First ever RCS berried... what now?

[silentoak]

Hey all,

When I first got my cherry shrimp about 3 weeks ago I thought it would be a while before I would see one berried. The biggest of the 10 I have in my 10 gallon community tank are 3/4" to 1", and I was thinking they weren't even capable of getting berried at this age/length.

So when I discovered that one of my shrimp all of a sudden had yellow berries in her I was pretty excited!

But then I realized that in order to bring these little guys up to a decent size before introducing them I'd probably have to extract the pregnant female.

I had already been planning on getting a 2.5 gallon for just the shrimp and it seems that now would be a good time to make that happen. But I was wondering what would be the best way to have this come to a good ending.

After reading up on shrimp in general for a good while now I'm still unsure as to what I should do for filtration and substrate, to both keep it within a speedy timeframe and a budget.

My initial thought was to keep the tank bare bottom, for the convenience of it. I have a big chunk of java moss which will make its way to the new tank for sure. But a little bit of substrate seems like it would be better for the shrimp as I believe it would harvest some algae. Now I have some regular aquarium gravel from a second 10g tank that's gotta be close to being cycled (I don't have the test kit to tell for sure, but will take a water sample to the fish store if needed).

What are the pros and thus all of you guys' thoughts on the best way to go about this?

Have the camera resting by the tank in case the mother comes around so I can snap a couple of pictures of her.

Sorry this was a little lengthy for what seems to pass as some regular cherry shrimp, but I'm pretty thrilled!

Thanks!

[effox]

If you don't have fish in your ten gallon I'd leave them in there, shrimp won't eat the fry. Definitely leave substrate and moss for the micro-nutrients to adhese to as you mentioned so that the babies will have something to munch on and hide in.

Let us know if you have fish and what kind they are as they would be your only worry at this point if your water parameters are good.

[silentoak]

If you don't have fish in your ten gallon I'd leave them in there, shrimp won't eat the fry. Definitely leave substrate and moss for the micro-nutrients to adhese to as you mentioned so that the babies will have something to munch on and hide in.

Let us know if you have fish and what kind they are as they would be your only worry at this point if your water parameters are good.

I have different fish in there: neon tetras about 4, a peppered cory, 2 white cloud minnows and a tequila sunrise guppy (thanks honey! ).

The guppy is the biggest worry. The other 10 gallon tank is holding the betta which wouldn't cooperate with the other fish.

I was able to snap a shot of the mother and while I was at it took one of a plant that I'm unable to ID, but have tons of!

RCSberried1.jpg plantID.jpg

[effox]

I'd definitely move them in that case. Don't make it bare bottom, they'll need to eat off off the substrate and moss. I'd move some of the substrate that you already have established in your 10 gallon over as it should contain algae and what not already on it.

Use a seeded filter for an instant cycle. I'd stick with a sponge filter, or a hob that has a prefilter on it as shrimp will get nosy and end up sucked up and potentially killed in the filter.

[silentoak]

I'd definitely move them in that case. Don't make it bare bottom, they'll need to eat off off the substrate and moss. I'd move some of the substrate that you already have established in your 10 gallon over as it should contain algae and what not already on it.

Use a seeded filter for an instant cycle. I'd stick with a sponge filter, or a hob that has a prefilter on it as shrimp will get nosy and end up sucked up and potentially killed in the filter.

Thanks for your quick replies!

The seeded filter I could use for the tank is what I believe to be an Aquaclear 30 or 50 (don't know for sure as I got this setup off of usedvictoria for free and the owner didn't have a clue), this seems like it might be a bit too powerful for a 2.5gallon tank. I could also use the tetra whisper PF10 from the community 10 gallon, that's been running the longest.

The moss and plants from the main 10 gallon would hold quite a bit of bacteria too I suppose.

[effox]

They would hold a bunch of good stuff for the shrimpies. My brother just had his hatch and they lived in the moss for the first week, now they are venturing on to the gravel to eat.

[silentoak]

What're the opinions on a heater?

[DeeB]

I was able to snap a shot of the mother and while I was at it took one of a plant that I'm unable to ID, but have tons of!

RCSberried1.jpg plantID.jpg

That's water sprite or indian fern (Ceratopteris thalictroides). Yours might be the juvenile form or the 'oak-leaved' variety.

And congrats on the berried RCS female

[silentoak]

That's water sprite or indian fern (Ceratopteris thalictroides). Yours might be the juvenile form or the 'oak-leaved' variety.

And congrats on the berried RCS female

Definetly oak-leafed some stems are easily 8" long, with the leafs floating on the surface.

[silentoak]

Have the little 2.5gallon set up with substrate from the 2nd aquarium that was holding the betta.

Took a water sample with me to my lfs this morning and was assured there that there wasn't a trace of ammonia, but also got told that both my nitrites and nitrates were zero.

And just moments ago I introduced the 1st shrimp to the new tank. It's not the berried female yet, she wasn't up for grabs and I felt it safe to give it an overnight test run with just 1 shrimp. Sound good? How long do you guys think I should let pass?

I did take pictures of a couple of steps I went through and will upload them once I know this whole endeavor didn't fail horribly.

The one that I introduced is racing around a lot, good sign or bad?