Fire (blood red) shrimp question...

[gurgle]

I have a mated pair of Fire Shrimp. My female is now loaded w/eggs. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do to help in their survival? Should I put her in another tank by herself maybe? Or will it be impossible to find an appropriate food for them. If anyone knows anything on this subject, please HELP!!!

 

[nm reef]

All I know is most information indicates it is extremely difficult to provide the proper conditions for newly hatched shrimp to survive....I keep a pair of blood reds and a pair of skunks...4 peppermints and soon a pair of sexys....I consider any eggs that hatch as a natural food source for the aquarium and I've never given much consideration to attempting to insure they survive to adulthood.:thinking:

 

[bang guy]

If you want to try it can be done with a lot of work and even more luck.
A couple of days before the larvae hatch you'll be able to see eyes. You need to then remove her to a tank dedicated to larvae grow-out. The larvae need a lot of food and clean water. They also need slow flow and can't handle bumping into the walls of the tank. All of that is the difficult part. You need to maintain the high density of food and clean water with low flow for about 3-4 months. It's not as easy as it sounds.
For food I recommend freeze dried cyclop-eeze sprinkled on the water surface. They can also eat flaked fish food but it fouls the water very fast. Freshly hatched Artemia Nauplii are good to have swimming around too for the added fat content.
For a container I suggest a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and an airstone based circular waterflow. A small light right in the center of the bucket will congregate the larvae in the same place the food will collect.
They are cannibalistic so once they start eating each other you need to find more containers.

 

[nm reef]

Like I said....its a difficult proposition ti raise them....thats why I just let nature take its course and allow the hatched young uns' to fend for themselves. Thats a lot of time and effort involved to raise them...not to mention a fair measure of luck.

 

[bang guy]

I agree... just let the larvae feed the tank.

 

[gurgle]

Thanks so much for the info. , unfortunately, I didn't get her out in time anyway. She shed her shell & I now don't see the eggs there anymore. No idea what happened to them , but like you said , just let nature take it's course. Maybe I'll try it sometime though , thanks again for all the info. ,again.:happyfish