Amano Shrimp

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Mc96928

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 13, 2013
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I just added about 9 Amano shrimp to my mature guppy tank. I see that a few of the females are carrying eggs. I wanted to see if it would be possible to actually raise them. What are steps i need to take to successfully breed them.
A step by step explanation would be great
I know i would need a second breeder tank but i would like to know how to start adding salt and what else would be needed. Thanks!
:fish2:
 
Unless you are prepared to set up a brackish water tank for at least a month, raising Amano shrimp isn't very practical. You can't just add salt to a tank, it has to be mixed up ahead of time, aerated for a day or two first, before being used to fill a tank or change water.

Eggs hatch soon after the female drops them, rising to the surface of the water. They become larvae, or zoeys, which require a month in brackish water with suitable food of minute sizes, such as cultured single cell algae or infusoria, to keep the larvae alive.

They will live up to four days in fresh water before they die, and they are hard to see. A light source helps attract them to one place where you can net them out.

After the month in brackish, if they live that long, they morph into shrimplets, which can then be transferred to fresh water, in a few stages. There are some sites with instructions on how to raise these shrimp and it has certainly been done. But it is not simple to do and takes preparation in advance to be able to supply foods the larvae can consume. A newly set up tank won't have anything in the water column they can eat. A mature tank will have some edibles, but not enough without supplementation.
 
Can the tank setup be freshwater when the female drops her eggs
and slowly add saltwater over the next couple of days? after taking out the female.
 
I suppose you could try. I think you would have to put the female shrimp into the tank and keep the water level very low, because doing water changes after the eggs hatch means you likely also toss out the zoeys with the water.

So you'd have to have very little water to begin with, and then add mixed salt water to fill it up.. and account for the amount of fresh water you have so the brackish water is the right strength after it's mixed into the remaining fresh water.

I have not hatched Amanos, but I have raised Ghost shrimp. Shorter larval stage, only four or five days, and all fresh water, so it's easier. But once those eggs hatch, it's darn near impossible to see the zoeys. It's easiest to see them in a bare tank, with a light at one side. They tend to swarm toward the light, and then you can see the darn things.

Let me see if I can find an article I saw on raising them.. might help you more.
 
Fwiw, I used a sponge filter in my Ghost shrimp tank and when I had to change water, I stuck an air hose into the uplift tube on the sponge filter, and sucked out water that way. The sponge stops the zoeys getting sucked up.. but that tank had plants, wood, etc., in it, as well as little shrimps.

If you use a bare tank for the salt water stage, you might only have to top up and not do changes. If you must do a change, you can put a sponge filter in and do what I did, simply to prevent sucking up zoeys. It would not necessarily have to remain in the tank all the time.
 
Thanks for the info.
I'm going to start setting up my 10 gallon tomorrow.
 
I sure will. I'd like to post a weekly update about it once i get started
 
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