Baby ghost shrimp & dead mother? :(

[kgs1992]

Hey people,
I had one ghost shrimp (female) in a 1.5 L (temporary set up, skip the details).
I added in another female ghost shrimp in there yesterday & it was pregnant and looked like it was going to molt soon.
Today, I noticed that shrimp I added in yesterday was dead. But there were tons of tiny shrimplets swimming around in the water.
I removed the dead shrimp and noticed that the pleopods were missing & the skin above it was torn.
I guess it was going to molt, but probably didn't make it.
I added in some water conditioner to kill any newly formed ammonia in the water.
I also added in a java fern from my tank because I read that larvae eat bacteria found in water containing plants.
I also crushed a pellet of tetrabits and added that into the bowl.
Now, I want to know what I can do, in order to make sure that the larvae live.
How do I make water changes without killing the tiny larvae?

Thanks for reading through. Any advice is appreciated. :)

PS: The other female is still in the bowl. Should I take her out in order to prevent her from feeding on the larvae?

[fightergirl2710]

Wow! I got nothing man! Just congrats on the new babes! Are you a science student by any chance because I have no idea what a pleopod is. But I'm going to google it! =D
Usually the bacteria (infusoria) comes from dry leaves that are lying on the bottoms of rivers, I don't know if a live plant will do the trick. Maybe you could add some freeze dried daphnia for them to eat? I fed it to my fry when they were tiny... I don't know whether shrimp are cannibalistic, I'll have to read up on that! Lol!
They eat algae too right? Check if any of your tanks have some algae growth, scrape it off and feed it to the little ones...
Don't add too much water conditioner, too much is harmful. I suggest using an aeration pipe to do the water changes, use suction.. fill pipe with water.. thumbs on both ends. Put one end in tank, other in the bucket... Voila! And if you see a shrimplet (lol) get too close put your thumb on the opening.. Make the room dark and shine a flash light in one corner of the tank, the babies will get attracted to it and you can do the water changes on the other side! I hope this helps, I use that trick for my fry..

[kgs1992]

Pleopods are the swimmeretes (the legs used for swimming).
My adult shrimp is now in the betta bowl! :P (poor fellow)
There are like 50+ larvae in the 1.5L!!!
If they all survive, I'm gonna need to give them off to someone! (You want some? :P)
I shall see if I can get freeze dried daphnia.
There's some algae on my fern, so I guess that's sorted.
Yes, shrimp are cannibalistic. They eat their own larvae at times.
Okay, so very little water conditioner from now onwards.
I'll see if I can get an aeration pipe.
Thanks for all the help! :) :)

[kgs1992]

Oh, and yes, I am a science student, but I'm pursuing computer engineering.
(Not even remotely related to biology! :P)

[fightergirl2710]

Lol! Thats awesome! Which college are you in? My fish would probably tear them to bits XD! You could sell them to a lfs? Or just give them away.. If you sell them, sell at half the rate (each of course) that you bought yours for...
"Pleopods are the swimmeretes (the legs used for swimming)." is the funniest sentence I have ever heard! Aeration pipes are cheap, lfs baby! I actually use my aunt's oxygen mask pipe, its almost the same thing... Obviously I used it after she was done with it

[kgs1992]

I guess only 20 or so may survive.
I'm in Mukesh Patel, that's under NMIMS Uni. Same road as Mithibai. :P
Keep them in a separate bowl, they don't need so much care ya.
I'll give them away, I won't sell them.
I'll see if I can get an aeration pipe.

Originally Posted by fightergirl2710

I actually use my aunt's oxygen mask pipe, its almost the same thing... Obviously I used it after she was done with it

Lol!

[DarkMoon17]

Awesome! I've raised ghost shrimp before. It's not that hard. Just don't make any large water changes until they are a few weeks old... They do not eat algae as a major part of their diet since they are scavengers... Adding live plants will help. Mine accepted Wardley's Sinking Shrimp pellets pretty much from day one and eat it happily. As long as the adult is well fed, she won't eat the babies. In fact, if you leave her in there she will teach the youngins what to eat.

[kgs1992]

Okay, I put the adult back in.
There's plenty of food in there. They seem to eat tetra bits.
Also, there's only half of them left in there. Safe to assume the other half are dead?
My fern has some dark spots on the leaves that soon become holes and the leaf dies! :/
Any idea why?