# Breeding Amano / Yamato shrimp



## Richardblack5

HI,

I am trying my first attempt at amano breeding and my zoes are already 12 days old.

I have cobbled together a mixture of ideas found on the net and have fingers crossed that some will make it through to adulthood. 

Does anyone have success with this?

I split my zoes into two 14lt tanks with marine water of different chemistry and fed each a random mixture of phytoplankton and Liquizell.

I used these sites mainly for my knowledge base:

http://www.shrimpnow.com/content.php/12 ... p-Breeding

http://www.shrimpnow.com/content.php/264-Amano-(yamato)-shrimp-breeding-2

http://caridina.japonica.online.fr/English/index.html

I have stopped adding any more phytoplankton and Liquizell because my phytoplankton has multiplied and has turned the water so green that I can only see into the tank some 5 – 10 cm but don't know if stopping feeding is right or not. 

I know I have zoes because when I shine a torch they all swim towards the light.

Pics here






Any advice would be welcome

Regards

Richard


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 16 more pics.. air stone shown for scale


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Hey Richard, 

Looks like fascinating stuff. Can I ask how you introduced the Eggs across to the Brackish water? Was it a case of acclimatizing the mother or collecting the eggs/Zoes?


----------



## Richardblack5

I put all the females with eggs into small 14lt glass tank with water from my 400lt tropical tank where they live.(I purchased the small glass tank from Pets At Home for under £20) i installed an air stone and various items to make it feel homely for them. When the females released their larvae  / zoe’s  I used a small LED torch to attract the zoe’s and sucked them up with a small pipette where I squirted them straight into my salt water.

The two salt tanks were set up for the zoe’s. For one i used water from my 400lt tropical and the other I used pure RO.. I used marine aquarium salt mixed to full marine salinity in both. I set up two tanks as a safety to spread the odds of survival.

This is my first attempt not just with Amano zoe’s but also am new to marine water and phytoplankton cultures which I am now growing for their feed so feel quite exposed to having problems with any part of my process.


----------



## foxfish

Well done so far & I wish you good luck with your babies.....


----------



## Richardblack5

i noticed at day 15 my green water seemed to be fading slightly in one of my tanks. I don’t know whether this is because the phytoplankton culture is dying or perhaps the zoes are eating it. The zoes in this tank seem to be larger and more active than the second tank that is still deep green with phyto.

I have started a phytoplankton culture 21.09.12 (this is also new territory to me and Goggle say it should be ready after 8 days or so) this is so I can feed the zoes with a constant supply but now have two questions about this.Q1 how much phyto should i add to the zoes tank? Q2 should I do a partial water change in my zoes tank to allow existing culture and possibility new culture to multiply?

Additionally I have some Spirulina tablets, should I grind these to powder and feed also / instead as suggested in Google?


----------



## Richardblack5

I plan to put up pics at day 21 (this Sunday), and then every 7 days thereafter so fingers crossed and holding breath.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,
I think with most crustaceans it is just a size issue, they filter out and eat any suspended food items of the right size, they don't differentiate between them. The advantage of a "live food" phytoplankton culture is that it will propagate, producing a supply of appropriately sized, nutritionally balanced food items (that will remain suspended in the water column), and also will utilise some of the ammonia (NH3) etc produced by the growing larvae as they grow and photosynthesise.

Therefore I think you can use any reasonably sized suitably nutritious food item like ground spirulina, gram flour or paprika etc, but these don't have the "live food" advantage of phytoplankton. Yeast might work, but I've never been successful with it with _Daphnia_, as it seems to have a very high BOD.

A live culture source that might be easily accessible is _Haematococcus pluvialis_, the algae that is grown commercially for its carotenoid pigment (astaxanthin) content, and is the colour enhancer fed to Salmon and Flamingoes.  These creatures would normally get their carotenoids 2nd hand via the crustaceans they have eaten, which would have got them from the phytoplankton.

