The 3rd day !!!

The Amano female released all the eggs and I returned her back to the main freshwater tank. Mike Noren says that female should not be kept in brackish waters. The adult will tolerate high salinity but the eggs will fail to hatch (happened to Mike two times). Some claim that the adult female will die in salty conditions. In my case the female survived and as soon it was placed back into the freshwater tank started eating and behaving as usual. My eggs did hatch and the larvae are swimming with head down.
Today I can count approx. 13 larvae, but it is so hard to spot them.
I managed a good photo today and here it is posted.
Today I fed a small amount of yeast dissolved in a bit of aquarium water. As I mentioned before, I have no personal experience with raising Amano larvae. The water turned cloudy, but the larvae seem to be still moving as usual.
Water parameters;
Temperature is on 31'C (Celsius)
pH 7.8
KH 4
GH 5
Ammonia 0 ppm
NitrIte 0 ppm
NitrAte 15-20ppm
3 tea-spoons of salt per 1 gallon
Lights are on for 24 hours/7

Photo by Dusko Bojic

The 1st and 2nd day !

29th of Maj 2006 I decided to breed Amano shrimps. The 4 females I keep in my 180 liter planted aquarium are carrying eggs. One of them lost the eggs after carrying them for approx. 30 days (the larvae probably eaten by the Cardinal tetras). Since I never bred anything in my fish keeping experience, I decided to try with one female. and if it works i will add the rest.

I bought a 10 gallon aquarium with two 15W bulbs (DIY lights with reflectors).
I was researching the net for info abut breeding Amanos and at the end I decided to try Heather Canderlaria recipe. I filled the bottom with pea gravel, took some of the aged water from the main tank (1/3) and the rest with new dechlorinated water. I vacuumed some of the aquarium mulm and introduced that as well. There is probably enough of nitrifying bacteria in the gravel mulm but I added one part of the filter wool from the main tank, to seed some bacteria that way. I added one piece of bog-wood with Java-moss attached to it. I planted some Egeria densa. There are no heaters, air stones nor filters. I stir the water occasionally to move it around. I added 20 tea-spoons of kitchen salt to 10 gallons of water (2 tsp. per gallon). Female shrimp was introduced into this salt tank on the 29th.

I tried to culture some green water but no results so far. I added some blanched lettuce to the bottle mix, so hoping to get it tomorrow maybe. Green water is known to be the best food for Amano larvae. On the 30th I found some interesting DOTS moving in the water. I couldn't believe it, that just after a day in salty water they will hatch. I could count at least 50 zoeas swimming around the tank. I tried to make some photos of it just to convince my self that this is what I think it is.....the Amano larvae!!!! :-)
It is hard photographing them since they are always on the move. They are no more than 1mm in size. The larvae look like small dots with a tiny tail (like a spermatosoid). The only available food I had is the mulm form the other aquarium that is floating in the water. For first food I decided to give boiled egg yolk. After it was cooked I took a small piece and together with some aquarium water shuck it with a shaker until the egg was completely dissolved. That I added to the water. I am not sure will they eat it. The lights are on non-stop for 24/7. I hope to get some green water in the rearing tank. Will test for ammonia and nitrite tomorrow. Hope everything works well for the little ones. Mother shrimp is still inside since some of the eggs are not hatched yet. A very exciting day for me :-)

Photos by Dusko Bojic.