Questions about Pregnant Amano Shrimp

[Amyrinthe]

Hey guys, thanks in advance for your wisdom...

One of my Amano shrimp is pregnant. This is the first time I've experienced this; and, I have a few questions. But, none of the online articles seem to address them. (The articles are mostly geared toward how to successfully breed shrimp and that's not the goal here.)

My tank is freshwater, so I know that the babies won't survive. But, how do I get from a mama with a belly full of eggs to dead baby shrimp? And what will that mean for my tank?

In other words...

• What will she do with the eggs when she's finished carrying them?
• Will they continue to develop after that happens? And, if so, for roughly how long?
• How will a bunch of dead baby shrimp impact the water parameters in my tank? Am I ramping up for an ammonia spike?
• What else don't I know that I should know?

Thanks again for helping a shrimp-keeping sister out. Looking forward to your comments. 🙂

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Amyrinthe

[DannyBWell]

It seems like you may benifit from this article a couple of your questions get answered at least. Seems like if you would want to keep the babies you'd definitely need to have a brackish tank I'm sure a LFS would definetly buy them off of you! For your third question I would assume you may just get a nitrite or ammonia increase possibly but I can't imagine it's be any different that say feeding brine shrimp and if they're in a separate tank it shouldn't matter I wouldn't think. Hope this at least helps a little bit if not hopefully someone for experienced can answer this for you. Good luck!

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by DannyBWell

[Mark H.]

the amano shrimp will hatch normally and float away, just like the wild. The zoe will die if they don't find brackish water to grow in. I would guess that they would survive in fresh water about 8 hours, much like baby brine shrimp. some will get eaten. 

the dead amano babies will have little effect on ammonia. If you're concerned, skip food that day.

I have several females in 29 and 55 gallons, never noticed a problem.

[Amyrinthe]

Thanks for the link, DannyBWell! I hadn't seen that article before. And it did fill in a few blanks. I appreciate the help.

Hi Mark, thanks for your insight. That sets my mind at ease about the water parameters.

[Cajun Charlie]

Better late than never?  I use one tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water, and a small Wonder Shell, but not even close to brackish.  My Amanos and red cherries are reproducing like crazy.  I have lots of plants to hide in, but no doubt my mollies are eating their share of little ones.  I started with 6 of each kind in a 130 liter (34.4 gallon) community tank. At last count I had 40+ shrimps, and a surprising variety of colors.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/7/2021 at 2:01 PM, Amyrinthe said:

My tank is freshwater, so I know that the babies won't survive. But, how do I get from a mama with a belly full of eggs to dead baby shrimp? And what will that mean for my tank?

In other words...

• What will she do with the eggs when she's finished carrying them?
• Will they continue to develop after that happens? And, if so, for roughly how long?
• How will a bunch of dead baby shrimp impact the water parameters in my tank? Am I ramping up for an ammonia spike?
• What else don't I know that I should know?

About once a month (probably more often if you have more females in the tank compared to males) then the female will sit in an open area of the tank and release the eggs. She will sit there and then wave her lower legs (sorry, I don't know the technical term for it, spinnerets?).  The zoes will survive for about 3 days. I don't think the fish eat them (mine almost never have) but I am sure some will.

After that, she goes back to grazing and may or may not molt (if they have eggs, they tend to wait to molt).

The shrimp love wood as a texture in the tank and prefer it in my experience. Seiryu is also good for the added hardness it can release.

Amano, for me, are basically the best shrimp to have and it's a blessing/curse they are so difficult to breed.

I've gotten to the point of having everything but green water in order to breed mine. I went to a local saltwater shop and tried to purchase some on my last attempt but it just didn't work when I tried it. One day.....

This thread brought back some fun nights and some tough lessons.

Enjoy them!