# Finally



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

As I was starting to move the algea magnet across the front of the 75g today so I could get a better view of the tank, look what I found









Sorry for the dirty glass but I didn't have time properly clean it. I started looking around the tank and here is another shrimplet right above the momma shrimp









These are very newly hatched shrimp...how do I know, look closely at the momma shrimp's back leg to see the next little guy coming out...


















I've got to thank Rob for the shrimp. This was my last attempt at trying to breed these little guys. I think maybe the bigger tank has been a plus for me. The best part is I have five more berried females that should be giving birth over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get some better pics...

Needless to say I am tickled that I finally managed to get some babies from some CRS...gotta get a couple more tanks set up for these little guys now!

If you want bigger pics you can head over to our new SWOAPE site and check out the shrimp forum. I don't have to post small pics over there like I do here ;-)


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

CONGRATS!!! :cheer2: You said your last attempt.... So what size tank did you try them in before? Do you think it was the size of the tank that was the limiting factor? Do you have them all by their lonesome in that big 75gal?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Thanks TexGal...this is my third attempt at breeding them. I've lost about 40 CRS in the past. I had them in a 10g tank before and each time they would slowly die off over the course of a couple of months. They seem to be doing better in the 75g than they ever did in my 10g tank. I can't say the tank is the cause for this success since I did move a few miles recently. Things definitely seem much better at the new house though.


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## allen (Jan 12, 2006)

Congrats Matt.Having any luck with the other shrimp?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Tex Gal - I have 25 adult shrimp all by their lonesome in a 75g tank. There are probably a few babies in there alos and hopefully a lot more in the near future. 

Allen - I'm having some luck with the other shrimp. I have several berried Snowballs, a saddled Green and several Saddled Cherries. Still no luck with the New Bees or Tigers and the Blue Pearls are way too tiny to be getting saddled. It will be a few months on them. No luck with the Amanos yet either.


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## CincyCichlids (Oct 14, 2005)

Congrats Matt! Now whatever you do, don't feed them the New Life Spectrum H20 Stable DEATH wafers! (still can't believe I lost about 300 adults of the lower grade crs and probably about 30 adults of the S grades). With any luck we'll also avoid planaria in our CRS tanks!


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Nah man, I got rid of that food a long time ago. I still don't think it is the food, a lot of folks feed it successfully but I won't use it again just to be safe. 

So far so good on the Planaria in the 75g. I've been able to dramatically reduce their numbers in my 10g tanks with some deep gravel vacs. Add to that some daily (twice daily sometimes) siphon removal with airline tubing and they are nearly gone. Still no fry yet in any of the 10's so time will tell if it is really helping.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Congrats on the babies! Mine have been reproducing like made lately too. In fact, my Neon Tetras spawned for me today.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Congrats on the spawn Rob!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

OK MatPat - once you get big and famous for your colossal shrimp farm, like someone else we know, you'll have to post pxs of them all in a feeding frenzy. With 5 other berried females that shouldn't be too far from now! :mrgreen:


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I think I had another female drop some babies in the last couple of days. I have quite a few shrimplets foraging around the tank now. Here is the best I can do on a pic of the little guys










You may need to go to my photo page at Flickr and click on a bigger size pic, these little dudes are tiny!

For SWOAPE members, I added a pic of a pregnant Tiger shrimp and also a pic of a small Blue Pearl in the Shrimp and Inverts forum at http://swoape.wikidot.com/


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

That little guy is so cute. I'd love to go see a bigger version but I don't know how to find you or your pxs. I'll just have to wait til they get bigger!


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Tex Gal, I edited the above post for you...you can go check out my Flickr page now. Feel free to leave comments if you would like ;-)


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

MatPat said:


> Tex Gal, I edited the above post for you...you can go check out my Flickr page now. Feel free to leave comments if you would like ;-)


That was a real joy! How lucky you are to have all those types of shrimp. I think my favorites are the yellow, green, crystals, and cherries... but wait.... I like them all...... 

With all those shrimp I am shocked that you had such a hard time with the Crystals.. Someday I want to have them... but if an expert like you has trouble I'm not sure I'll be able to do it. I just started with my first shrimp tank. I have cherries. Have yet to see any babies. It's only been 2 months.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

The only thing I am an expert at is loosing shrimp at this point  I've lost quite a few over the past year, mostly babies, and hopefully things are turning around for me now.

Like a knucklehead, I took all of the above pics with my regular lens on the camera instead of the macro lens. Now I'm gonna have to try again with the macro and see if I have any better luck


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I'm just a beginner at this photo stuff. I downloaded instructions for my camera and can do a lot of things. Unfortunately I don't even know the photo vocabulary so when it tells me to adjust the (fill in own word) I don't know what or why or how much!  I think your pxs are pretty amazing!

So since you have been through the trial and error period is there any thing in specific I should watch out for being new to shrimp care and raising? I am dosing EI lightly, have DIY CO2. While I have read that people don't like to dose their shrimp tanks I see all these fabulous planted tanks that are drop dead gorgeous and are dosed regularly and they have shrimp. If you have any ideas for me to watch out for I'd appreciate the heads up.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Tex Gal said:


> So since you have been through the trial and error period is there any thing in specific I should watch out for being new to shrimp care and raising? I am dosing EI lightly, have DIY CO2. While I have read that people don't like to dose their shrimp tanks I see all these fabulous planted tanks that are drop dead gorgeous and are dosed regularly and they have shrimp. If you have any ideas for me to watch out for I'd appreciate the heads up.


Thanks for the compliment on the pics but I have a lot to learn there too.

I've never had issues with my Amanos or Cherries when I kept them in my planted tanks. I've dosed EI heavily (1/2tsp KNO3, 1/8tsp of KH2PO4, and 15ml of CSM+B 3x a week) and kept high levels of CO2 without any issues with those two shrimp species. I've even kept Apistogramma species, Tetras and German Blue Rams with my shrimp. I've had Cherries breed heavily in the above conditions and even had pregnant Amanos.

My issues seem to have started when I tried to "breed" my shrimp. With no fish in my shrimp tanks, there are no predators for controlling the Planaria. I probably overfed my shrimp initially and created my Planaria problem. I don't fertilize my Shrimp tanks at all and do water changes based on TDS levels in the tanks. So far so good on the shrimp I guess. I'm finally getting babies and if they continue breeding and growing I will assume Planaria have been my problem all along.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Deciding how much to feed is hard for me. Since I have gotten pygmy rasboras for the tank, it's much less of an issue. I figure they will eat up a lot of it. I only have a few shrimp 10 or so in there so it's hard to know how much they will eat. 

Thanks for all the help. Love your shrimp!


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