My Tiger Shrimp Breeding Journal (with Photos) *56K warning*

[TheTeh]

Sorry if you have seen this before in another forum but I would like to share my tiger shrimp breeding journal with you here (with updated information). The setup is 8L. Notice the baby Endlers in this tank, I have transferred them to another tank after reading that baby Endler eats shrimplets!! I don't want to risk it!

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_8322.jpg

Water parameters are: 23-25C, pH 6.8, KH7, GH18, NO3 10, NO2 0. DIY CO2 supply, no filter but just a pump to circulate the water (notice the pump inlet is embeded in the substrate, it is a Hydor Thermopump so it regulates temperature too!). Substrates are minigravels of 3-5mm diameter. 10-30% water change weekly. Note that I have added Indian Almond Leaf (in the photo above) to create a 'blackwater' condition for them. They seem to like it so much that they reproduce batch after batch! More info about the leaves http://www.theteh.com/html/indian_almond_ketapang_leaf.html

Lighting is Arc Pod from Arcadia (11W Tropical) 8 hrs daily.

Daily suppliments: 3 drops (0.3ml) of Seachem Excel, 1 drop (0.1ml) of Potassium Iodide (8mg/ml concentration). Weekly, 2 drops (0.2ml) of Seachem Fluorish. I am not sure if these suppliments are any good but I certainly see dramatic growth of my java moss and Anubias nana! Cladophora hair algae is taking over slowly!! I have bought some Amano shrimps to help irradicate the algae, very effective indeed!

Last month the eggs look solid brown:
http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_5952.jpg
http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6345.jpg

The tiger carried the eggs for after about a month, during this time the eggs gradually turned from brown to transparent!
http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6702.jpg
During the last few days, the eggs have turned from brown to nearly colourless. At first I thought they have hatched but a closer look, all the eggs were still between the swimmerets.

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6630.jpg

Today, I noticed that most of the eggs were gone, except one left in the mother!! First thought was the eggs must have hatched!!!!!

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6724.jpg

Look around the tank and found one BABY TIGER!! :))

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6728.jpg
http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_6732.jpg

[Native American]

Your photography is tremendous...the kind of stuff I would expect from textbooks and periodicals.

Thanks for the great recordkeeping, too. Definitely going to save this page.

v/r, N-A

[TheTeh]

Update:

2 months old now...

Lets share our meal!

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_8517.jpg

[chinnp]

Very, very cool. I've got cherry shrimp myself that I'm trying to breed with no luck whatsoever. Is there anything you do to encourage them to breed? Also, how small are exactly are the shrimp when they hatch?

[Gambusia]

Neat

[TheTeh]

I have had three Tiger shrimps (one male and two females). Both femails have laid eggs, one of them hatched 3 days ago and now she had just laid a fresh batch of eggs today!!! Amazing because it was only 3 days after her previous eggs hatched and now she is carrying eggs again!

Newly hatched shrimplets are no more than 1.5mm and transparent so it is hard to spot them but still be able to workout that they are shrimps despite the small size.

I think it must be the Indian Almond leaf (Ketapang Leaf) that I add into the tank. It is suppose to be a magic leaf for inducing breeding in fish but it seems that it also induces shrimp breeding too!!! Now I believe why they called it magic leaf!

More information of Indian Almond leaf could be found here:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/shrimp-and-other-inverts-planted-aquariums/12467-did-anybody-ever-use-these-almond.html?highlight=almond+leaf

Here is another pregnant Tiger shrimp:
http://www.theteh.com/assets/images/db_images/db_IMG_68331.jpg

More photos could be seen here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_macro_closeup.html

[ubgone]

WOW nice job...
have you found a good way for telling the males from the females? (not when the females have eggs thats easy :) )
what do you feed them? and how often?
how much time till the first baby shrimp?
are you adding anything else to the water?(like Iodine....)

I have alot of q's cause I want to try it myself... :)

thanks.

[snails4saleuk]

great photos
lovely tank
i had 36 red cherry shrimp
most of them died
i now have 3
dont know why

[TheTeh]

Thanks for the comments
water quality problem?
hope your 3 shimps survive!
lol!

[ubgone]

hello teh, could you please answer my q's,
please...

[TheTeh]

WOW nice job...
have you found a good way for telling the males from the females? (not when the females have eggs thats easy :) )
what do you feed them? and how often?
how much time till the first baby shrimp?
are you adding anything else to the water?(like Iodine....)

I have alot of q's cause I want to try it myself... :)

thanks.

Hi ubegone,

Sorry, I have missed your questions!!
The males are slimmer, smaller, less colourful, longer wiskers and very active during mating. He would run round and round the tank and mate with any female on its path!

Females are fatter, more colourful, less active (tend to hide) and have short wiskers.

I feed them 3 times a week with various food but mainly Hikari Crab Cusine, Hikari Algae wafers, HIkari catfish wafers, Hikari Lionhead, Tetrapro Vegetable and Tetrapro Color. I only feed them with very small amount each time (3-5 pellets for 20+ shrimps) to prevent leftovers which will degrade water quality.

Once pregnant (ie carrying eggs), it takes 25-30 days of incubation before the eggs hatch into tiny 1.5mm shrimplets which can be seen by naked eye as a micro-version of the aldult shrimp. IT cannot be mistaken for anything else. So, when you see one, you KNOW it is a baby shrimplet.

I do dose iodide (not iodine!) to my shrimp tank (see my first post above for details).

Hope I have answered all your questions! Good luck!

[ubgone]

Hi ubegone,

Sorry, I have missed your questions!!
The males are slimmer, smaller, less colourful, longer wiskers and very active during mating. He would run round and round the tank and mate with any female on its path!

Females are fatter, more colourful, less active (tend to hide) and have short wiskers.

I feed them 3 times a week with various food but mainly Hikari Crab Cusine, Hikari Algae wafers, HIkari catfish wafers, Hikari Lionhead, Tetrapro Vegetable and Tetrapro Color. I only feed them with very small amount each time (3-5 pellets for 20+ shrimps) to prevent leftovers which will degrade water quality.

Once pregnant (ie carrying eggs), it takes 25-30 days of incubation before the eggs hatch into tiny 1.5mm shrimplets which can be seen by naked eye as a micro-version of the aldult shrimp. IT cannot be mistaken for anything else. So, when you see one, you KNOW it is a baby shrimplet.

I do dose iodide (not iodine!) to my shrimp tank (see my first post above for details).

Hope I have answered all your questions! Good luck!


thanks man!

I knew you missed it thats why I wrote it :D

you dont feed them any vegetables?
have you ever got the tank to about 86-84? i'm asking cause that will be the temp of my tank cause its so hot here(israel)...
do you notice any baby sharimp lose? did you tried catching them and growing them in a different tank?

thanks. :thm:

[ubgone]

BTW

how are you taking this amazing photos could you explain please?

[TheTeh]

They must love the Indian Almond leaves (http://www.theteh.com/html/indian_almond_ketapang_leaf.html) indeed!!!

From this:

http://www.theteh.com/assets/images/IMG_7975.jpg

http://www.theteh.com/assets/images/IMG_7949.jpg




To this in two weeks:

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_8568.jpg

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_8569.jpg

http://www.theteh.com/aquarium/IMG_8665.jpg

[ubgone]

OMG !!

I think this is the most amzing photos I ever SAW!!!!!
have you ever taken pics of plecos?

[TheTeh]

ubgone: Thanks! Not pleco but Ancistrus:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75297

[chinnp]

Those are some kickass pictures. I added the Indian Almond leaf to my tank. We'll see if it motivates my stupid shrimp to breed. They seem to be happy with a celibate life so far.