ok, this is not exactly on the theme of this topic board but well it almost is.

i dont need an ID but thought i'd share a shrimp story ...

i have had some amano shrimps for a while now. great little cleaners aswell as fun to watch. i bought mine to see if they would help with a filament algae problem that was developing in my tank. i bought 6 initialy and put them in the 40g tank that i was having the problem with. 2 days later 90% of the algae was gone

i have actualy added more now as the originals got a bit lazy and i noticed that they would rather steal cat fish pellets from under the noses of my corys than clean the tank. funny and frustrating to watch them do this. like muggers they appear from no where and go right up to a feeding cory, grab the pellet and then run away back to the cover of some plants and munch the pellet to their hearts content.

the main reason for this post is to tell a tale from today. i was in my LFS today looking for fish when i noticed they had a few shrimps in one of the tanks. upon closer inspection i noticed one of them was not only massive but appeared to have what i am guessing is a sack of eggs on her abdomen. i couldnt resist and decided to buy her. when i got back i floated her a bit then put her in the tank. she sat in the front corner, getting used to her surroundings. 5 minutes later i looked back and noticed that the largest shrimp i have was sitting next to her giving her lots of attention. specificaly the 'old' shrimp had its head right up against the abdomen of the new one. the new one seemed to tolerate the attention for a bit but then decided it had had enough. it agressively pushed away the other shrimp then ran off to hide somewhere. i went away to get a cup of tea. when i came back i was sat drinking my cuppa and watching the tank when i noticed the normally reclusive largest shrimp i have, running around the tank like a mad thing.

i may be wrong but if my guesses are right then the new one is definitely an egg bound female and my old large male has fallen in love with her. it amuses me how humans and other animals can act in similar ways. what was a shy male has now had his 1st 'sniff' of female and has lost his inhibitions.

i hope i am right. i read an article a while ago which makes me think they might not be too difficult to breed. with luck i will have lots of baby shrimps soon, maybe

if anyone is interrested, the article i read can be found at the following link ...

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Something else you can can flog off, eh Nick? Better change your 'handle' to 'E-BayPaw'!

I note in that linked article, the same old reference: "Takashi Amano, photographer, artist, author". No-one ever seems to pick-up that He was a professional Cyclist for 20 years! All the Aquarium stuff was slowly growing throughout that time, untill it eventually became the 'all'.

I've ordered 10 Otocinclus, that'll arrive in a weeks time. They'll join 15 or 20 young Bristlenose in my 'Jungle' tank. Should be interesting to see what sort of job they'll make of that..

Now, if only you knew a Photographer, that could take some nice pics of your Shrimp, to Post here?

update on me new shrimp ...

on Saturday i spotted the new fat shrimp at the front of the tank so i used a photography magnifying glass to have a closer look. when i looked at her belly i was amazed to see what looked like about 20-30 eggs in her belly. plus on each egg i could clearly make out 2 little dots, what i guess are the eyes forming.

last night, Sunday, i was able to have a close look at her again. this time the eggs had gone and she has an empty belly.

although my chances of finding them in a heavily planted tank are slim, i am pretty sure there is a batch of fresh laid shrimps in my tank somewhere, assuming they havent been eaten up yet by other fish.
i'm not sure how quick they will develope, if they survive, but well they next few days or weeks i am gonna be on baby shrimp watch

I have no idea how small Shrimp eggs are. I often find my Cory eggs by 'feel'. I then snip off the leaf and drop it in the fry enclosure.

from what i saw the eggs, in the females belly just before she laid them, were no bigger than 1 or 2mm and they were clear with 2 little dots, so chances of finding them by eye are slim. the tank that they are in must have a few hundred leaves to check so i think i will just wait, cross my fingers and see if i can spot any babies that survive.

i am gonna keep an eye on the female shrimp now though. when i see her filling up with eggs, assuming she will, i am going to move her and 2 or 3 males to a 10g tank on their own and see if i can have any success that way

i have great news, i have baby shrimps, tons of them, hehe

i had put my large pregnant female shrimp in my 10g tank with 3 other shrimps and this morning when i looked in i noticed that she was empty of eggs. after squinting my eyes a bit and having a look about the tank i suddenly realised that there is dozens of tiny little shrimps swimming/floating about the tank. they are about 3mm in length. using my 8x magnifier i can see that they are mini versions of the adults. i dont know for certain but i conclude that shrimps must be live barers as yesterday she still had a fully belly of eggs/babies.