If you want a starter culture it is the rusty red gunk you get in shallow dishes like bird baths etc which repeatedly  fill with water and dry out again <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haematococcus_pluvialis>.  I've never tried to culture it, but there are instructions in the Wikipedia links, and it is extremely common in the UK.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Piece-of-fish

Wathcing this with curiosity. Thanks for your effort and sharing


----------



## Richardblack5

I had some random thought to give them liquifry number 2 (as I had some left over from the past). I released a small drop just onto the water surface allowing it to spread on the water tension, when the particles began to sink the zoe’s just grabbed them. I assume they thought it was food, but as the liquifry began to sink so did the zoe’s into the murky depths of my phyto mix. Hope to see them tomorrow for their third week birthday as I want to take pics.


----------



## Richardblack5

21 day amano zoe's, pics taken today although camera date set wrong.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Looking good Richard, surprised this topic hasn't seen more activity!

What day do you expect they will 'transform' so to speak?


----------



## darren636

crazy looking things


----------



## Richardblack5

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Looking good Richard, surprised this topic hasn't seen more activity!
> 
> What day do you expect they will 'transform' so to speak?



Yeah me too. 

I’m just guessing my way through this now as limited info around.. the questions I am struggling to answer are:

How do i know when they are ready to move? How long after morph?

How long can i leave the salt water before adding fresh tank water?

I will still have zoe’s that are waiting to morph so how do i catch the post morph zoes (shrimp)  for acclimatise to fresh water?

The info seems to be limited


----------



## Richardblack5

I did 20% water change yesterday and added 6ml phyto, 2 drops liquizel and small quantity of spirulina powder


----------



## darren636

are these all the same age? Just with ones hatching earlier than others?


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Richardblack5 said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looking good Richard, surprised this topic hasn't seen more activity!
> 
> What day do you expect they will 'transform' so to speak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah me too.
> 
> I’m just guessing my way through this now as limited info around.. the questions I am struggling to answer are:
> 
> How do i know when they are ready to move? How long after morph?
> 
> How long can i leave the salt water before adding fresh tank water?
> 
> I will still have zoe’s that are waiting to morph so how do i catch the post morph zoes (shrimp)  for acclimatise to fresh water?
> 
> The info seems to be limited
Click to expand...



Hmm good point.
I would imagine when they do turn to shrimps, start a very slow acclimatisation process over the space of a week or so. Maybe 5% WC's with fresh water per day to slowly bring salinity down.

Interesting to see how this works out.


----------



## darren636

yeah. Any transfer or water change would need to be gentle and small. There are zero details out there, so you have to improvise. Good luck


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

When you do succeed, maybe re-write an entire Journal of the process in detail. I reckon there will be a lot of people interested to see it, and possibly even give it a go.


----------



## REDSTEVEO

Hi Richard,

Seems like we are both fumbling about on a trial by error route. Tonight I went into the garage when it was dark outside, turned all the lights out and shone a small 5 watt LED torch into the corner of the tank. As hoped the zoes all swam towards it in a swarm. I left it for a few minutes and then siphoned the lot out in one go into a large jug. 

Once the shrimp zoes were out, I then noticed that there was a sparkling effect in the water. Under examination with a magnifying glass I saw the sparkly stuff moving about. I am positive this was the phytoplankton organisms in the water, which leads me to believe that there must be plenty of food in the tank, and yet the shrimp don't seem to be getting any bigger.

I then cleaned the glass bottom and sides because they were developing the diatom brown algae and is was difficult to see through the glass properly. The algae was obviously as a result of the lights being on 24/7. Once the glass was clean I siphoned out 50% of the water and added a new mix of slightly saltier water, 1.025. Then I carefully poured the contents of the jug back into the tank. All the zoes seem fine.

I notice from your pictures, some of the shrimp fry appear to be crooked, almost L - shaped. I was wondering if this is normal or are they suffering from lack of minerals to keep their shape?

If yours are 22 days old now what are you feeding them on?

Cheers and good luck, and I thought raising Discus fry was difficult!!


----------



## foxfish

There seems to be quite a few Youtube vids, they might help you a bit... https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourcei ... hrimp+zoes


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

> Looking good Richard, surprised this topic hasn't seen more activity!



Perhaps like me everyone's just watching how you get on but not commenting because they know nothing about raising these type of shrimp   Interesting stuff though   another little part of the hobby that is both interesting and fairly cheap to do.


