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Stardust Shrimp breeding project


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Well, I guess I'll start with a little info about mine.  I keep mine in their own 10 gallon tank & they're very active all the time pretty much.  Below are my current Stardust parameters & what I've been feeding them..

 

TDS 140-150

Temp 70-74

Gh 3-4 degrees

Foods.  A lot of homemade stuff from fellow Spot members, Hikari algae wafers and Shrimp Cuisine..    On the homemade food, thumbs up to everybody that sold me some!  ;)

 

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Hi @Tibee Inc! Great idea for a thread. I've had mine for only about 2 months so far so I'm still learning about how to care for them. I also have them in a 10 gallon tank, but mine actually hide ALL THE TIME. I should have around 15 or so, but I'm lucky to see 3 or 4 at one time. They rarely come out to even eat.

 

For the past 2 months, I just let them go without checking them too much because I didn't want to stress them out by constantly looking throughout the tank for them. I didn't see any breeding activity or berried females, but I also didn't see any dead ones so I figured if it ain't broke don't fix it. However, 2 weeks ago I saw my first berried female...but she was already dead and turning red. I removed the eggs and tried to save them by putting them in a shrimp hatcher, but the hatcher wasn't that good and the eggs may have been sitting on the dead female for too long (I noticed her first thing in the morning so she may have been sitting the whole night). 

 

Luckily, I saw another berried female and she was very much alive. I decided to divide the tank, one because the Stardusts hide so often that I can't tell if any are dead or if there's any problems with them, and two because I managed to get my hands on some really rare shrimp for a good price. The day after dividing the tank I noticed the berried female had less eggs than before, so I'm not sure if she dropped them due to the stress of moving things around the tank?

 

In my experience, the Stardusts have been very skittish and shy. They swim away quickly if I approach the tank and seem to have very little interest in most of the foods I offer. The fact that they're alive and breeding makes me think that they're okay, but I worry about these shrimp more than my others because I rarely see them throughout the day. They're extremely beautiful shrimp and I'm very excited to get their population numbers up so that I can use them in breeding projects in the future. Here are my parameters and what I feed them...

 

TDS - ~150

gH - 4-5

kH - 1-2

Temp - ~72 degrees (I don't use a heater, just room AC)

Foods - Shrimp King Mineral, Protein, and Complete, Frozen Bloodworms, and Glasgarten Bacter AE and Betaglucan 

 

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Hey!  If those guys aren't out you got some serious problems.  During the first 2 weeks I got mine they were extremely delicate.  However, when they get adjusted to a new home, they're crazy active with/without food.  On parameters, were about exactly the same.   How do you test your water & with what?  How do you filter it too?

 

On activity, mine literally raise all kinds of hell...  By the middle of April, should have at least 100+ shrimplets at minimum.  

 

One more thing, you'll see electric blues/reds when they're breeding.  What I'd also like to know is if you're using active soil & have you tested for NO2/NO3 and Ammonia..

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It's strange because I've had them for nearly 2 months and I've even had a few berried females, but no babies and they shrimp have only been dying in the past couple of weeks. I'm leaning towards a possible bacterial infection, which would explain the lack of activity and the few random deaths that occur periodically. This would be the worst case scenario so I'm really hoping that's not it. After taking the driftwood out of their tank they've been more active, but it doesn't sound like they're nearly as active as yours.

 

I use the API gH and kH test kit, an electronic TDS pen I got from Amazon, and the Freshwater Master Test Kit to test for nitrates, ammonia, etc. I don't have a personal RO/DI unit, so I get mine from Safeway. I've found that they have the purest and cheapest water in my area. I use the same RO water for my other shrimps and although there's an occasional death every now and then they're all fairly active and mostly breeding. I have Fluval Shrimp Stratum covering only about 1/4 inch of the bottom of the tank (it was all I had left). I did add a glass vase filled with Brightwell soil last week after noticing what was happening to my Stardusts. I've had a lot of success with Brightwell and would prefer to use that for all of my Caridina shrimp. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money so I had to use Fluval Stratum for some. I have cholla wood, indian almond leaves, java moss, mineral balls, and sponge filters in the tank as well. 

 

The nitrates, nitrites and ammonia were all slightly elevated most likely due to the dead shrimps that were in the tank, but they're not at levels that I feel would impact the shrimp that much. I added a bag of purigen to help with removing the nitrates and ammonia because I just changed the water last week and I don't want to stress them out too much with lots of water changes unless I have to. 