looking back at my own posts and doing the maths, combined with what ive seen so far, it seems that when i got her she was just about to drop a batch of young which she must have done in the main tank. i doubt any from that batch survived tho as there is too many 'predators' in that tank. a few days later she started to get fat with eggs again, which to my surprise were very green in colour. after a bit i placed her in the 10g tank with the other 3 shrimps. i then noticed a few days ago that the green eggs had turned see thru and then today she had given birth to live young. it seems that there is roughly one month between her 1st batch in the main tank and her new batch in the 10g tank.

i am not sure what to do next tho. in the 10g tank there is 4 shrimps and a baby guppy. i watched the guppy and it seems too small and uninterrested to eat any of the babyshrimps hopefully and i dont know if shrimps will eat their own young. plus i have no idea what to feed the baby shrimps. the tank has a reasonable sized lump of java moss which may help as this will promote micor organisms that they may eat. i've also heard that shrimps can eat java moss, but ive not seen this yet. there is also quite a few medium sized java ferns in the tank and a little bit of algae on the walls of the tank, so hopefully this may provide some food for the babies. i am going to add a little bit of 'liquifry no1' (infusora) in the hope this may help with feeding as it will also provide micro organisms.

if anyone knows of any tips that may help i'd be glad to hear of them. i will post a bit more here when i see any developments.

at the moment im a happy bunny (or should that be buck)

added note: i took out the smallest 2 shrimps and put them back in the community tank leaving the large female and large male shrimps in the 10g tank, in the hope that this wil cut down the chances of the babies being eaten by the adults

Well done! No tips from me unfortunately. As I was reading, you asked all the same questions I was posing for you!

I haven't gone back to them myself, but I had three links I'd posted for Kristins shrimp questions.

So I guess that's the end of any of your Algae problems...

the more i look up info on shrimps the more i become confused and bewildered by the info i find.

i am beginning to think i have more than one type of shrimp and that the one that gave birth may not be an Amano shrimp. the one that has bred looks more like this ...



... which may be a variety of 'long arm shrimp'. although mine has a green head instead of an orange one like the pic shows. the similar 'male' has a clear head.

today i can see less fry swimming/floating about, but this may be ok according to what i've read, plus i think i may have seen a casting or 2 floating about, which again may be good.

some sites say Amano shrimps need brackish water to breed others say fresh water. if it is amano shrimp then babies have a good chance of living, if it is a long arm then the chances are smaller.

i suppose the more i look the more i might be able to narrow it down. plus the more i experience what happens with the shrimps and fry the better chance i have of getting it right.

as i learn more or see any more developements i will post more here, incase anyone is interested.

Perhaps you should separate the young Shrimp into groups, and try to raise each group by different means. A bit of extra work, but you'd get more information from this one brood, and straight up you'll have a better idea of what may be successful. Who knows, some may survive!

good idea. unfortunately i cant see any baby shrimps today. they may have gone to ground, so to speak, rather than floating/swimming about as they were. i have posted a question to a decent shrimp website in the hope that they will be able to help me ID these shrimps and maybe offer me some advice on rearing babies. i will let u know what happens regarding a reply and what i see in the tank, if anything.

You've got them in your 10gal, haven't you?

Perhaps the old fashioned bottle of Infusoria? I'd imagine Shrimp'd be big on that sort of thing (having watched all those David Attenborough documentaries!)

"..and Plankton from the Sea." - Box, (Logans Run).

yup, in the 10g. i am putting in a bit of 'liquifry no1' (infusora). if any have survived, hopefully the java moss and liquifry will help to feed them. plus im doing a water change every second day to keep the water realy clean.

yesterday morning when the lights came on, i saw the male and female runnin about the tank like mad, which i havent realy seen before. i've noticed they are mostly active at night. i was wondering if they were running about trying to catch and eat the babies, i hope this wasnt true tho.

i am just gonna leave things as they are for the moment and see if anything developes. if no young survive, then hopefully the female will give birth again in about a months time. by then i will hopefully know more about it and i'll maybe take the parents out next time as soon as i know there are babies.

lol@Logans Run. i dont remember the plankton reference. the main thing i remember is pretty women in lycra outfits but i suppose thats par for the course, lol

i have no success with the baby shrimps surviving yet. i'm sure now this is a type of long arm shrimp now and not an amano. i think it's harder to breed these guys than it is amanos.

i managed to get a pic of the preggers female tho and thought i'd post it up for those that are interested. the eggs are bright green and a day or so before they are released as live young the eggs turn see thru.

here's the pic ...

Thats extraordinary!

The eggs are actually under the abdomen, is that right? Not within the body at all.

Speaking of which, is it possible to observe the formation of the eggs, the female being transparent and all, before they are deposited? That'd be a sight!