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Are these really Sunkist Shrimp babies?


travellife

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I purchased 2 adult shrimp from a LFS, one was pregnant and a couple of days after bringing her home she released the babies.  The identification on the tank was Sunkist Shrimp, Caridina Cantonensis.  After researching I realized this wasn't the proper species i.d. for Sunkist.   The LFS apologized and said they were not labeled properly IF they are in fact Sunkist, that it can be very difficult to properly id shrimp.  The babies are one month old and appear to be doing fine.

Here's my question.  Since the mother was carrying the babies in freshwater at the store and they were also born in freshwater will they be OK.   

I found the following information at Sunkist Shrimp

Breeding - Sunkist, Caridina Cfr. Propinqua

These shrimp are unfortunately difficult to breed as they give birth to larvae which require brackish water.  If you can get past that they will breed as the female shed her shell so the male can mate with her as this is the only time, she will hold around 20-25 eggs for a period of 30 - 40 days.  Raising larvae in brackish water is extremely difficult as the salinity needs to be correct, they will also need moving to freshwater as they age and this also needs to be done very carefully.

 

 

Shrimp-in-Java-Moss.jpgSunkist-Shrimp-babies.jpg

 

 

 

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You might just have orange neo. perhaps pumpkin or orange sakura 

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they seem fine :) As you can see, those babies are not larvae, but they are actual smaller forms of the adult form, which leads to being an orange neocaridina. The larvae are rly  small and usually free floating and look alieny. if you have any more questions let me know or post about it :) 

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Thanks so much zodiac and ohmiko. The brackish water requirement had me very worried. They are not showing much coloration yet but appear healthy and grazing. I've been feeding a fish flake, Marineland copper free, about every 6 days.

travellife

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at that age,little to no color.

at least the first week,they feed on biofilm then they eat what adults do.

it can take as much as 3-4 weeks to count them all.

with good survival rate,around 2 dozen.

 

you have ghost shrimp,they release larvae.

it takes special care for any kind of survival rate.

 

the orange shrimp,as long as you have males,they will keep exploding babies.:jig:

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I would separate ghost shrimp and orange since a lot of times ghost shrimp sold in stores arent the true ghost shrimp but a lot of times macro shrimp babies (which are aggressive)

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As far as determining the species of orange shrimp these 2 photos may help.  They were taken immediately after one of the babies was released.  Am I understanding correctly in that a Sunkist baby wouldn't have been able to swim up and attach itself to the stem?  That they are in fact a free-floating larvae, more planktonic?

 

I have two 1" ghost shrimp purchased at PetsMart earlier this year when they were much smaller.  They are separate from the "Sunkist" shrimp in a Fluval Spec V tank.  Pretty sure they're not the aggressive macro type but they do rule the tank and are extremely active, often swimming with the fish when I feed them. 

 

Baby Shrimp Birth.jpg

 

Baby Shrimp Birth - 2.jpg

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nope, those are not planktonic at all you can just see in those photos that they are exactly shrimp looking. 

newborn baby shrimp  are able to move to get to a safe spot. and considering that shrimp is releasing them up there, they didnt have to move much

 

this is what larva usually look 20120922075331.jpglike

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So I can safely conclude they are not Sunkist because the species .proquina release planktonic larvae that do not have control of their own mobility and are more difficult to raise. Maybe the only thing wrong with their labeling at the LFS was calling them Sunkist. You have both helped a lot. Now I just need to try to determine if they are neos or Sakura or something else entirely like an orange cherry. For KH/GH purposes.

travellife

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sakura, pumpkin,sunkist....same thing.

they are cherry shrimp that are orange.

same kind of water.

 

sakura is a grade,though used commonly for orange shrimp.

 

sunkist is like a nick name,maybe based on the shade of orange.

blue dream shrimp have a bunch of names based on the color they breed them at.

