# My Tiger has eggs! (Pic)



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Just noticed it today but I am worry because my tank has many fish and I do not have space for extra tank to keep the Tiger separate!!!
My tank is only 18G but quite heavily planted.Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## jemarcus (Jan 17, 2006)

best option, get rid of the fishes. it depends on which is more important to u.
as they say, you can't have the best of both worlds.

the plants n mosses u have in ur tank can increase the chance of them surviving from predators, but not totally. there will definitely be losses.

keep ur fishes well fed with frequent meals rather than quantity.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks for the suggestions!

What about a very small tank (10L or 3G) tank for the Tiger? Is this too small? I will start the tank cycling now, as the eggs just appear and may take several weeks to develop into shrimplets I have read.

Any more suggestions welcome!!


----------



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

jemarcus said:


> best option, get rid of the fishes. it depends on which is more important to u.
> as they say, you can't have the best of both worlds.
> 
> the plants n mosses u have in ur tank can increase the chance of them surviving from predators, but not totally. there will definitely be losses.
> ...


Congrats! Take the shrimp out or the fish. If not the probability of the shrimp to survive is small.

Cheers,
Pedro


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Just taken another pic of her, still carrying eggs after at least 18 days since I have discovered the eggs:










I cannot tell if the eggs are developing or not. Would she carry eggs that are not ferterlised?


----------



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

They are been developed...I can see some black in them.

Congrats!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Pedro,

Thanks for the reassurance!


----------



## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

I'm currently in the same situation you're in, except with Cherry's in my German Blue Ram tank. 

Something I find interesting is how the Cherry's learned how to avoid the Rams by hiding in the bogwood during the day and coming out only at night. I had three pregnant females in this tank and they all spawned; but I did notice that a lot of shrimplings(?) have gone missing. Either they hiding, got eaten or are in the canister filter. Anyways, I have a slanted piece of driftwood that forms a triangular support in the back corner - on top of that I planted moss and cuttings I never wanted to throw away. What I found is that the females would always climb on the driftwood and eventually they deposited their shrimplings(?) in the thicket of moss away from all the predators below. Maybe you could setup something similar or even better separate them; but I always feared that if I try to relocate pregnant shrimp they might drop their clutch. 

Oddly though, the Cherry's have started becoming braver and are even out during the day now - yet the Rams never take interest in making a meal out of them.

Great pictures BTW!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks Raul-7,

I have transferred all my Tiger (4) and Cherries (4) into a small 3G tank few weeks ago and they are all happier in the absence of predator such as the croaking gourami in my main tank! During the first few days, they were all hiding in the bogwood and after that they learnt that there was no predator, the bravely walk about all over the place in bright light, fighting for food...etc..

My problem is that my tap water is very hard KH 10 and GH18 and pH 7.8, I have been using Seachem Acid to lower the pH and KH to about 7.4 and 6 repectively. I am not sure if this is acceptable for the Tiger shrimp/eggs?

I have read conflicting opinion about water parameters Hard vs soft and not sure which is ideal for the shrimps. Anyone has a firm answer to this would be appreciated!


----------



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Temperature is more important. Keep it at around 73F.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Update.

This is my tiger/cherry shrimp setup (10L) picture taken several days ago. 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!










Water parameters are: 23C, pH 7.6, KH8, GH18, NO3 10, NO2 0. No 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 daily.

Note that the cherries are pale colour perhaps to matched the substrate. When they were kept in EcoComplete substrate, they were bright red!!

Lighting is office table halogen light (20W; produces bright yellowish light) from Ikea, on for 12hrs daily.

Daily suppliments: 3 drops (0.3ml) of Seachem Excel, 1 drop (0.1ml) of Potassium Iodide (8mg/ml concentration), 3 drops of blackwater extract (Kent). 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 Cladophora and java moss, despite no CO2 injection!










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.










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










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


















Now, I hope that they will survive till adulthood!!!


----------



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Congrats!


----------



## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Nice pics....I just picked up 20 tigers today so we'll see how quickly they breed. Hopefully sooner than later.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

UPdate:

This female Tiger has just laid eggs yesterday!!! This is only 2 weeks after her first batch of eggs hatched!!

Now I have two pregnant Tigers (from just one male Tiger! What a randy little bugger! He constantly running around the tank all the time!!)


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I'm amazed your tigers are breeding in such hard water and high PH.....according to a certain shrimp site tigers won't thrive or breed and die in such conditions.

Your situation is the light at the end of the tunnel for me because i've been led to believe i'm keeping my tigers in the wrong conditions (GH=10, KH=3, PH=6.8 ) and i've been expecting them to die pretty much every day but they are still alive, active and moulting after over a month now. It would be nice if one of my tigers got eggs just to confirm i'm doing something right.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

I have also received conflicting opinions about water hardness, some say soft some hard and some say doesn't matter either... Perhaps is the latter as my London tap water is certainly very hard (pH 8, KH10 and GH20!!) or perhaps these shrimps were previously grown in hard water.

Good luck you yours!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

meant to say, good luck with you shrimps!