----------



## hinch

i know nothing about keeping shrimp in general anyway  never once been able to keep shrimp longer than a week before they all died


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Looking good Richard, surprised this topic hasn't seen more activity!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Perhaps like me everyone's just watching how you get on but not commenting because they know nothing about raising these type of shrimp   Interesting stuff though   another little part of the hobby that is both interesting and fairly cheap to do.
Click to expand...



I know nothing about this side of shrimp keeping, regards to Saltwater Zoes etc.
 Which is why I'm asking. I'm not contemplating doing it in the future, just understanding the process is good


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

So far so good for a noob.   I am surprised in these things just seem to be getting dumped and syphoned from one container to the other. They must be hardy little critters, I would have thought if embarking on this sort of thing the hardest part other than keeping a good food supply would have been acclimatising them from one type of water to the other then back again but so far it appears not to have caused you any problems. I know little about shrimp, had a little planted set up about 5/6 weeks ago going I just need my RCS. See how I get on with them then investigate other species. Like you I'm just interested in how things work. 
Anything interesting in small setups with little layout money wise is always interesting to me so I can do it at work. I used to breed all sorts of fish but unfortunately I work away from home these days and had to knock it on the head but shrimp are perfect. I can feed them up and they don't mind being left alone for a few days. Very rare I'm out of town for more than 5 consecutive days tops.


----------



## Richardblack5

Cheers for all the support from you guys....If successful I will post all my steps.

After reading an old blog (2008) by Mike Noren, i did a15% water change and topped it off with adding 300ml of Phyto..... and gave it all a stir. The zoe’s grabbed hold of bits floating past but I am not sure whether they thought it was food or just grabbing something for comfort. 

I am sure in real life though they would be subject to water movement from rain, floods or tide. A little activity in the tank might even do them some good.


----------



## REDSTEVEO

Richard,

What temperature have you got your water at in the shrimp fry tank? Also what is the density salinity, mine is at 1.025

Cheers,


----------



## Richardblack5

REDSTEVEO said:
			
		

> What temperature have you got your water at in the shrimp fry tank? Also what is the density salinity, mine is at 1.025



Room temp tank at 22.5 salinity at 1.025 also.

I have had problem gauging salinity. I first purchased a glass hydrometer then a chamber type with floating needle .. needless to say they both returned very different values 

I then purchased a TMC refractometer and that gave a third reading.. after some thinking I decided the refractometer would be the most accurate.

 Most blogs I have read say salinity should be about 35ppm so as my water was considerably less I addressed this in 2 x part water change.


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 24. 

One of my two attempts was failing... The second setup which had half my larvae was made up of old tropical tank water with Tropical Marine salt started to show signs of trouble. Since day 10 I could tell tank B was not as active.

I’m going to refer the failed tank as tank B and the current working one as tank A

What I noticed apart from the apparent reduced numbers in tank B was that the larvae were not advancing in size as much as the other project in tank A.  The only difference between tanks A and B is the water in tank B was old tropical water (which i picked because i thought it would be balanced). The water used for tank A was pure fresh RO. There were some other very small differences in salinity (which I have been struggling to define accurately)

In a vain attempt to save what was left in B I sucked up the remaining 20 or so larvae and put them straight into tank A.

Tank A had some waste on its base so I conjured up a rigid tube and 6mm pipe to siphon up the bottom... then replaced the 2 lts with fresh mix and topped the lot off with some liquifry feed. 

All my zoe’s are now in one tank.

For reference all my pictures are from tank A


----------



## Richardblack5

REDSTEVEO said:
			
		

> I notice from your pictures, some of the shrimp fry appear to be crooked, almost L - shaped. I was wondering if this is normal or are they suffering from lack of minerals to keep their shape?
> 
> If yours are 22 days old now what are you feeding them on?



The zoe's do seem crooked but when they swim they straighten out... they go back to being crooked when they float about. 

Apart from the Phyto in the tank (which is still too green to see any further than about 7cm) i feed liquifry (just at random times)

They like the liquifry because they chase and grab the bits to stop them sinking.

Have also added some liquizel at random times


----------



## Richardblack5

I cleaned out my tank from project B (left in the diatom brown algae that was growing on the inside) and am getting ready for next batch.

After applying my recent experience I have produced the following setup.

