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Best way to separate babies?


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So, a male tagged along in my all female shrimp order, and now I have three berried girls. I don't want to keep the babies, I don't have the room for them. What's the best way to separate the babies so I can give them away?

 

I was thinking maybe a breeder box, but I have no idea which is best or how to "shrimp proof" it if need be. I also need to make sure it'd be small enough to fit on my little 2.5gal, which has maybe 7in of usable length on the back. 

 

Any ideas, advice or experience to share? I just don't know what quite to do.  :wacko:

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You could just let them grow more in the tank they are in, then sell the ones you don't want when they are big enough to catch. They will be fine until they are big enough to ship or move locally, even in a 2.5 gallon tank. Shrimp don't have much bioload.

Plus shrimp don't live very long, if you only keep three females they will die in a year or two and you won't have more to replace them.

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Separate the berried females into a breeder box. Wait until they are born then move the female back into the aquarium. 

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It sounds like a lot less hassle to just let them grow out in the breeder box. Keep in mind that my tank is very small and has driftwood laid out in ways that make any netting quite cumbersome, so keeping them all contained separately sounds like the better and safer plan. Am I going to end up killing the babies or starving them by doing my breeder box method?

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When they are near juvies, just feed a pellet.  They'll come out, then scoop.

Opposite is true in my tank. Little ones don't go for the pellets. They love watermelon and bee pollen, though.

If you are going to do the breeder box (will it even fit on your tank?), you need to get that going because you will really need the biofilm for the babies. Of course adding lots of moss will help.

I ran a breeder box as a self contained unit (not sharing water with main tank), because I did not have room to hang it on the main tank. I used a tiny sponge filter :) Think I went a few weeks like this, altho in my case I didn't have any little ones in there.

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