----------



## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

keep in mind that the testing equipment theteh is using may not be accurate. for example, if you're using test strips, you're going to have a very high +/- in your readings. so before you get your hopes up on keeping tigers in those water parameters, i think it's a fair question to ask theteh what kind of testing equipment he is using. 

also, just because something can survive in certain conditions doesn't necessarily mean it is happy/will live long. if you look at cardinal tetras, acclimating them to hard water conditions and high pH will significantly reduce their life span. of course, this may not hold true for shrimp, but there's a good chance it does.

good stuff on your tigers though! hope they grow up well!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

I am using Hagen KH/GH test (drops system).


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I'm also in London and my readings for my sand bottomed tank are GH=10, KH=3 and PH 6.8. I keep my tigers in this tank.

My cherry shrimp tank is the same but crushed coral sand takes my PH up to 7.2.

Oooo I hope I get tiger babies.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Shrimp&Snails,

Just wondering what test kit do you use for the GH/KH/PH?
To my understanding, London tap water is never lower than GH=18 and pH is about 7.8-8!! Do you use water softener in your house or use RO to lower your GH/KH?


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I use Tetratest 5 in 1 test strips (yeah I know...not the most reliable way).

I keep bogwood in my tiger tank and a sand bottom and my snail's shells are eroding so I know the water is somewhat acidic. PH shows as 6.8.

In my main snail/cherry tank the PH is 7.2 due to the coral sand substrate. No shell erosion in this tank.

I have a mixed sand/coral sand tank with snails and amanos...PH is 7.2 and the snails have no erosion.

I probably will invest in some tube tests in the near future.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Update:

I was worried about cross breeding between my Tigers and Cherries as they are kept in the same tank. For the first 2 weeks the baby shrimps look like cherries!! But...today, I noticed the development of Tiger bandings on some of the baby shrimps which are 3 weeks old now...










More photos were added to the gallery here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_macro_closeup.html


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

Oh my Lordie,

You've crossbred em.

How on earth does someone crossbreed a neocaridina species with a caridina species.....I'm sorta scared in in a way.....how does this happen?

I just popped two females (they were the last two in my lfs....[poorly looking things kept with nippy fish) in with my tigers and they are colouring up a lot quicker than my other tank......but I don't want hybrids!

Your shrimp look a lot like crosses....

Hey could you do me a favour and post this post on www.petshrimp.com ?


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Someone mentioned that Tigers won't cross with Cherries!! Some said that juveniles have reddish pigmentation that resembles Cherries but will develop into Tiger stripes as they mature.

3 weeks is still early to say for sure if my shrimps are hybrids despite the photo showing a possible Tiger-Cherry hybrids!

Let's wait and see...


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

theteh said:


> Someone mentioned that Tigers won't cross with Cherries!! Some said that juveniles have reddish pigmentation that resembles Cherries but will develop into Tiger stripes as they mature.
> 
> 3 weeks is still early to say for sure if my shrimps are hybrids despite the photo showing a possible Tiger-Cherry hybrids!
> 
> Let's wait and see...


That pic looks like a young cherry showing tiger stripes.....I have gathered cherry shrimp in all sorts of conditions and never seen anything like it.

Wow imagine if you do have a crossbreed :whoo:


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

Oops sorry forgot to add neocaridina species (such as cherries) aren't meant to reproduce with caridina species (e.i the lovely tigers).


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Update:

3 1/2 weeks old tiger baby showing tiger stipes and no sign of cherry, confirmed no hybridisation with Cherries:


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

Very nice pic.

How big are they now?

Oh by the way I got freaked out for nothing about the hybrid thing....I showed your photo to a shrimp breeder who told me tigers colour up like that.

One of my females also has eggs for a week now....spring must be in the air.  :eyebrows:


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

They are now between 8-12mm long.

My conclusion so far is:

Newborn: 1-1.5mm
1 week: 3-6mm
2 weeks: 6-8mm
3 weeks: 8-12mm

Reddish colour started to fade when tiger bands appear from 3 weeks onwards.

Good luck with yours!!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

another pic taken today. This baby Tiger shrimp is about 10mm long:


----------



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

There comes the bands...


----------



## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

Do the bands always appear red?

Also are you using RO water?


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

The bands are brown rather than red. The photo is slightly misleading because my tank light is halogen which is yellow and hence the shrimps looks reddish. But by naked eye, the bands look more brown to dark brown colour.

I use tap water. I have been thinking about RO but decided not to because this shrimp tank is only 8L! Since they are reproducing in tap water and shrimplets seem to grow up well, there is no reason to switch to RO. However, I am not sure about the long term effects of using hard water...some say bad for them...will see.


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Update:

2 months old now...

Lets share our meal!


----------



## Tzenlip (Apr 14, 2006)

wow... very detail picture! 
so how is your shrimp lately? i dont agree that they will die when thier body color turn to a darker color..


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

No deaths still...and they are still reddish one week after withdrawing the colour food. Some have turned back to normal colouration. I have one older (parent) with milky shell and red bands and he is as active as ever!


----------



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

sorry miss posting!


----------