Tank 19lt, 35ppm salinity, Pure & fresh RO, 500ml Phyto, 5ml Stress Zyme+, 5ml Stress Coat+, Lights 24/7, Room temp. Air stone on slow bubble. All now mixed and operational.

The Stress Zyme and Stress Coat may help to keep the zoe’s and water conditioned but then again it may kill them off.. 

Will let you know in thread when the female is ready.


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 26

Things are changing....

There have been some noticeable changes of the last 24 hours.. 

Firstly the zoe’s are far more active and they swim to the lower part of their tank whereas before they would just hang around the top 25% of the water.

Secondly they can swim in both directions so just stop and swim backwards instead of turning around. I have given thought to their swimming direction because actually if they look like they are swimming forwards are they not actually swimming backwards??? I ask this because since birth they have naturally swam backwards as their preferred method of direction!!

Thirdly their colour is changing from a light / transparent brown to a much darker brown. Parks of their body are more visibly defined because of colour and shade differences.

Fourthly they just keep grabbing at each other then sink together, about half way down they separate and swim back up. I have seen this activity before but not with this frequency.

Finally there kinked tails are straightening out more so, and on  one or two zoe’s it looks like they flick it down to propel forwards.

I ground down some spirulina tablets into powder and mixed it with water for a feed and by chance discovered something... when I have fed spirulina powder before (as a ground paste with added water) it has always sunk to the bottom with little time for the zoe’s to feed, this time I used warm water to help the paste dissolve. What I discovered is when the paste is put into the tank (with a pipette) it floats up to the surface because the paste is warmer. I wafted the mix about and it formed a suspended cloud of green feed. The zoe’s seemed to like this because as the cloud moved with the slow water flow the zoe’s stopped with it.


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 26

First signs of morph into shrimp.

Feeling nervous

As you can see other zoe’s still have a way to go

You can see the digital thermometer in the first pic.. shows how small things are


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

I'm still watching this Richard, looks like fantastic progress. When do you intend on dropping the Salinity? And at what rate?


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

> Feeling nervous



 The expectant father

Had a little look about for you and it would appear that the curling of tails and swimming backwards is usual for larvae. Most people recommend dropping salinity by 5ppm per day over a few days when they morph to shrimp stage which yours are clearly at (or most of them) going off your pics. One thing I did notice was a warning that you can get ammonia spikes as you change from saline to fresh water. Perhaps some ammonia absorbing sponge product could be dumped in the tank while this stage is going on.


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 26 update

Found a moult on the glass


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Feeling nervous
> 
> 
> 
> One thing I did notice was a warning that you can get ammonia spikes as you change from saline to fresh water. Perhaps some ammonia absorbing sponge product could be dumped in the tank while this stage is going on.
Click to expand...


Cheers for the info... where could i find such a thing?

I have no marine testing kits either.. all my stuff is tropical.. I got a local maidenhead aquatics so Ill go there tomorrow for testers.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

I'm not sure mate, surely someone does some resin in a net bag that's designed for putting in a canister filter though which should be ok just dumped in the tank in its bag. I will have a look when I get in. Just finishing work with this post then going home. BTW also noticed it's day 26 and the transition point to fresh water is usually 30 days for the larvae to turn into young shrimp so your about on schedule I would say. Some folk also say they have left them up to 2 months in saline water. Still looking to see if it's ok to put larvae in fresh water but I think it might be safer waiting for them all to be shrimp before diluting the water. 

Another thing that got mentioned was your algae culture dying as you change to fresher water but not sure at what point yours will start eating normal commercial shrimp food.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

http://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/Fluval-Ammonia-Remover-(3-x-180g-in-filter-bags)-M3824 Perhaps


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> BTW also noticed it's day 26 and the transition point to fresh water is usually 30 days for the larvae to turn into young shrimp so your about on schedule I would say. quote]
> 
> BTW?  Where do i find his blog? I have read so many that I can’t recall seeing everyone.
> 
> I’m away now until later but very much welcome your help.


----------



## darren636

why do they need saline conditions?


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Some folk also say they have left them up to 2 months in saline water.quote]
> 
> I have seen this also and was thinking the same. I have limited options to separate pre and post morph stages with multiple batches.
> 
> We had some Krebs give birth last week and my missus made me use my spare tank for them... My office at home now looks like aquarium shop lol.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

> why do they need saline conditions?why do they need saline conditions?


