Increasing photoperiod to simulate spring/summer

[Shrimple minded]

Has anyone seen or done any research on ramping photoperiod to simulate the changing of seasons to more preferable breeding conditions?

 

Any personal experiences?

[ibebian]

That's an interesting point. Are shrimp more likely to breed in the spring and summer?

[Vpier]

I'm guessing if they come from tropical regions between 20 degree north to 20 degrees south, the shrimp would see a slight to no difference in photo period. In the tropics most fish, reptiles and animals biological clock is based on wet/dry season. In S.E. Asia for instance most things revolve around the very hot dry season and slightly cooler monsoon season including people.

[californiashrimp]

I read that shrimps are sensitive to changes in barometric pressure and that our efforts to manipulate temperatures don't really work. Of course that was just forum gossip from years ago.

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[Pokeshrimp]

I'm guessing if they come from tropical regions between 20 degree north to 20 degrees south, the shrimp would see a slight to no difference in photo period. In the tropics most fish, reptiles and animals biological clock is based on wet/dry season. In S.E. Asia for instance most things revolve around the very hot dry season and slightly cooler monsoon season including people.

Could a huge water change (50%) simulate a monsoon and that's why people experience more molts and successful breeding with more frequent water changes.

[Greenteam]

This is something I noticed for the past few years regardless what I do with temps and light cycles. Winter time (in Florida) the breeding slows down big time even if cold for us is 70. Spring there's a big surge of breeding and this stays true till mid Autumn when it starts to slow down again. 

 

Even with multiple tanks they all seem to follow the same pattern & friends in my area that I asked experience similar patterns.

[Shrimple minded]

Hey gang, I love the discussion.  I hadn't considered your point about tropical daylight times Vpier, but that makes a lot of sense.

 

My follow up question would have been about using temperature to stimulate breeding but Greenteam has given insight on that as well.

 

My current water change regimen of 15-20% does lead to some molting, but probably not on the scale that a larger water change might precipitate.

[Greenteam]

I have some tanks running 68-70 and some 75-78 and the only thing that's different is the speed of growth. Shrimp in the higher temp tanks grown slightly faster and hold eggs shorter time. So if two TB females before berried same day the cold tank might take her 30+ days to release her eggs while the warm tank the female will release as fast as 25-27 days. Also the warm tanks have slightly shorter life spans I assume to faster mature rate.

 

Water changes can be nice to help promote molts but also can promote early molts. In tanks that I do monthly water changes I notice more molts to be more solid one piece almost perfect replicas of the shrimp. In the weekly WC tanks the molts seem thinner and broken. Not sure if ones better then the other all I know if they molt just fine either way.

[Vpier]

Hey gang, I love the discussion.  I hadn't considered your point about tropical daylight times Vpier, but that makes a lot of sense.

 

My follow up question would have been about using temperature to stimulate breeding but Greenteam has given insight on that as well.

 

My current water change regimen of 15-20% does lead to some molting, but probably not on the scale that a larger water change might precipitate.

Temp changes during the season affects other fishes when it comes to breeding so it could affect shrimps?

 

For water changes, if you look at a typical monsoon storm, they can get rain amounts that we cant even fathom here in the states. Can you imagine the millions or even billions of gallons of water running through a river or stream when it rained 15-20 inches in three or four hours after its been raining everyday for weeks? What is the water change percentage when that happens? How about wide fluctuations of water parameters when they go from dry season to wet?  Now I'm not advocating huge water changes just because we cant duplicate what happens in nature but these wild shrimps are basically experiencing water changes on a scale that we cant even comprehend. I went fishing in the Amazon one year and the water level dropped almost 40ft in 6 days. Saw a show on Nat Geo the other night about the Orinoco and within a few weeks the water level went up 90ft in area almost 340,000 sq miles, that's one hell of a water change. The water was almost at the top of the tallest trees.

 

I do 20% water changes once a week and I dont drip, I know some people will freak out but I will spend the time to duplicate the new water to my tank water. I have noticed most of my molts are done within 24 hours of a water change. Maybe this is just coincidence since I do it once a week, not sure.

 

I do see a difference in shrimp activity before, during and after a major storm passes through. Barometric pressure affects game fish in lakes/rivers ,why wouldn't it affect anything else aquatic?