Ten shrimpy pics

[kenny]

So I was at the pet shop and saw these little shrimp for only 33 cents and I thought, what the heck!?!

I bought 10 to keep as pets with my 4 small goldfish in a 30-gal tank.
The shrimp have really interesting behavior; they're fun to watch.
Eventually my goldfish will get too large and will make a meal out of them, so I'll move them by then.

They are called ghost shrimp and people buy them as food for their large fish.

Took em home and noticed one had all this green crud underneath it so I googled around.
Turns out it was preggies.
OMG, I would not have bought them if I knew this.
I didn't plan on the hassle of raising babies and it kind of bothers me to just let them get eaten.

So this evening I rushed around to learn how to take care of them.
I stared an infusoria tank with boiled and smashed lettuce and green water from my tank's filter.
They babies mouthes are so small they eat microscopic critters.

 

[kenny]

Look closely for the baby''s little black eyes.

 

[kenny]

Actually it turned out 3 of the 10 had were carrying eggs down there.

 

[kenny]

So I got the 10-gal out of the garage and set it up with a baby-net-nursery thinggie.

 

[kenny]

Within an hour of putting the 3 big mamas into the tank I saw little dots moving around with jerky motions.
Look at those tiny hands.

and a face only a mommy shrimp could love.

They look big in this pic but look at the next pic.

 

[kenny]

Look how small they are.
They are those little dots around the dime.

So that previous pic was greatly enlarged.
The baby in it was swimming freely and it took forever to get one in focus.

Shrimp will eat their young.

To transfer them from the delivery tank to the nursery I used plastic tubing.
With the tube out of the water I held my finger over one end and put the other end in the water near the baby.
Then letting my finger go caused water and the baby to rush into the tube, which I quickly put into the nursery, then let finger go.

This moved them without touching them.

 

[kenny]

Top view.

 

[kenny]

I found this little guy taking a break, resting outside the nursery near his brothers and sisters.

Isn't he cute?

 

[kenny]

For fun I put one on a blue plate - very special.

 

[kenny]

To prevent the babies from being sucked into the filter I wrapped a fine mesh around the input tube.
I also used a small plate of glass to deflect the water coming out of the filter so it wouldn't agitate the water so much.

All the water came from the mature tank and I even keep that small extra filter running in the main tank for emergencies such as setting up a hospital tank.
So in just an hour I had a new 10-gal set up with seasoned water and filter.

 

[kenny]

Now it looks like one mama is finished dropping.
Two mamas to go.
There are around 15 little guys, but they are hard to count.

I hope a few of them survive; if so I'll post pics.
I bought some food made for fry (it looks like dust) since the infusoria is not ready.

Hope you enjoyed my goofy little project.

 

[VRBeauty]

Aww Kenny -- you're such softy!

I hope you get some sleep between rounds in the delivery tank!

Great "tiny hands" pic, BTW!

 

[Cehrabehra]

awesome kenny!!

I am having horrible luck here with the fish I''ve bought - and I used to have 3 tanks and sold fish! If only the products were in english! I thought for sure I couldn''t kill gold fish.... but I got 3 and within three days I had zero. One dropped every day for 3 days. There''s something wrong

 

[Lorelei]

WAY kewl Kenny!!!!!

 

[mrscushion]

Wow, kenny, that''s so cool! Great pics of the preggo mamas and the kiddies! I love your nursery setup!

 

[Tuckins1]

Neat pics! You''re such a good shrimpy daddy!!

 

[waterlilly]

So neat!

My husband had one of those desk top glass eco-ball thingies (a little self sustaining ecosystem) and it had shrimp in it - one of them lived for 8+ years! We were very bummed when he died, I had no idea a shrimp could live that long...

 

[packrat]

I like the blue plate special haha! They are kind of cute in a weird sort of way. They remind me of the shrimp on Shark Tale.

 

[oddoneout]

The pictures are amazing. It''s very interesting to see the shrimp up close. I think it''s very sweet you took all the effort to help them have their babies. I think most people would just let their fish eat them.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Aww! I''ve had a lot of experience with ghost shrimp in my planted tanks. And yes, they multiply, but fish usually eat the youngins, so glad you moved them so you can watch the development!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Amazing photos, Kenny! I will look forward to updates as they grow. I love Tuckins' post - you are a good Shrimp Daddy!

 

[sparklyheart]

I never knew these things even existed.. Thanks for posting these pictures! You will have to take more pictures as they grow up and make it in the real world. Will you ever be able to put them back with the goldfish or will they get eaten?

 

[Sha]

Wow! How interesting!! Neat photos, too. I"ve never seen shrimp like that before....very cool. So funny that you''re now going to have a shrimp explosion up in there!

Looks like you''re going to take good care of them, though.

 

[somethingshiny]

Wow, that''s a pretty elaborate setup! My 4 yr old is sitting next to me and is equally amazed with your pics. Thanks for posting and enjoy your project shrimp!

 

[PumpkinPie]

Date: 4/20/2010 3:44:30 AM
Author: VRBeauty
Aww Kenny -- you''re such a softy!

This was my first thought - what a cute project. Your camera and your photography skills are amazing - fabulous photos!

 

[tyty333]

You take the best pictures kenny! They are cute little critters!

 

[Gailey]

Date: 4/20/2010 9:26:00 AM
Author: rhbgirl24
Aww! I''ve had a lot of experience with ghost shrimp in my planted tanks. And yes, they multiply, but fish usually eat the youngins, so glad you moved them so you can watch the development!

You sound like my kind of girl rhbgirl! I have planted tanks too! You should start a thread on them!

 

[Amber St. Clare]

Kenny, you are an AWESOME photographer!

 

[Gailey]

Hey Shrimp Daddy!

So that''s it, any street cred you might have had for being a "blokey" sort of bloke is blown right out of the water (pardon the pun!).

What you''ve done is amazing, well done!

So are your shrimp strictly herbivores? Do you know what type of shrimp you have? They look like Ghosties to me, but I''m no expert. I did check to see if you had lucked out and got Amano shrimps, but doesn''t look like it.

Please keep us updated with pictures and tales of their progress.

I would love to see a picture of your big tank set up. This is the half hex right?

Did you see the link I posted on you Google thread about raising your own brine shrimp?

 

[Gailey]

Oh, I meant to add, why don''t you set up a simple Sponge filter for your babies. The one in this link is a bit big but you get my drift!