Coffee with Teejay

[Brandon p]

On 8/6/2022 at 12:42 AM, Ken Burke said:

I’m mostly with @Brandon p here.  The males do initiate courtship, but if you have one or two males it can work even if there are more females.    

I agree if you get a group and you have more females that makes it is what it is, but I would not recommend to start that way if you have a choice. I thought I put that part in above. Obviously not. 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:59 PM, Brandon p said:

The issue with that is you may get more eggs but the chances are that the eggs will not be fertile, one male has a hard time fertilizing several females.

This is so true. I have 2 b/1 g. They don’t harass the females the way say guppies do. They play but you can tell the hierarchy is matriarch and girls are boss with one huge chubster as my alpha girl. 
If the ratio is flipped it just means your egg hatch rate will be lower as more are infertile but that may be good if you only want a handful more just to be able to raise fry. 
 

That’s me. I’m not into turning my hobby into a money maker so as long as I get one or two babies to watch grow I’m delighted. 
 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Guppysnail

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/6/2022 at 4:03 AM, Guppysnail said:

I have 2 b/1 g.

Mine had the most success when it was 2-3 females and 4-8 males.  There were some fish that just weren't interested, undersized, but once I had 2+ females that's when things took off.  Ratio aside, it's just about having 12+ and 2+ females for me. whatever that ends up being.  This is specific to colony breeding and not a breeding for profit scenario.   In both my pods of corys I started with "a few" and ended up with 3 in one tank, 4 in the other.  I have 5 in the tank that started with 3 (would've been a ton more but didn't have anything to collect eggs or experience doing so and fungus happened).  In the second tank it's somewhere between 25-30 pandas.  The pandas went off over 3 months and just had the right conditions and tank and slowly grew in that method.

I totally admit you both are very likely more versed with how to balance things out and set things up for breeding specifically.  The stuff mentioned is just my experiences and how I've kept mine 🙂

[BradleyH20]

That's way cool. Good luck. Now at least the "mystery" is solved lol

[TeeJay]

Well I have had the shrimp now for about 2 weeks. They have adjusted well so far. I usually only see a couple at a time. I'm sure that's to be expected with shrimp. The only thing I have noticed so far is that they don't come to feed at the feeding dish. I usually will try 2 Xtreme shrimpy sticks in the mornings. Or one mini alge wafer. I have only seen 2 shrimp come to it so far.

I don't believe the person I got them from did specific target feeding since they were previously housed with fish as well. I'm not to concerned yet because they also have leaves to munch on and I usually do one tiny dose of bacter ae a week. I haven't noticed any of the leaves decreasing in size either. They haven't cared for the fresh veggies I have tried either so far.

Im sure I'm just over worrying. Any tips for target feeding would be appreciated

[Guppysnail]

Good luck on the snail clutch. You will make a mighty fine snail grand-pappy 🤗

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:17 PM, TeeJay said:

They haven't cared for the fresh veggies I have tried either so far

Do you boil them for a good bit (almost mushy but not quite)?

[TeeJay]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:51 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Do you boil them for a good bit (almost mushy but not quite)?

Oh yes I let them boil for a good while. Like the zucchini is to the point to where it just stays together. I mean the snails will eat it. But no luck with the shrimp eating it.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Maybe different types of shrimps eat different stuff? Idk

[TeeJay]

Was able to get a few shrimpy pics this morning. Looks like flotsam has a hitchhiker bladder snail buddy along for the ride. It's so hard to catch good picks of these little rascals. Would help if I had a better camera too 

[TeeJay]

Yes by no means am I trying to breed for profit. Would just like to make a nice colony so I can have just my Cory only tank and then a group for my 29 gal tank. I know not to expect any breeding for at least a few months. I have only had them for 2 months now and I figure there not very old yet. If it happens great if not I can still enjoy the ones I have. Would just be nice to "make" my own to know there healthy and not worry about buying more to introduce something in my tank. I do plan on ordering a nice amount of Java moss so I can provide more spawning places and I always need more for my shrimp sanctuary.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:50 PM, TeeJay said:

Would just be nice to "make" my own

This is why I breed. It is so gratifying to look in a tank and see almost every critter has been born in your own tanks. It’s very awesome 

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:06 PM, Guppysnail said:

This is why I breed. It is so gratifying to look in a tank and see almost every critter has been born in your own tanks. It’s very awesome 

It really is. I mean the guppy's are pretty much just add water. So it's nice to have a snail clutch to see if I can get those to hatch and then the Cory's. And of course my shrimpy friends. I mean starting with 15 I think I have a good chance at them making shrimpletts in the not to distant future.

[BradleyH20]

Your tank is nicely established and with the added Bacter AE, they're definitely eating. I use Xtreme Shrimpee sticks too. It seems only the adult females prefer them. I did a headcount yesterday and visibly noticed 17 shrimplettes and one of the mama's is still berried. There are probably more, as I have too many nooks and crannies to get an accurate count. 

