Breeding Shrimps

[afroturf]

I have a small tank about 12G that doesn't have anything in apart from some weighed down dog wood, i would like to use it to breed some shrimps as i seem to have quite a high mortality rate in my main tank and i think the £3+ they sell for at the lfs is a bit steep.

I've read that it is difficult to raise the young Caridina japonica as they need to be transferred to salt water and then back into fresh, Is this the same with Cherry, Bumble Bee and tiger?

What are the water parameters needed?
Whats best for the tank layout?
Whats the best form of filtering?
Can different types of shrimp be breed in the same tank?
Whats best for feeding adults and babies?

Please give any other tips and advice.

Cheers.

 

[JamesC]

Breeding shrimp is fairly easy but forget about Caridina Japonica as they are extremely difficult. Cherry, bumble, tiger, crystal reds are all quite easy. I breed cherry shrimp, probably about 100 a year in my 2.5 gallon tank with almost no effort at all. The tank contains just a piece of bogwood with lots of Java moss on it and quartz sand as substrate. They seem to love the moss. Water I think is best soft and of very good quality. They are very fussy when it comes to water quality and will 'jump ship' if it's not to their liking. Also make sure that copper comes nowhere near the tank. They are fed Hikari Crab Cuisine, JBL NovoPrawn and broken up algae wafers. The babies look after themselves and need no help. I use a little HOB filter but any decent filter should be fine as long as it doesn't create too much current as they don't like that. They actually have quite a small impact on bio load. Shrimp of the same family will interbreed so you'll have to look up first before buying different types. Dried Indian Almond leaves (catappa, ketapang) are loved by the shrimp and makes them breed like mad so I've found.

James