# RCS Shrimplets



## jemminnifener (Nov 15, 2011)

About a month ago I got 5 RCS. Only 3 are left and they are all female but recently while cleaning the tank I noticed that one of them was carrying eggs. I isolated them into a vase which will not be a permanent vessel for them but I need to quickly figure out a good alternative. This morning while I was changing the water I saw the RCS carrying eggs release a shrimplet, it looked like she just flapped her swimmeretes, dropping a shrimplet on the ground. Upon closer inspection, I found 3 baby shrimp hanging onto the plants. 

My questions are:
1. What's the best way to go about raising the shrimplets? Do I need to do supplemental feeding?
2. What kind of survival rate should I expect?
3. How fast do the shrimplets grow?
4. I need to start a new tank for them but I don't have one set up yet, what's the best way to go about doing that?

I'm excited to see how many shrimplets I can find when I get home from work!


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Why do you need to separate them? Unless you have very pressing reasons to do so, leave them in the matured tank. They'll eat a lot of the algae and other little bits of life that are already in there. I overfeed my tank of RCS by massive amounts so there's usually bits of food in there, but they also like to pick off microorganisms from my moss that's in there. I would take them out of the vase and put them back in the mature tank as soon as you can. I've never been able to get an exact survival rate (it's hard to do in an aquarium, especially when you can't count eggs vs how many hatched vs survival to fecundity.) But, RCS populations have the habit of exploding exponentially, so I imagine its pretty high. I started with ~6, and now have several hundred in a 10 gallon. They grow relatively quickly, I'd say they could reproduce in 2 months, maybe 3 tops. Relax. They're easy to keep/raise.


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## MochaLatte (Nov 17, 2011)

I second what TarantulaGuy says. I'm pretty sure shrimp don't eat their young and there's lots for shrimplets to eat in the main tank.


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## jemminnifener (Nov 15, 2011)

I've got fish in the main tank and the guppy in there seems particularly opportunistic when it comes to eating so I'm not sure how long the shrimplets would survive...


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## MochaLatte (Nov 17, 2011)

Do you have good ground cover? If not I would get some moss and put in there. My shrimp hide quite well in it although I don't have fish in with them I still never see them lol


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## Disturbed (Aug 17, 2011)

baby shrimp are very good at hiding. The more plants and cover you have the better chance they have to survive. Like Mocha said MOSS! the more moss the better they will hide deep in the moss and naturally graze on the moss which will help them grow faster so they can swim freely and not get picked off. GL


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## jemminnifener (Nov 15, 2011)

My tank is moderately planted. I have a large, hollow rock ornament in there with a hole in it. The RCS are in there almost all the time. While cleaning out the tank, I found some baby shrimp in the filter so I put a prefilter sponge on the filter intake. I was able to transport some of the baby shrimp in the vessel back into the main tank with a turkey baster with the lights off. This way I can drop them off relatively close to the rock/ground instead of dropping them in from the top where the fish will likely pick at them on the way down. Hopefully I didn't harm them in the process. 

Thanks for the advice all.

The mama shrimp doesn't seem as active. Is this normal? Also, a pair of her swimmeretes seem to be stuck in the "open" position. Is this an injury? Or did she not molt completely?


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## SHWAGert (Nov 10, 2011)

1. Do nothing additional to raise the young shrimp. I see you have already added a sponge to the intake, so the only other thing that would help is moss. As Disturbed said above, the shrimp hide in it as well as eat from it. No supplemental feeding should be necessary as shrimp are scavengers. 

2. With guppys in the tank as well, you will likely experience a 50% loss of young, but the fast and smart shrimp should survive. RCS are prolific enough that even at this rate, you should still be able to achieve a mass overpopulation of shrimp.

3. Shrimplets grow rather slowly. Depending feeding and conditions, you may be looking at close to 8 weeks for maturity. 

4. There should be no need to set up a new tank. I have kept several types of dwarf shrimp with guppys and tetras without too much of an incident. As Disturbed said above, moss will be helpful by providing additional cover as well as an additional food source for the shrimp which would be beneficial in the long run.

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Also, keep the guppys well fed and they will be less likely to go after the shrimp. I have noticed that my burried females will usually not molt until after the eggs have hatched. Because of this, their swimmerets can start to harden making it more difficult to move. Also shrimp will be far less active when it is time to molt, which is completely normal. People don't go jogging when they want to undress, and shrimp don't go swimming around when they have to molt.


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## jemminnifener (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks SHWAGert! Your answers were very informative!


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## SHWAGert (Nov 10, 2011)

No problem, glad to help!


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