 

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I'm going to use this as a guide for the GH/KH requirements:  Orange Shrimp

 

Photos I see of berried cherries have very yellow eggs.  My shrimp's eggs were clear white.  Does that vary per species or do other things such as diet, water parameters, etc. affect the egg color? 

 

I wish there were better standards used for common names which would help eliminate confusion, especially for newcomers like myself.  At least I can stop worrying about needing brackish water thanks to your responses.

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Egg colors are not important since eggs change colors with age


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I have an API kit and the Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia all test for 0.  My high pH is 7.4, regular pH is 7.6.  I'll have to order a GH/KH kit and TDS meter from Amazon, n/a locally.

The identification on the LFS tank where I bought the shrimp was Sunkist Shrimp, Caridina Cantonensis.  Matter of fact all the shrimp they carry are identified as Caridina Cantonensis no matter what coloration they are.  Do you think mine are definitely Neocaridina davidi? 

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what other colors did they have???? Its 100% hands down Neocaridina. like 100%%%%%% those are shrimplets not larva. Dont trust LFS labeling. My LFS labels by color. They probably did the same at your store. Before this post, I thought sunkist was just a different orange neo. Your LFS seems to not know about caridina or neocaridina which is pretty common and no big deal but these are for sureeee neo :) my LFS sells as "red, orange, rili, blue, black shrimp" Only one they got right is Tiger shrimp

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Quote

Its 100% hands down Neocaridina. like 100%%%%%% those are shrimplets not larva.

 

So do Neocaridina genus shrimp only release shrimplets and never zoea larvae?  If so then that is a good way for beginners to differentiate what type of shrimp to start with.   It would be great if there were a chart indicating shrimplet or zoea larvae per species.  I don't hold anything against my LFS cause they labeled based on what they were told by their supplier.  It would be good though to let them know what I've found out from our discussions.  They had an assortment of shrimp when I purchased mine; black and white, blues, yellows, red and white.

 

I just read the following at Shrimp Breeding Basics.  They're saying "low order" give birth to zoea and "high order" to shrimplets.  Does that make sense to you?

 

She will carry the eggs with her swimmerets for three to four weeks before the eggs release the small shrimplets (low order shrimps release larvae which often need several free swimming Zoea stages in brackish water before they become little shrimplets and before they can survive in freshwater, high order shrimp species release little copies of themselves which can survive in a freshwater tank).

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yes,neo's only release shrimplets,but also most shrimp in the marketplace.

ghost and amano are the most popular shrimp that release larvae.

 

for a beginner,you have the right shrimp to start off.

 

black/red and white are bees.takes more of a skill to be successful.

blue and yellow my be the same kind of shrimp as your orange,so you don't want to mix them in the same tank

they will breed with each other,which breaks the DNA and the babies will be born the "wild type"

 

Neocaridina davidi var. orange

they may not know it,but's the scientific name.

when i sold them,i just called them orange shrimp. :)

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Neocaridina davidi var. orange it is then.

Excellent zodiac, thank you for your explanation about neos only releasing shrimplets.   I'm just happy I don't have real Sunkist, that would not be a shrimp for a beginner.  You've both solved the mystery and now I can relax and enjoy watching the babies.  Unfortunately I lost both adults, they died within a day of each other a week ago.  They'd both had 2 previous successful molts, not real sure but their most recent molts may have been the cause, their bodies didn't reveal any clues.  That is why it is so important I know their correct species so that I hopefully have more success with the babies.

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unless someone with more knowledge says different,no such thing as sunkist shrimp.

 

sadly, orange tend to die before their time.

i think it has to do with incest,but have nothing to back that up.

 

see what happens with the babies.

on a new tank,it's a joy on counting them.:thumbsu:

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Truly very cool when I counted 11 one day and thought there were only 5 total. I also wasn't sure whether or not the adults would eat the babies so was freaking about that for awhile. They are a pleasure to watch and I can see myself making this a hobby in addition to my fish.


travellife

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