It has to be tough being a baby shrimp

[Strider199]

A couple of my female RCS have just given birth. The very small baby RCS are mostly in the black gravel rather than in that expensive stratus substrate. As the larger adult shrimp get near where the almost too small to see baby shrimp are, the adult shrimp will start a search for the small ones. The little guys are fast and disappear into the gravel as the adult stick their claws down into the substrate searching for the possible food source. I haven't seen any babies pulled up yet but the adults seem pretty persistent. God knows they get fed enough and of various foods.
Have any of you shrimp people over come this anxiety?
Would more Java moss help hide the little ones? Right now I have two pieces of drift wood in the tank and both pieces have Java moss tied over their surface.

[Brhino]

Have any of you shrimp people over come this anxiety?

After your first few successful new generations of shrimp, you'll have so many of them that you'll no longer be concerned if one gets eaten now and then.

[~Col~]

You know I've never noticed my RCS babies being eaten by their own kind. I must not be very observant. I've seen my betta with a RCS tail hanging out of his mouth and I've seen the RCS eat a dead comrad. The babies seem to be good hiders I guess.

Java moss would help them hide.

[Strider199]

Right now it seems we have a shortage of Java moss around here. The three different lfs I have checked the last few weeks are plain out.
Shrimp are creatures which dig through the substrate looking for anything they can eat so when they sense something not substrate I guess they go after it hoping for a meal.
I have noticed that at any one time I have at least three females ready to have more young ones so I guess your right Brhino. Numbers will win out.
It seems my Blueberry shrimp in the tank really seem to hunt the young RCS. They even walk over the daily meal I've left to pick through the substrate.

[Furface]

I don't believe my cherry shrimp eat their babies, they just ignore them at least when I'm watching. I have probably a thousand shrimp together and they crawl over each other for food with no problem. They are scavengers and seem to munch only on dead stuff.
The babies are really tiny and with their protective coloration can disappear in almost any tank, only to show up when they are larger and more visible.

[Lady Hobbs]

My adults don't eat the babies. The adults are too busy digging around for their own goodies.

[Rue]

If they're communal - they're unlikely to eat their offspring.

If they're detritivores or herbivores - they're unlikely to eat meat.

[Strider199]

I think you all are correct. A few more females have given birth and there are little shrimp every where in the tank. May have to upgrade my shrimp tank to something a little larger than that 10 gallon. Or maybe introduce the not so colourful ones to the 55 community tank after a good feeding to the inhabitants to see if the GBR's will leave them alone. The 55 gallon has a lot of plants and moss so they might just be able to stay out of harms way.

Question; how many shrimp can a 10 gallon tank with an aqua clear 30 hold?

[Brhino]

I don't know what the number is, but I have been told that shrimp will stop breeding when they feel they don't have enough space, so their populations will tend to stabilize on their own without overstocking. This seems to have occurred in both the tanks I've had RCS in, so I believe it.

[Strider199]

Thanks Brhino for the info. I guess the females in my tank think there is still room. The saying, "breed like rabbits" should be changed to "breed like RCS".

[Furface]

I have at least a thousand cherry shrimp in a 10 gal space and so far they show no signs of slowing down on breeding. The tank often looks like a bee swarm. Periodically I catch a couple of hundred and take them to a pet shop. I suspect the only limiting factors would be food supply or water quality. If food became scarce the reproduction would slow or stop. Other wise they would keep increasing. Like with all organisms, reproduction is a biological imperative that controls behavior and only some limiting environmental factor can stop it.

[Abbeys_Mom]

As far as I know the population will stabilize at 100-150 adults in a 10g.

I found out yesterday that my sparkling gouramis are eating the shrimp, but not in numbers that will affect the population. I just wish they wouldn't eat the reddest ones!

[Lady Hobbs]

You could use a sponge filter in that shrimp tank other than a power filter.
I drop an algae pellet in my tank and within 10 minutes there must be 50 shrimp on it. They come out of the woodwork. (Ok, plants.) Always amazed at how many there are. Mine are in a 55 community tank and others are in a 29 gallon.

[Strider199]

I was actually thinking of getting a sponge filter for my 10 gallon shrimp tank the other day. More to get the surface agitation because there seems to be a thin film on the surface of the water. It could be because of all the plant growth in that little tank so the hob isn't really moving the surface water.
I find it difficult to do a water change with all the small shrimp in that tank. Yesterday I had to shoo the little ones from the front glass because I wanted to run my glass cleaning device over the front glass.
Your right Lady Hobbs about finding out how large the population is by dropping in an algae wafer. I break mine up into small pieces and let them sink so they rest in the front of the tank. In no time the shrimp come out by the dozen at a time to cover the substrate.
I might have to clip some of the fona soon but it looks so nice and green I like the look.
If I knew shrimp were so much fun I would have kept my 29 gallon tank for them instead of this small 10 gallon one.

[sushant]

it would be a good idea to add a sponge filter instead of pwr filter as it won't suck in the shrimplet, will provide greater biological filteration and oxygenate the water at the same time.

[JustAlex4tw]

Do you have any pics of your shrimp tank, Strider?

[Strider199]

Ok I charged up the camera last night and took some pictures of my present set-up and then combined them with pictures of the tank two months ago in this thread. Check it out.
Ya I need to buy a better camera.(blush)

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