The larvae are hatched in saline conditions then live in fresh water to replicate what would happen in the wild. The transformation would be gradual and quite difficult to do in a small tank I would imagine. Generally the young of most aqautic creatures are sensitive to sudden change in conditions. 

@Richard, I didn't get information from one site in particular mate. I just gleened from various and looked for a general opinion from the people who appeared to know what they were on about mainly forums where people were trying the same thing.
Know what you mean about your house  when I was into breeding fishes mine got like that. What you need is a shed with some power going to it. I have a unit on an industrial estate but unfortunately I'm not always there and fry need small feeds often. Might have more luck with some shrimp though  I have kribs which spawn regular, I just leave them in the main tank a bit darwinian survival of the fittest theory. I usually end up with 8>12 young that make it to maturity. I give them to the LFS down side being I end up wrecking the tank catching them. When these kribs go I may change to rams as my feature character fish.


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> @Richard, I didn't get information from one site in particular mate. I just gleened from various and looked for a general opinion from the people who appeared to know what they were on about mainly forums where people were trying the same thing.
> Know what you mean about your house  when I was into breeding fishes mine got like that. What you need is a shed with some power going to it. I have a unit on an industrial estate but unfortunately I'm not always there and fry need small feeds often. Might have more luck with some shrimp though  I have kribs which spawn regular, I just leave them in the main tank a bit darwinian survival of the fittest theory. I usually end up with 8>12 young that make it to maturity. I give them to the LFS down side being I end up wrecking the tank catching them. When these kribs go I may change to rams as my feature character fish.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all the info....


----------



## Richardblack5

day 29 pictures due tomorrow


----------



## OllieNZ

Im glued. Cant offer much in the way of help except that BTW = By The Way


----------



## Richardblack5

BTW... I have teenage kids... I should have known lol... seems so obvious now you mention it.


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 29


----------



## Piece-of-fish

Looking good.


----------



## LondonDragon

Brilliant stuff, haven't seen this done in the past here, how many have you got?


----------



## Richardblack5

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Brilliant stuff, haven't seen this done in the past here, how many have you got?



I think between 60 and 100... most but not all still come to the corner of the tank where I shine the light.


----------



## tim

very interesting thread mate progress is looking good


----------



## Richardblack5

tim said:
			
		

> very interesting thread mate progress is looking good



Cheers Tim...

I have three more berried females so just waiting now to try technique that’s a little more refined.


----------



## basil

Top shrimpin - keep us posted!! Great thread........


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Finally getting some well deserved interest mate. We all have these shrimp in our tank, yet few have got them to breed (Mark Evans I believe did in a standard EI dosed setup).

Keep up the good work, putting one foot infront of the other.


----------



## Westyggx

Been reading since the start, looking forward to seeing the progress updates. Oh and ill buy a shed load off you when they are ready


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 33

Things had been going slowly and up to today and nothing seemed to be changing much. 

Today I have noticed five or six zoe’s clinging onto the green mossy tank glass (have only previously seen this with one zoe last weekend). Also, I can't see all the way around the tank so assume more could be doing the same. 

I did a quick 20% water change and wiped the top two 3 inches of algae from the inside the glass. I just realised that the reason things were looking quiet was because there was so much green algae / moss like coating on the glass it had actually stopped me looking in to the water and seeing any details.

After the water top up I immediately saw one mini shrimp dart across the tank. In a second it was gone and now I can’t pull myself away from the tank hoping to get another glimpse. 

As I sit here staring I notice the other zoe’s are doing the usual bobbing up and down in the top half of the water. I feel very reassured things are going well now..... Other blogs suggest the zoe’s will not change all at once and to add to the ‘timing event’ I recall I put in larvae over a 6 to 9 day period (as more than 1 female released her eggs) not to mention I combined my Project B tank with this tank the other week.

Hope to have some pics for day 35 (end of week 5)

Have added foods every day since last week.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

Looking forward to the pics.


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Looking forward to the pics.