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:21 PM, BradleyH20 said:

Your tank is nicely established and with the added Bacter AE, they're definitely eating. I use Xtreme Shrimpee sticks too. It seems only the adult females prefer them. I did a headcount yesterday and visibly noticed 17 shrimplettes and one of the mama's is still berried. There are probably more, as I have too many nooks and crannies to get an accurate count. 

I just popped in a small piece of repashy green to see if they would like that for a treat. And even if they do not eat it I know the snails will go to town on it. I have no doubt they have plenty to eat. Would just be neat too see them all too the dish going to town lol.

[TeeJay]

Well flotsam def likes the repashy green. Hasn't even been in the food dish for 5 mins and he was on it. Was hoping to bring out a few shrimp for a treat but noooooo the pig snails are taking over! 🤣

Well flotsam def likes the repashy green. Hasn't even been in the food dish for 5 mins and he was on it. Was hoping to bring out a few shrimp for a treat but noooooo the pig snails are taking over! 🤣

[TeeJay]

So today I did the first water change on the shrimp sanctuary. I figured it has been 2 weeks since the shrimp went in so they would be ok for the first change.i  only took out one gallon of water for the first time around. Nitrites and ammonia are always at 0 and my nitrates are always 10-20. So I wasn't concerned about any water parameter problems. I just wanted to get a bit of the gunk out of the front corner of the gravel. I bought one of the aqueon nano syphons hoping this would do the job that I wanted. Not so much. That size does not have the screen in the top of the syphon tube so it wanted to clog and pull out the gravel as well. Going to have to figure out a little screen I can put in the top to stop stuff from being sucked out. I'm thinking a screen that the put in kitchen faucets would do the trick nicely. Other than that all went well and the shrimp didn't really notice.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

If it starts to suck stuff you don’t want it to, crimp the hose with your dry hand. That will stop the flow so whatever is in the tube will fall back out. I do this when I vac sand.

[TeeJay]

So put in order for some Java moss last night. Going to place some on small rocks in the front of the tank. Hope for it to grow across the bottom to encourage the shrimpy friends to come more to the front of the tank. As well I can put some in the Cory cat tank for spawning and some in the new baby snail tank for when they hatch. Should be here by the end of the business week hopefully.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:12 AM, TeeJay said:

So put in order for some Java moss last night. Going to place some on small rocks in the front of the tank. Hope for it to grow across the bottom to encourage the shrimpy friends to come more to the front of the tank. As well I can put some in the Cory cat tank for spawning and some in the new baby snail tank for when they hatch. Should be here by the end of the business week hopefully.

Run it through Reverse Respiration to be sure of no planaria hitchhikers. My moss loved the seltzer. 

Planaria will also eat Cory eggs so it’s important to not introduce them if you are trying to breed. 

[TeeJay]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:18 AM, Guppysnail said:

Run it through Reverse Respiration to be sure of no planaria hitchhikers. My moss loved the seltzer. 

Planaria will also eat Cory eggs so it’s important to not introduce them if you are trying to breed. 

Ok I'll grab a couple bottles and do that for 12 hours before I break it down and put it in tanks.

[TeeJay]

So got an update the Java moss will be here on Wednesday. Perfect timing the next 3 days will be 10 degrees cooler m once it comes in I'm going to r/o it for the night to get rid of any planaria. Then after that we will get it glued to a few rocks and get it in the tank!

[TeeJay]

Just got home from work and had to check on our shrimpy friends. I was able to catch at least 7 different ones crusing around the tank. With each day they get more comfortable and don't mind me sitting right in front of there tank. Every time I look at the tank I'm so happy with the way it is turning out. When I look back at the first pictures I took and to how it looks now I can't believe I have come this far with it.

After the water change yesterday all parameters look great. Nitrates only at a 5 so I gave a .5 ml dose of easy green and a .5 ml of potassium. All the Java ferns really drink up that stuff. Hopefully by Oct they will be ready to have some shrimpletts. I dont see why it couldn't happen sooner but I would rather go for that goal and be pleasantly surprised if it happens sooner. There color is looking really good to me as well. Just got these new pics a few mins ago.

[TeeJay]

Shhhh you can't see me!

[Ken Burke]

On 8/7/2022 at 2:50 PM, TeeJay said:

Yes by no means am I trying to breed for profit. Would just like to make a nice colony so I can have just my Cory only tank and then a group for my 29 gal tank. I know not to expect any breeding for at least a few months. I have only had them for 2 months now and I figure there not very old yet. If it happens great if not I can still enjoy the ones I have. Would just be nice to "make" my own to know there healthy and not worry about buying more to introduce something in my tank. I do plan on ordering a nice amount of Java moss so I can provide more spawning places and I always need more for my shrimp sanctuary.

That’s a really heathy way to look at it!  
 

On 8/7/2022 at 3:06 PM, Guppysnail said:

This is why I breed. It is so gratifying to look in a tank and see almost every critter has been born in your own tanks. It’s very awesome 

Agreed!  I also like giving friends fish for their tanks.