View Full Version : Breeding Amano Shrimp
Unchin
10-21-2003, 5:36 PM
Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has experience breeding these types of shrimp, since they are so expensive in the states. Some people in Asia I have seen claim that these shrimp breed easily, but I seem to have no luck. Anyone ever successfully done this? Any tips? Thanks.
SnakeIce
10-22-2003, 12:50 AM
if I have my facts straight they are brackish water or at least very hard water species thought they can live in fresh but just not breed
odessa
10-22-2003, 6:58 AM
"Caridina japonica lives in the southern part of central Japan, particularly in rivers, which end into the Pacific Ocean. Recently they were seen in the eastern part of Taiwan. Their eggs are extremely small. The young larvae also are really very small with one to one and a half millimeters. The fresh larvae float downstream towards the sea where they grow up until the age of two months.
Caridina japonica "Yamato-Numaebi"
This means that this type cannot complete its life cycle in the fresh water alone. Once they get a length from one and a half centimeters, they slowly get up-river. Considering these facts the breed might be almost impossible, because who can offer such conditions?"
I took the above from http://users.skynet.be/caridina-japonica/
Tou might want to look into Breeding Cherry shrimp which are very similar to Amano"s except for the fact they are easier to breed in the aquarium.
Wilma Duncan reported breeding Amanos some time back in her article at:
http://www.jayscustomcomputers.com/wilma/
A number of us have repeated her work successfully, some have done so without the addition of marine mix.
Cherry Reds are much easier to breed in tanks, but also are smaller, so more likely to be eaten by tankmates.
HTH
MrGoodbytes
10-23-2003, 9:07 AM
I want to try that some time too, but I haven't seen my shrimp for a while :p. They must be hiding in my plants. I also read the article by Wilma Duncan and am going to try it when I get more shrimp and some Instant Ocean and some crab food.
As far as I know the larvae are hatched in estuarine conditions, which goes with what Odessa said.
Graeme
Unchin
10-24-2003, 2:02 AM
I've actually read that article before.
Anyway, I've gotten up to the point where I had eggs on my shrimp and separated them into it's own 10 gallon tank and added some sea salt, but nothing ever came out of it... I didn't even see any free-floating larvae. On the other hand, in my larger 80 gallon tank where the rest of my shrimp are, I have occasionaly seen the larvae after some of the eggs on other shrimp hatched. I caught some of these larvae and put them into the 10 gallon tank. Again, nothing else ever appeared and those larvae disappeared. So, does anyone actually have first hand experience? What did you have to do? Is it impossible to breed them in a tank with other fishes in them? The only time I ever saw the floating larvae in my 80 gallon was when only the shrimp in there and there were no fish. So, anyone actually do this before?
Yes, I do, and I follow Wilma's process. It is straight-forward and it works.
Of course you have to have no tankmates. Shrimp fry are live food to fish, and to some extent to the adult shrimp. My shrimp tanks are loaded with Java Moss, plus a few adult shrimp, and nothing else.
You don't breed egg-layers in tanks with other fish. Well you don't breed shrimp that way either.
Unchin
10-24-2003, 12:30 PM
Well, I have spoken to a guy in Asia who had tons of amano shrimp in all of his tanks. He said they breed in all of his tanks, the ones with fishes included. I have heard of others doing this as well. I asked because I don't want to set up another 10 gallon tank just for the shrimp. I was just thinking it could be possible because my aquarium is heavily planted.
My problem with raising these shrimp is raising the babies. I've seen the floating larvae, but they just never got any bigger. Well, maybe i'll give it another try when I have the time...
MrGoodbytes
10-24-2003, 2:41 PM
I think my main problem would be lack of access to Java Moss around here :(. I've read it's very important to have to breed shrimp.
A number of my tanks have more Amanos in there than I put there, but then, they also have more Cherry Barbs. I do not consider chance survival of offspring to be breeding a fish or shrimp, but your usage may be different.
Breeding to me involves knowing what is happening and when, and being able to report that info to others and have them do the same. Most tropicals and all the shrimp I have kept reproduce routinely and regularly. Being able to protect and rear the young is a different thing.