Who would have thought it.. a 45 year old company director stuck with nose pushed up against the tank looking for a sign...lol


----------



## Richardblack5

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Brilliant stuff, haven't seen this done in the past here, how many have you got?



Why do you think this has not been done in the past here, before?


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

> Who would have thought it.. a 45 year old company director stuck with nose pushed up against the tank looking for a sign...lol


Wwwhhooa there I'm only 42 give me a break! Intrigued as to where you got the rest of your information from  :?:


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Who would have thought it.. a 45 year old company director stuck with nose pushed up against the tank looking for a sign...lol
> 
> 
> 
> Wwwhhooa there I'm only 42 give me a break! Intrigued as to where you got the rest of your information from  :?:
Click to expand...


My missus thinks I’m bonkers.... She keeps reminding me I have a life outside of fish.. It’s all her fault I tell her as she got me to buy her first tank when I wasn’t even interested.. Oh how things change.. I got 7 kids also so I can see what she means....... I wasn’t moaning at you AWB... I was just hoping to see another darting shrimp but had to go to bed in the end.. I can’t believe I was stuck to the glass waiting for another glimpse of shrimp... I keep telling myself during the last 40 days of waiting for Amano... Rome wasn’t built in a day...ha ha


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

> I wasn’t moaning at you AWB


I think we have crossed wires here mate, are you a 45 year old company director?


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> I wasn’t moaning at you AWB
> 
> 
> 
> I think we have crossed wires here mate, are you a 45 year old company director?
Click to expand...


Yeah... cos you thought I was on about you... that’s why I wrote the last message so you would know I was actually on about me... I’m sure you don’t look a day older than 40 lol.... It just goes to show how like minded people are.. We should have a thread where we can post about our real lives and look for similarities... It’s nice to see someone like me interested in the same things..

Anyway.. would love to post more pics and will sort some this weekend


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

Ahh now that makes more sense now, that was freaky I thought hello don't remember mentioning my job ever in here this guys really done his research. Thought I had myself a stalker  I look forward to seeing the pics and slagging off the HMRC at some point


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 35

This guy in the first picture is the funniest looking shrimp i ever did see ha ha .. Looks like he’s just been caught nicking the algae from the others lol.... all the others are different shrimp including one that it totally transparent..

You can also see where I wiped the glass... the difference is just amazing.. no wonder I thought things were quiet.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Have you seem the PFK magazine, where it shows a picture of what appears to be amano Zoes, and it refers to them as ZooPlankton. 

That 1st picture is hilarious


----------



## Richardblack5

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> That 1st picture is hilarious



Ha ha

They look like the seven dwarfs

1.Sneezy
2.Sleepy
3.Dopey
4.Doc
5.Happy
6.Bashful
7.Grumpy


----------



## Richardblack5

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Have you seem the PFK magazine, where it shows a picture of what appears to be amano Zoes, and it refers to them as ZooPlankton.



do you have a link? I have been on PFK and can't find it?


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 37 

20% water change

Still feeding daily


----------



## Richardblack5

*Day 39*

Nearly half the zoe’s have morphed into mini shrimp.. the other half still swim up and down....

The pre morph stage still are attracted to my LED torch light so I can see a gradual reduction in the number of zoe’s each day but still have about 50 to transform. (the post morph shrimp are not attracted to the light so it seems to be a simple numbers game... so I think I will know when to start adding fresh water?)

Things still look a little quiet when I look through the glass but when the lid is lifted up its easier to see from above the post morph shrimps dart about. 

I’m thinking about the process of acclimatizing them into fresh water and was going to do a drip process into the whole 19lt tank... I recon I will need to wait until all zoe’s have morphed... does anybody have an opinion about this as comments / ideas would be welcome?

My project C tank is still waiting for new larvae and I have three berried females... things seem to be taking longer than I recall and I have not seen any new larvae for the last 39 days. I was sure the females were ready to release.. , maybe my water is too cold (23c), anybody have any ideas about this?


----------



## Richardblack5

Day 43..

Been reading blog by Mike Noren 2004... His theory supports a process into fresh water as soon as the first zoes morph, he writes he had suffered losses at this stage by keeping salinity at marine levels

As nearly all of my zoes have transformed I have decided to risk the few zoes left to benefit the others who are expecting to find fresh water and to this end I have swapped 1lt of marine with established fresh water (from my planted and stocked 400lt)... 

