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Lookat Da Shrimp



Subject: Interesting Caridina Event

Today I went to purchase 10 Caridina japonica at a
local aquarium store.  They were all in a display 55
bowfront corner tank.  They were reserved for me, and
I asked the store owner if she would get them out for
me.  She was busy at the time, but said I could catch
them myself.

I noticed one of them was a large female carrying a
multitude of eggs on her underside.  When I got them
home and began the acclimation process, I noticed that
that many of the eggs had hatched in the bag.  I could
see hundreds of tiny white dots with even tinier
little tails swimming through the water in the bag in
jerky motions.  The adults were all trying to eat
them.  I wasn't going to let any of the water from the
bag enter the tank of course, but those guys are hard
to get out of the bag for some reason, and I
eventually ended up letting the larvae out too.  Many
of them were snapped up by juvenile tetras and
Apistos.  I'm wondering if any that escaped plus the
many, many more yet to hatch might survive somehow.
Someone I know had a bunch survive to adulthood in a
heavily planted tank.  Is there anything I can do to
help them survive?  Some kind of food?

Do they have some kind of protracted larval stage?

Shrimp unlike crayfish have a protracted larval stage with at least 3-5 
intermediate forms before they reach and adult form. During these stages 
they feed on microfauna such as rotifers and daphnia as well as freefloating 
algae.

I'm hoping at least the shrimp breed in my tank and
produce a continuous supply of live food that might
feed other tiny hungry mouths like tetra and Apisto
fry.
In order to breed the females must be induced to shed their shells and at 
this point the males will be able to insert sperm packets into the female's 
carapace. Shedding occurs more frequently if they are well fed and the water 
is kept in the mid 25-27 C range.
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