# Don’t Panic!



## Aqua sobriquet (20 Nov 2019)

I put some cherries in my tank about three weeks ago and I’ve just noticed one of them is berried. I fitted a new stainless inlet and outlet a while back and the inlet slots are more than big enough for any baby shrimps to get sucked up. Luckily I had some spare foam so I’ve managed to cut off a suitable sized piece with my usuba and “drilled” a hole in it with some plastic tube. The foam slipped over the inlet nicely. So, panic over but what else do I need to do to help the young shrimp survive?


----------



## thatblokeoverthere (20 Nov 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> I put some cherries in my tank about three weeks ago and I’ve just noticed one of them is berried. I fitted a new stainless inlet and outlet a while back and the inlet slots are more than big enough for any baby shrimps to get sucked up. Luckily I had some spare foam so I’ve managed to cut off a suitable sized piece with my usuba and “drilled” a hole in it with some plastic tube. The foam slipped over the inlet nicely. So, panic over but what else do I need to do to help the young shrimp survive?


I have had a good four or five generations of babies so far in my little tank and did nothing apart from moving to a sponge filter and airstone and adding some Moss for them to graze on. I keep them temperature around 25 Celsius and feed Bacter AE daily with occasional Hikari crab cuisine or algae wafer to supplement it. I tried blanched spinach but it floated and they all ignored it, cucumber was more popular but not amazingly so.

Sent from my Mi MIX 2S using Tapatalk


----------



## Siege (20 Nov 2019)

Plant heavily and they’ll sort themselves out!

They’ll love moss!

The occasional feed will help if you want. Cherries will basically breed as to how much food is available. The more food though the more you need to be on your maintenance so best with just the odd bit occasionally.


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (20 Nov 2019)

There’s plenty of Moss in there and also three or four Moss balls. The adults can often be seen upside down grazing on some floating plants.

I will have a look at the Bacter AE, thanks.


----------



## david boden (20 Nov 2019)

Aqua-----Bacter AE  is excellent for the babies ( lots of video on Youtube )-----However, the measuring spoon they supply is about 10 times bigger than you need .
This supplement  really needs to be dosed very sparingly, as it's known to deplete oxygen levels when dosed in excess,


----------



## thatblokeoverthere (20 Nov 2019)

david boden said:


> Aqua-----Bacter AE  is excellent for the babies ( lots of video on Youtube )-----However, the measuring spoon they supply is about 10 times bigger than you need .
> This supplement  really needs to be dosed very sparingly, as it's known to deplete oxygen levels when dosed in excess,


Yes, I should have mentioned that. I only give them a small portion of the spoon and have a lot of aeration going on.

Sent from my [null] using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (21 Nov 2019)

I couldn’t see any Bacter AE at a good price so I’ve ordered some Shrimp King BioTase. Hopefully it will be ok.


----------



## thatblokeoverthere (21 Nov 2019)

Bacter AE isn't cheap but a little goes a LONG way.

Sent from my [null] using Tapatalk


----------



## david boden (21 Nov 2019)

Yes indeed....AE seems to last forever !
Biotase should be fine too, but please add very sparingly , but regularly.
Even Shrimp King say that a 30g pouch will treat 10,000 litres,-- so you can probably double that  yourself.
Best to get it going as soon as you can, before babies need it .


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (21 Nov 2019)

Yes I will do David, thanks. I’ll pop some into the tank as soon as it arrives. I got it from ProShrimp on eBay so it should get here soon, they’re very good at getting stuff out quickly.


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (21 Nov 2019)

The makeshift sponge I’ve had to put on the inlet is not exactly attractive so I’d like to sort out a more aesthetic solution. The intake slots on my stainless inlet cover an area that’s maybe 90mm top to bottom. This means that most of the stainless mesh covers I’ve seen are simply too short to cover all the slots. I’ve seen others but they are a bit too large and ugly. I’d rather not resort to using tape to cover up some of the slots. I’ve therefore been thinking of slipping a larger stainless tube over the inlet with holes drilled in it. I have the tools to do this but I’m wondering what the largest size holes I can get away with? Would 1mm holes be too big or do I need to go smaller? If I have to go much smaller I’d need to drill a lot more holes and it could be a bit too much of a bother!


----------



## david boden (21 Nov 2019)

I'm afraid to tell ya that baby shrimp are almost invisible, and can probably get through any hole you may drill.
The thing that may foil them is a very fine grained sponge etc----trouble is, it will block up quite quickly----hum.
I'm lucky that the filter intakes on my tanks are through a plastic grille, and I'm able to push a wad of filter floss behind it to prevent ingress.
Even so, I have to discard the floss every two or three days, as it's amazing how much 'stuff' builds up in the fibres.
So, I can't help ya really----


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (21 Nov 2019)

Thanks David. I’ll keep the sponge on then. It’s a fairly fine sponge but I do have an even finer one I can try.


----------



## MJQMJQ (25 Nov 2019)

Finer ones clog even faster Im guessing the current one should do.Based on how just born shrimp are 0.2mm approx in length, the diameter at head area should be around 0.4-0.5 mm so any hole equal or bigger than that they will squeeze through i guess.


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (13 Dec 2019)

I’ve been keeping a look out for any babies and I’ve seen nothing until yesterday when I saw one about 2-3mm long feeding near the bottom. Hopefully a few more have made it.


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (13 Dec 2019)

I had a good look after lights on today and I saw about 4 or 5 so I’m well pleased. I wonder what colour they will be? Mum is orange.


----------



## Iain Sutherland (13 Dec 2019)

Baby shrimp rarely venture away from substrate or undergrowth so dont tend to end up in filters but juvenilles will.  1mm holes in a custom tube would be fine you would just need to work out how many holes.  Alternatively buy a stainless mesh cover and just tape up the one or two slots that aren't covered by it.... assuming it works fine you could then find a more permanent solution to covering the excess slots.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (21 Dec 2019)

I’ve seen some young shrimp foraging on the intake sponge without any problems so although ugly it seems to be doing its job quite well. It will be interesting to see how dirty it is when I take it out to clean it. A second orange female is now berried as well so more young ones on the way.


----------



## Protopigeon (26 Dec 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> I’ve managed to cut off a suitable sized piece with my usuba



Top marks for using your japanese knife!


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (26 Dec 2019)

It’s the sharpest knife I’ve got!


----------

