Online Shrimp came with babies! :D. … HELP!!!

[jpgarc01]

I ordered some red cherry shrimp online.  When they arrived, I poured the bag into my glass quarantine bowl to start the temperature acclimation.  I then noticed a whole bunch of white/transparent things swimming around :)  There are also a couple of berried females… so more babies are coming!

My original plan was to add the shrimp to my 15 gal Fluval Flex - and I can still add the adults.  What do I do with the babies - leave the babies in the glass bowl and add some Java moss/shrimp food for them?  

This glass bowl doesn’t have substrate, a filter, or an air stone.  
 

I also have to prep the Fluval for the inevitable Shrimp births.  Do I just put sponge over the filter vents so the babies don’t go inside?

 Any advice is helpful -thanks!

[CalmedByFish]

Though I can't seem to find it now, I know Cory has a video involving an outdoor shrimp pond. I can't imagine it had a ton of filtration or air, so until you can get a simple air stone or nano sponge filter, just plop fast-growing plants in to create oxygen.

For that (potential) filter, and the one you already have in your non-quarantine tank, I'd suggest a sponge with smaller holes than what ACO sells. Perhaps wrap filter floss around the intake, held in place with rubber bands. The tiniest of the new shrimp could definitely fit in the bigger sponge holes.

I've been feeding my little shrimp by turning nano pellets (high protein and fat) into fine powder, using a pill crusher. Then I shake a tiny bit in water and dump it in the tank so it spreads out. I also put a piece of cuttlebone in the water for extra Calcium. I wouldn't worry about not having substrate, since that will help them find the powdered food. 

Could be wrong about this: I think they can eat the same bacteria that comes in a liquid bottle, so I've been adding a drizzle every few days. Can't hurt. 

Since you were already planning on shrimp, you probably know this, but aim for a high-ish GH, pH of at least 7.0, and perhaps a temp in the low 70's. 

I got my first shrimp 6 days ago, so on one hand, I know nothing, and on the other hand, I've been researching a lot recently!

 

[Rob E.]

Congratulations on the babies! I would just add them in with the adults, assuming there are no predators in the tank, they should be fine.  I would definitely cover the filter intake with some fine filter pad or something, they will get in there.  Try to add some hiding places for them to feel safe, moss, rock piles, cholla wood, etc. 

[Guppysnail]

If you have fine filter pad as suggested on the intake just add. They are identical to parents in care and treatment.  I have shrimp with several types of filter in different tanks and do fine with fine or medium. Unfortunately coop coarse eats them like potato chips. I usually have a population of them in my hobs with coop coarse 

[Keeg]

If you have a snail tank, I'd throw them in there. My baby shrimps thrive with the snails. They have hard water for their shells, fine meshed sponge filter, and a heater. I just feed them old trimmings of plants and algae wafers. 

[jpgarc01]

So shrimp newbie question… how do I transfer the baby shrimp into my tank?  

Right now, I think they’re too small to net, even with the fine mesh shrimp net.

[Ben_RF]

If it is a species only tank, just add them with the parents.

Typically juvenile shrimp do better than adults when water has changed due to location. Their bodies, or more specifically their molting, adapt better to the water as they grow up in it.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Ben_RF

[JettsPapa]

On 7/30/2021 at 6:28 AM, jpgarc01 said:

So shrimp newbie question… how do I transfer the baby shrimp into my tank?  

Right now, I think they’re too small to net, even with the fine mesh shrimp net.

Maybe pour the water with the shrimp through a piece of cloth, then put the cloth in the tank so they can swim away?

[CalmedByFish]

On 7/30/2021 at 6:28 AM, jpgarc01 said:

So shrimp newbie question… how do I transfer the baby shrimp into my tank?  

I took the little container of water they were in, and drizzled the water (not shrimp) into another cup. That way, if a shrimp swooshed in, I'd still have it safely in water.

When I got the container of shrimplets down to very little water in it, I set it in the tank and tipped it, letting them gently fall out. (Then I'd use the now-empty container to drizzle water again until I could get the cup back down to shrimp and very little water. Same process.)

I'd be concerned about using cloth due to it likely having at least a little detergent on it. 

[CalmedByFish]

Forgot to add that I also crush a tiny bit of a chlorella tablet in the pill crusher, along with crushing the high protein and high fat food, and keeping a piece of cuttlebone on the bottom of the tank. 

So: They need green food, a lot of protein, (I think) some fat, and a lot of Calcium (from both food and GH). They also eat bacteria, algaes, biofilm, and other such tiny living things.

It's massively helpful to have snails in their tank. The snails can eat leftover food, so you don't have to be too concerned about overfeeding, and the shrimplets eat snail poop! 

[tolstoy21]

What is the fluval flex filter like? Sorry but I’m not familiar with them, but if the filter is filled with sponge, then you really don’t need to do much I would think, as long as the flow isn’t a jillion gallons a minute that would trap and hold the baby shrimp in the sponge material. (Probably not the case). Otherwise, they’ll probably just go in there and eat bio film and whatnot trapped and growing on it.  As long as there is no way for them to get sucked into a pump impeller, they should be fine.

As for food, they’ll eat bio film, algae, or whatever is available, the same stuff as the adults. They don’t require anything special. Powered foods like bacter AE is good for them if the colony is large and competition for food is scarce. Powered food will drift towards them where’ve they are hiding. Snowflake pellet food is good as well if your tank doesn’t have a ton of algae and bio film  

if you have fish in that tank, then your gonna need java moss, fully grass or piles of loose stones they babies can hide in. Inevitably some of them will get picked off.

[Guppysnail]

On 7/30/2021 at 8:09 PM, tolstoy21 said:

piles of loose stones

This worked for me in a tank with fish and shrimp. Weekly I would see new babies start to emerge slowly it was a safe place to them. When mom shrimp hatched them she chooses safe spaces as they spend all their time where they hatch until they are confident enough to leave.