 

That's awesome that you're having so much success! I love these guys and how they look so plain at first but really pop when you look at them closely. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get them from? I got mine from tgoe here on the forum, so I have no question about the source where these shrimp came from. He sent them to me as juveniles and they've grown into adults, which makes me think that this problem must've just started recently. I still have a good amount (at least 10) so I'm watching them closely. I'm afraid to change anything in the tank unless I'm confident that it might help. I guess with so many shrimp tanks there's bound to be one that'll give me a hard time...

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@JSak I know this goes contrary to the idea of keeping everything as stable as possible but have you considered moving some of them to another tank with similar parameters where you know the shrimp are doing well and are active?

I know you don't want to split your colony and risk stress/deaths but it seems unclear if your Stardust are shy because of some weird temperament thing or if there are stressors in their current tank.

FWIW I don't have Stardusts, I just would like to see the line spread more.

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@aotf I hadn't thought of that. It'd be worth a try just to see if there's a difference in their behavior, and some of them are juveniles so I don't have to risk crossbreeding at least for now. I'll continue to monitor them for the next couple of days at least since I just changed their water, but if it looks like things aren't getting better I'll keep that idea in mind. I also want to make sure it's not something that might spread to my other tanks if I move them. Thanks for the suggestion! It's good to hear outside opinions. 

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Hey, I used Stratum in this tank.  On water from any RO unit, remember they don’t filter out all bacteria and viruses.  Personally, I only use distilled.  All my Stardust came from members here including the 1 you mentioned above.  Also, I like the idea of moving a few into another tank.  On infections, most mycins or cyclines should rid the problem.  Finally, I mix all my water as close to tank parameters as possible literally....  Oh, I filter with purigen and hypersorb but in small amounts.  Over polished water kills shrimp too!

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Ahh I didn't think about that. I have several Caridina tanks that I'm keeping at the same parameters to make it easier for myself, so I have to fill up 3-4 5 gal water jugs at a time. I'm hoping to get my own RO unit very soon so that I can consistently monitor and manipulate my water parameters. I tried something a couple days ago that I hadn't even considered when trying to figure out why my Stardust hide so much, reducing the airflow to the sponge filters. I figured if the shrimp were sick a stronger water flow might stress them out more. So far, the shrimp seem to be slightly more active and I haven't noticed a sick or dying one since the last (crossing my fingers). 

 

I'm really hoping that this explains their shy behavior, but I'll have to keep monitoring to make sure things don't get worse. What color are the organs of the Stardusts you have? I've read that bacterial infections can be detected by an orange-pinkish coloring to the organs. I can't tell if that's the case with my shrimp as they don't seem to have the typical black colored organs that most other shrimp have. Yes I definitely agree that a tank that's too clean can ultimately hurt a shrimp tank. I just wanted the extra help to remove the nitrates and ammonia that were released from the dead shrimp that seemed to have been in the tank for a while, which also could've been a part of why some of my shrimp were dying. 

 

I'm moving back home and shipping all my shrimp with me in about a month, so they'll be getting brand new tanks. Because of that, I'm a little skeptical to move some Stardust to another tank. I'm planning to do water changes to all of my tanks sometime this week, so hopefully that'll help with the Stardust. I'll continue to monitor, but if anything happens I'll try moving some to another tank. Thank you all for the suggestions! Any and all help is much appreciated 

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Hey I can get a gallon of distilled for 88 cents w/tax included.  Likewise, I mix right In the jugs & toss them afterwards cause bacteria loves water & reuse promotes growth.  For example look at a bath tub;  even chlorine & chloramine cant stop that stuff totally...   Well, my tank is full of babies & some of my females are fire orange/red inside & out getting ready to breed again.  Oh, I crossed one with a pinto too..

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Unfortunately my tap water runs extremely hard and I'm pretty sure that the chlorine/chloramine content in the water is very high. Last I checked the TDS was 500+, gH ~7-8 and kH 10+. Also, when I first tried shrimp several years ago they all died and I couldn't figure out why until I tried again last year with RCS. They started dying again while exhibiting the horizontal line across the back of their shell. I checked through numerous forums and luckily found someone talk about how high copper content in water can cause molting issues and/or death in shrimp. I decided to try it as I didn't have any other ideas, so I dosed Prime and I saw immediate results. I've actually decided to not use my town's tap water at all because the parameters varied at times, most likely because the water plants were adding chemicals. 

