4 RCS berried in the same day!!!

I pay pretty close attention to my tanks, and I've been watching the RCS closely because I've recently realized they're not in the best of tanks for them. Today, in the evening, I tossed in some Veggie sticks and looked at the shrimp not making a run for them. There are suddenly *4* females all berried at the same time. I think I saw one in the process, she still had some eggs in her saddle, and just a few down in her tail area. I've got pics which I'll try to post tomorrow, but they all look thrilled. Two of the new mommies to be were sitting belly to belly shuffling their eggs like they were gossiping about their latest OB appointment.

I know that moving shrimp can be stressful for them, but this 40 gallon tank has over 100 juvie guppies in it. They have been fed microworms and BBS throughout their lives, so I'm sure they'll go after the baby RCS. Any advice on the safest, least stressful way to move the RCS colony to a shrimp only tank? Here's my plan right now.

I have a 5 gallon, cycled, that I can move the fish out of. I can do a complete water change, and replace the water with 60% what the shrimp are in now, and 40% fresh water. I won't change the filter. I can give the water a day, watch for spikes in anything, and if it settles OK, then move the shrimp in a floating container to account for minor temp changes. I can move the shrimp in with the two plants they like the most, the java moss and one other that provides a lot of cover. The 5 gallon already has some floating hornwort and anacharis, I can weight that so they have more ground cover to hide out in.

I can put a nylon stocking over the filter intake, and I've already had a corner filter in the 5 gallon for almost a week with a plan to move the hanging filter out entirely. I imagine I could do that any time.

Am I missing anything in this move plan? Should I pull the hanging filter out right away, or will that cause the cycle to be more severe?

I feel like a first time Mom! 4 at once, can you believe it?!?!?!

Are shrimp more susceptible to temp changes than fish? My 5 gallon changes temp a little, but has a heater so it stays within a couple of degrees.

I have a heavily planted 10 g tank I *could* use, but it would mean another move fairly soon. Also, tons and tons of pond snails in there to compete for food with the babies, but I could do a spring cleaning on those.

Are shrimp more susceptible to temp changes than fish? My 5 gallon changes temp a little, but has a heater so it stays within a couple of degrees.

Pics of my berried shrimp

Here's a couple of my best pics. I have pics of other shrimp, but none turned out as clearly as these. One of them is reaching inside shuffling the eggs around - you can see her exoskeleton lifted, but not her legs inside.

pik01 said:

first of all, congratulations!! I love watching berried mamas fan their eggs hehe (try saying that to a person who doesn't keep shrimp)

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I did, to my housemate, and she accused me of lying. I had to show her videos, pictures, and the live shrimp before she finally believed me!

I cut the top off of a thoroughly rinsed water bottle right where it begins to taper, took the cap off and inverted the top, putting it back into the bottle. It's sort of like a funnel, only with a sealed outer rim. I placed a crab cuisine pellet inside and within the hour I had 9 shrimp figure out how to get to the pellet but not back out of the bottle (this included 2 of my 4 berried females. I could have left it longer to get the rest of my shrimp but I was worried about oxygen circulation so I decided to reel in the trap with 9 shrimp. If you need pictures of the trap I can snap some for you. Good luck!

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I made a fatal mistake with this. I read this post, waited a few days, then tried to do what you said from memory rather than coming back and reading your post in full. I baited the bottle, turned out the lights ... and left it all night long. I'm a total idiot. Also, I baited it with a dozen or so Ken's Veggie pellets, instead of just one or two little treats.

I thought "There's 18 shrimp in this tank, it'll need to sit there for a while to catch them" without remembering your comment about circulation, or one hour.

I caught mostly fish, and only one shrimp. When I got up the next morning, there were about 15 fish in the trap, 7 of them dead. The shrimp was living, but completely colorless and very sluggish.

I pulled the trap out, released the shrimp back into the same tank (I didn't know how much more stress he could take) and all the fish and the shrimp that were alive are still alive. I assume that as the veggie pellets broke down and got swished around by the swimming fish, and I had a toxic ammonia buildup, and/or a serious oxygen depletion.

I feel like an idiot, and I'm totally gun-shy about doing the same thing again, even though you've done it successfully. It was such a traumatic experience I will stick to nets from now on. My plan right now is to net the shrimp, plant and everything up, with a little cup underneath, so they never actually spend any time out of their water. Then I'll float the cup in the new tank, and periodically splash some new water in, and release them around an hour. That's the least traumatic method I can think of, and if the shrimp drop their eggs, I'll just have to hope they get berried again soon.

Just wanted to post about my mistake so nobody else has to learn the hard way.

I've moved the shrimp to the 5 gallon. I have 120 fry in the tank right now, which will get sexed and move out in the next week or so, before the baby shrimpies are due. Then I'll leave the tank invert only unless I have no baby shrimpies, or some very young fry that need a home for a few days. Once I have a lot of RCS in all my tanks, I may move fish back in to this invert tank to control the population.

It took me about 2 hours to net all the shrimp with my modified 'low stress' scoop and move method. The berried females were harder to catch, because they were hiding really well and less likely to run away. (and get netted up) I was most careful with them, and a little quicker with the males and the non-berried females. I moved their favorite plant with them to the new tank, plus a bunch of floating hornwort and anacharis, then I left them alone for a day. Since then, I've seen two of the berried females, but there's plenty of hiding places, so I don't know if the other females have dropped their berries or if they're just hiding out, irritated at me. I guess I'll know when the baby shrimpies start showing up.

Thanks everyone for all the help.