Shrimplet Care
Overview
It is becoming difficult to ignore the fact that shrimplet survival is often less discussed because more often than not the shrimplets do survive in a tank. However, i also believe that in the course of their growing up stage, the fragile little one will be expose to elements that could put them at risk. Hence, i would like to share some of the tips in this post.
Hiding space
Sufficient hiding space is a critical piece of the puzzle and this is to alleviate cannibalism during molting. Shrimplets are small and when they molt multiple time to grow big, every molt has risk associated to it. Hence it is becoming difficult to ignore the fact that hiding space helps increase shrimplet survival.
Personally i like using natural plants to act as a natural hiding space and mosses are great in that. There are a lot of nooks and crevices for the shrimp to hide. There are certainly other kinds of decorative hiding space and as long as there are water circulating passing through them, i think they are fine to use.
Many a times a natural hiding space is also a food source which means it could double up like a grazing material and hide out. However, i prefer to keep this separated for the purpose that every placement have a primary purpose. For example Soil primary purpose is to buffer the water, filtration to maintain high quality water and beneficial bacterial, etc.
Hiding space offer a safe haven for shrimplet to grow up to a certain size before the risk of cannibalism is greatly reduced.
Grazing material
Grazing material is a necessity and i learn that the hard way because shrimplets are not able to compete with adult shrimp on daily feed. Even if the shrimplet goes all out and compete they may get injure during the process causing adult shrimp to immediately turn their attention to the shrimplet.
Having sufficient biofilm in the tank will encourage shrimplets to graze 24/7 so they can reduce the dependency of competition of food. Grazing material comes in all form like leaves, cholla wood and of cause The Original Lubao.
Daily Feed
It is also important to have a daily feed that is able to break down over time to provide shrimplet a chance to consume the daily feed long after the adults had their fill. There are plenty of food out there and i have tried a lot of them and some are really good and if it works for you stick with it. For my personal success i stick with using Hwa version 1 feed as it has a good draw factor plus the side of the pad breaks down into smaller pieces but the core of it remains hard for adults to pick on.
Other important aspect
I have experience that when there are shrimplets in the tank, adding new active soil is a big no no for me, the sudden ammonia spike when the soil releases is detrimental to very small shrimplet that are within 7-14 days after they are born. This is relative as sometimes we are unsure of how old the shrimplets are but in general i would advise that we do not add new soil to a tank that is establish and have small shrimplets all around.
Lastly, i would encourage to remove all shrimplet to another tank which is a grow up tank. This will ensure the highest survival rate of shrimplet however the points listed above like hiding space, adding the lubao and having good filtration still applies.
Grow up Tank
Why do we need grow up tank? There are quite a lot of benefits of a grow up tank and if you are like me is passionate about selective breeding, than a grow up tank is encouraged.
I was struggling in the beginning when i had to give up tank space for a grow up tank. However, once i started the selective process and using the grow up tank it became clear to me that there are a lot of benefits to it.
Benefits of Grow Up tank
I think firstly the most importance aspect of having a grow up tank is the shrimplets certainly have a higher survival rate.
Having a higher survival rate is understood from the following:
- Reduce cannibalisms by adults during molting
- Lesser competition of daily feed and grazing material
It is also important to note that shrimplet as small as 0.8-1cm will start mating and if you are selective breeding, this is not ideal. If an un-desirable male mates with the stock females in the main tank, this will means that the selection process is halted.
That is also one key element that having a grow up tank is critical.
Grow up faster
I learnt and actually also see from my observation that shrimplet that have their own tank grow up much faster than those who are together with their parents. This could be contributed by many factors such as availability of space and food.
In addition, i learn that to trigger quicker molting, perform a much higher frequency of water change such as every 3-4 days instead of the weekly routine. This helps trigger the shrimplets to molt faster and grow.
The faster the shrimplet grows up the quicker you can start selecting and kickstart the next generation of shrimp breeding by crossing back.
Taken together
With these in mind, it is important that having a grow up tank is important. They will have their own space, food and grazing material. Hence, for my own breeding tanks and grow up tank, i do see a significant increase in shrimplet survivability and also faster growth rate.
If you do not have the space to have a grow up tank, my recommendation is that we can re-think the number of types you would like to keep and breed. This will then allow you more time and space to focus on the ones you really like to breed.
Hope you learn something from this post!