As I have read elsewhere the mini shrimp do start to get very active and dart around in all directions.... this only lasted 5 to 10 minutes then things went back to normal.

I know I only changed a small amount (5%) but I plan to change 1 lt per day for the first week then if things look okay will change 2lts per day or perhaps more..... 

I will record salinity daily to see how things react. Now it’s 33ppt


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke

Sounds like a plan, sometimes you have to sacrifice the minority to save the majority. Harsh but true. Hopefully some of the minority will survive as well. When I used to breed Siamese fighters you had to pick a point when the fry were looking after themselves to seperate the parent male who would usually panic and try eating the fry. Had to be done, if left to when he was ready for breeding he would eat them all anyway. I used to get him out and save the majority.


----------



## Richardblack5

AverageWhiteBloke said:
			
		

> Sounds like a plan, sometimes you have to sacrifice the minority to save the majority. Harsh but true. Hopefully some of the minority will survive as well.



Day 66 

As I was adding fresh water I realised some were not ready so had a moment getting the smaller shrimp back into another marine tank... which is where they still are!.....

The rest I continued to convert to fresh and have counted a total of24 juvenile amano as i moved them across into my cherry shrimp tank.

Pictures to be unloaded tonight.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Wow good job! What's the salinity at mate? Sounds to be going well!


----------



## Richardblack5

*Day 66*

These are standing on the cable for the small 100w heater in 100% fresh water.


----------



## tim

Cool shots very good job indeed


----------



## Richardblack5

tim said:
			
		

> Cool shots very good job indeed



Thanks


----------



## Garuf

A fascinating thread, really well done!


----------



## Richardblack5

Garuf said:
			
		

> A fascinating thread, really well done!



Thanks


----------



## Richardblack5

Am pleased to let everyone know one of my tank bred females is berried... she is 152 days old so far.


----------



## basil

Result - you seem to have them figured out! Well done and keep us updated please.


----------



## Westyggx

Can we have some pics of all your Amanos?


----------



## Richardblack5

My tank bred Amano's pics including berried female


----------



## LancsRick

I really haven't got my amanos sussed in my main tank. Admittedly I'm making zero effort to breed them, but the females seem to be permanently berried - I never see them lose the eggs or anything, it seems to be a fixed stated, same in both my tanks actually!


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

LancsRick said:


> I really haven't got my amanos sussed in my main tank. Admittedly I'm making zero effort to breed them, but the females seem to be permanently berried - I never see them lose the eggs or anything, it seems to be a fixed stated, same in both my tanks actually!


 
this is because Richard has taken the correct steps by introducing the females to increased salinity over a period of time. Amanos need brackish water to breed successfully.


Looking really nice Richard. Congratulations! You ready to do the whole process again?!


----------



## Richardblack5

Nathaniel Whiteside said:


> this is because Richard has taken the correct steps by introducing the females to increased salinity over a period of time. Amanos need brackish water to breed successfully.
> 
> 
> Looking really nice Richard. Congratulations! You ready to do the whole process again?!


 
Yeah.. i think I have to... don’t you?


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Richardblack5 said:


> Yeah.. i think I have to... don’t you?



Yes I do!


----------



## HiNtZ

Nathaniel Whiteside said:


> this is because Richard has taken the correct steps by introducing the females to increased salinity over a period of time. Amanos need brackish water to breed successfully.
> 
> 
> Looking really nice Richard. Congratulations! You ready to do the whole process again?!



I'm sorry that this is an old thread, but I absolutely had to register to specifically say you *DO NOT* under any circumstances put adult Amano shrimp into saline water. They do not breed in saline, they breed in fresh. The eggs will NOT hatch in salt water either. They must be hatched in fresh, then dumped in saline at a gravity which has always had high yields for me of 1.022

The process is they breed in freshwater streams, drop the eggs in said freshwater streams (where the adult stays), then the eggs hatch in fresh as they make their way to the estuary and it is there they will stay (in brackish water) until they morph into juveniles. Once they have their legs and flippers, they will make their own way back to fresh, otherwise, as with the adults, they will die in salt water.


----------