 

I get mine for about 45 cents per gallon without tax and I have a Safeway membership card so I get a little bit of a discount when I go there. Ideally, I'd like to have a huge bin with sponge filters and snails where I dump all my water from water changes so I have a large supply of cycled water in case I need to do a huge water change so I can mix new water with water from the bin. For now, my shrimp are all in temporary homes so I didn't go too in-depth with their set up, but they should be in their forever homes in a little over a month so any set up ideas is much appreciated as I'm still planning the best way to set up my tanks and the systems. I heard RO/DI units aren't that expensive anymore for some of the cheaper ones so I think I'll get one when I send them back home. That's awesome! It's interesting how some tanks do amazing while others seem to struggle even though you use the same water and tank accessories. I have a tank that's about half the size of the one my stardusts are in with pintos and they're breeding like crazy. One of the berried galaxy females in their is already on her 3rd batch of eggs since I got her about 5 months ago and the tank is full of babies. I'd really like to do some crossbreeding with the stardusts. How did the babies of the stardust x pinto look?

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Hey, mine are like crazy tiny right now.  I won’t know what they’ll look like for awhile.  But, their out & about..  Saw some for sale in the marketplace earlier if you’re looking for more.  

 

By the way, hope things turn around for you now.  

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Awesome! I want to breed pintos and stardusts together in the future when I have a big enough colony of both. I saw that as well. I think I'll try some from this other seller to see if there's a difference as I've only been getting my stardusts from one breeder. 

 

Thanks for all your help and suggestions! I've noticed that the only ones that died were adults, none of the juveniles died as far as I know and I actually just got them last week. This makes me think that there's something in the tank that changed since the adults had survived in the tank for so long (they came in as juveniles). I did a larger water change (~20%-25%) yesterday and decided to drip the new water into the tank over the course of several hours to reduce stress. Today they seem good and are actually coming out a little more than usual, but they're not as active as yours sound so hopefully they're recovering. I'll update if anything changes.

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I checked this morning and one of my female stardusts is berried and it looks like a lot of eggs. Hopefully that means the tank and colony are heading in the right direction. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to stitch in a update.  Here's some shots of another big girl berried out.

 

809229371_StardustIX.jpg.3c078ac74b892c3faaf64401d70a0a7f.jpg

730183137_StardustX.jpg.e64dcfb23a2134534e133bddba5e62ab.jpg

 

A few power pointers I'll throw out that bring repeated success.  First, these Tigers really like  73 degrees or less.  On TDS, they really do great anywhere from 120-160 without any real issues.  However, one thing I've learned is Stardust don't like tanks moves or TDS swings of 12ppm or more.  Most of my other shrimp can handle a 15ppm swing (the Plamski Rule) not these guys.  However, once they get over moving around everything gets back to hyper-speed with them.    

 

Oh, forgot to add-on to my closing thought above on X-ings.  At the moment, I got one girl in a tank full of Auras & OEBTs berried out. ;)   

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just a small update.  About 10 days ago, they hatched.  So far, the fry have a distinct blue hue & look to me like a Aura/Stardust X.  In 15-20 days, I should know for certian & pictures will be posted here.  

 

 

Some FYI, in this same tank was a female R Fancy Tiger that never berried.  Days after she went in my TB tank, berried.....     

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Looking forward to the pics.  

 

That's interesting with the Fancy Tiger, just didn't see anything that tickled her fancy?  Or maybe the slight change in water parameters from tank to tank made her molt.  

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21 hours ago, wyzazz said:

Looking forward to the pics.

 

Well Mr. Wyzazz, here ya go.  Need more time to get better pictures.

 

323160231_HatchI.jpg.bc3413cd2e0712ea7c61d556450b35b4.jpg215351046_HatchII.JPG.eff8414c0e21fd67f620214a5440e9f2.JPG

 

21 hours ago, wyzazz said:

That's interesting with the Fancy Tiger, just didn't see anything that tickled her fancy?  Or maybe the slight change in water parameters from tank to tank made her molt.  

 

Man, I had that girl in there for a long time.  Plus, she's a domestic not an import bred by me.  :( In the end, I don't have a 100% answer on why.  For me, it looked like they couldn't X but I have no proof of that.  At the moment, she's done thrown most of these eggs off already.

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