Got shrimp?

[slowfoot]

Sadly, the great shrimp experiment appears to be a failure. My newts have actually spent the last few days becoming shrimp hunting experts. I think only 3 or so are left alive at this point.

Looks like cherry shrimp will not work out in my set-up

 

[Azhael]

I´m quite surprised. I´ve never seen any of my animals catch a single one. Not even the dobrogicus larvae which are rabid and fast as hell when they want, are able to.
I would think that something is making the shrimp weak...otherwise it´s really weird that your newts can get them.

 

[jclee]

Since they're notoriously easy to breed, why not breed them in a separate enclosure and pop them into the Cynops tank a few at a time? They wouldn't need much space.

 

[evut]

My newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) could never catch the cherry shrimps...they tried and it was funny.
The shrimps however refuse to propagate - the last berried shrimp lost the eggs again. This happened every single time
Does anyone have an idea why this happens?

 

[jclee]

Could they be hatching, but the newborns are being sucked into your filter? I've always had RCS in my fishtank, but with a HOB filter, they never reproduce. When I decided to breed them for real, I set them up with a species-specific tank and a sponge filter, so the newly hatched shrimp wouldn't get sucked away.

 

[evut]

I don't think they hatch - the eggs always end up lying around on the tank floor.

 

[slowfoot]

I´m quite surprised. I´ve never seen any of my animals catch a single one. Not even the dobrogicus larvae which are rabid and fast as hell when they want, are able to.
I would think that something is making the shrimp weak...otherwise it´s really weird that your newts can get them.

The shrimp seem to get used to the newts too quickly. I've watched the newts hunt: they will basically sit very still and wait for a shrimp to approach, once the shrimp is within range of the newt's mouth (they'll literally walk all over the newt without fear), all it takes is one very fast gulp and the shrimp is lunch.

We seem to have reached an equilibrium, however: there are about 7-10 shrimp left and they seem to be holding out despite the newts. I think this is probably good news.

So my question is: If I wanted to start out with cherry shrimp, about how many should I buy to start off? I'd like to get them to breed - not in huge numbers but at least to be self-sustaining in the newt tank. I also have a smaller tank set up with no newts that I can put shrimp in - it's just got some java fern, algae, christmas moss, duckweed.

 

[Azhael]

Well, i started with 20, but i suposse you only need 10 for a good start.

 

[Azhael]

Just wanted to comment on something silly that happened today in my C.pyrrhogaster tank.
My biggest female was just hanging out among the plants when one of the big, deep red female shrimp suddenly landed on her head. They stood there for about a minute, neither of them moving much at all. Then the newt yawned and the shrimp was literally standing between the mandibles xDD
The newt didn´t even remotely try anything, it just finished yawning, closed the mouth and the shrimp swam away

I know it´s silly, but i found it very funny, it looked like one of those marine species that rid large predatory fish from parasites, completely fearless xDD

 

[NightWolf]

Sounds like I am going to need to go shrimp hunting soon If they eat those pesky newt pellets that none of my cynops orientalis show interest in, and eat algae, they sound like a worthy investment!

 

[CherryBlossom]

Today I bought 3 cherry shrimp heehee. Not alot... I know... but just wanted a couple to see whats what. They are 3 females.

Im going to buy now some males and some more females.... possibly another 20 in total, and see if they will breed. I have them set up in a small tank on their own. Very exciting. My husband is however rolling his eyes at me hahaha.

 

[Azhael]

Ha! He rolls his eyes now, but i bet he´ll fall for them once they begin to thrive. They are such fascinating little creatures....

 

[CherryBlossom]

I have ordered another 20 mixed males and females They should be here tomorrow or the day after! Im super excited! Tonight also, I am picking up 2 triturus carnifex too from someone on this forum A male and female.

 

[fishkeeper]

Erin: your shrimp are probably P. paludosus, a completely FW species that can be bred in the aquarium. The larvae have a short stage which they float around but they do not need to be fed to transform into mini shrimps. I talked about my experiences with them earlier in this thread.

 

[RobM]

I have ordered another 20 mixed males and females They should be here tomorrow or the day after! Im super excited! Tonight also, I am picking up 2 triturus carnifex too from someone on this forum A male and female.

Where have you been getting them from? I've been trying to find some local, but with no luck.

 

[dreadful]

I always read about people's concern with poor pet store quality aquatic animals with fungus and/or diseases. There's a small pet store in my town, they've got tons of tropical fish and salt water fish. All of their tanks look well taken care of, clean, and free of decaying dead fish that places like Walmart seem to have. They have a lot of cherry shrimp and for fairly cheap, I forget how much.

My question is since I am concerned about the health of these shrimp, how do I go about "sterilizing" the shrimp without killing them? I see people often say that they quarantine them, but for how long? Do I need to use fish quality antibiotics to get rid of potential parasites and fungus?

 

[carsona246]

Quarentine of about 30 days is pretty standard for fish. Shrimp are pretty sensitive though, so I would hold off on the medicine.

 

[Cynth]

Do I need to use fish quality antibiotics to get rid of potential parasites and fungus?

From what I have read fish antibiotics/medications are lethal to shrimp. Copper kills them and most fish meds have copper.

I haven't ever seen a shrimp with any kind of "fungus" or anything like that. Keeping anything new separate for a month is always a good idea.

 

[Jennewt]

I think we should go for the world's longest thread here! Back in September I bought 6 crystal red shrimp. I confess, they were an impulse purchase. Since then I've been watching this thread and intending to post. But I wanted to get them set up nicely (they spent the first month in a bucket). And then I just procrastinated. OK, here goes.

I wanted to try a Walstad-type tank for this. This means starting with a layer of dirt, then gravel. I will post some of the photos, but there are more in this album:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/members/jennewt-albums-shrimp-tank.html

Here is the first layer - dirt.

Here is the initial tank setup, back in October:

And here is the tank today:

And one of the inhabitants:

This tank let me do some things that I can't do with a newt tank (the Walstadt style tank, particularly). I find that I really like these guys, they are fascinating. I'm hope this tank will be a place where they can breed some day.

 

[Cynth]

Nice set up Jennewt. I have some crystals and they only bred when I used 75% RO water mixed with 25% tap water. I am working on setting them up their own tank (they are currently in with blue pearl shrimp in a 20 gallon tank) so I don't have to come up with so much RO water. My sink leaks when I hook the RO filter on it (story of my life).