or TDS over time).

But when the tank is filled up and when water changes are done with distilled or RO/DI water, mineral solutions have to be added to re-mineralize the water (ie. mosura mineral plus), so that it becomes conducive for the shrimps to live in and breed, otherwise the water will be deficient in essential minerals that the shrimps need.

[Bieffe]

The Japanese mineral too expensive so settled for some ANS crystal shrimp mineral powder. However I dunno how much to dose. The instructions say for new set up dose evenly at Base of tank. Then to recharge half a teaspoon with 100 L of water . Gosh....how to estimate?

[Urban Aquaria]

The Japanese mineral too expensive so settled for some ANS crystal shrimp mineral powder. However I dunno how much to dose. The instructions say for new set up dose evenly at Base of tank. Then to recharge half a teaspoon with 100 L of water . Gosh....how to estimate?

Calculate the volume of your tank, then dose accordingly... if your tank is small, like just 10-15 liters, then try to estimate the tiny fraction of the teaspoon as best as you can.

Did the instructions also mention the frequency of dosage too?

Usually for shrimp keepers using distilled water, they will slowly dose the minerals additives in stages and use a GH test kit or TDS meter to measure the water and check whether those parameters are at their required levels for the shrimp species (not too much or not too little, as both can still cause molting issues).

If you don't have such test kits, then have to base on guesswork... dose abit first, then monitor the shrimps, if they are okay, gradually increase dosage slowly over a span of time, try not to spike the GH too high suddenly and shock the shrimps.

[Bieffe]

Ok will have to guess....just hope I won't kill them.

[Dscheng]

Ok will have to guess....just hope I won't kill them.

Yes! Must follow the mosura product instruction strictly. I learnt from the hard way. I doze too much Mosura PH DOWN. In just 2 hours, it kill all my CRS !