No Betta Babies :(

[turtle10]

So unfortunately due to a few space issues, I will not be breeding bettas. It would be unfair to the fry because I am not 100% of the space situation. I don't have room for the containers in my bedroom, and the room I was going to use may or may not be occupied. Ughhh…

BUT I will be breeding Cherry Shrimp in my spare 10g. I bought a filter today and added it to my cycled 20g to kick start it. I have been reading about this for a few months now, and I decided it would be a cool experience without all the fry stress. I don't have to worry about finding homes for shrimp!

They will be bred in a cycled, planted 10 gallon aquarium. The only tank mates will possibly be a few mystery snails. I was going to use the shrimp I have in my 20g community, but they seem content so I don't want to mess with them. So I am getting 15 new shrimp from Aquabid.

When they start to make a lot of babies, I will be selling them and trading them with other shrimp breeders for genetic variation. Of course, Bettafish members get a good deal ;)


I would LOVE to see some pictures of your shrimp and shrimp setups, and I am so welcome to any advice. Thank you guys!

[Oldfishlady]

To bad about your plans to spawn...maybe another day...but shrimp are really neat too...I have both red cherry and the yellow morph and I really enjoy them.....they do multiply like crazy and pretty easy to care for.....I have tanks just for them....two separate-one for the reds and one for the yellows...the reds seem to reproduce faster than the yellows so I stock all my other tanks with RCS....

[turtle10]

It's okay lol. I felt bad for Bellino though because he had his hopes up, so I added some new live plants. I am really excited about the shrimp though. I can't wait to set up the 10g, but I want to wait for the filter to cycle. I cut the filter open a teeny bit and put the carbon and some of the cloth from an old established filter in it and it is now running on a cycled tank. I have been adding a bit extra food in too. How long do you think it will take for the filter to cycle? I am okay will doing daily water changes in the Shrimp tank until it is done but I heard that they are very sensitive to water levels. Is it absolutely necessary to wait until the cycle is all the way finished?

[FuulieQ]

I've been kind of wanting shrimp for a long time, unfortunately none of my current leasees are particularly fond of using them for anything but food. -_-

[Oldfishlady]

Shrimp can be a bit more sensitive to water prams and especially chemicals/medication in the tank...other than ammonia and nitrite they can also be sensitive to high nitrate and DOC's...but with lots of live plants...especially stem and floating plants they should help to keep water prams under control and at safe level along with your water changes.......I don't use filters on my shrimp tanks- but I do use HOB filter on my other tanks for water movement and you have to empty the water from them on a regular basis to get the baby shrimp out-both dead and alive-some don't survive the impeller sometimes...the best filter for shrimp only tanks are your sponge filter....those tiny shrmpletts can get sucked-up pretty easy......

As far as seeding the filter media-this can vary depending on how mature the seeding tank is and the bioload-more mature and higher bioload the faster it will seed....

Since I only keep the natural planted soil based tanks I don't cycle per se...I set one up and add stock all in the same day and make water changes as needed until it matures and I rarely if ever have any deaths with this method.

[turtle10]

Okay thank you so much! I won't be so worried now. I have the Master Test kit so I will just test the water every day/every other day. I am thinking about selling these on Aquabid…. is the shipping the same for shrimp as it is for bettas? Like do I pack them the same way and use the same shipping material?

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry...I have no idea....I have a buyer that takes all my stock and plants.....

[turtle10]

No worries. I will just keep the materials they come in for future reference.

[shinybetta]

Look here for shipping:
http://www.planetinverts.com/Shipping%20Shrimp.html

[turtle10]

Thank you Shiny!