# Are these baby amano shrimp???!!



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

To my knowledge from reading on here, is that without brackish water the eggs will not survive. I could be wrong and anything is possible.


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## Rinfish (Aug 16, 2015)

Thats what I thought! 

Its feeding on algae and cleaning itself just like a shrimp...but micro sized.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Simple question--- do you have any other species of shrimp in the tank?

The other suspect is a scud. I can't tell from the pic, does it have a fantail like a shrimp? If not, I'd suspect a scud.


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## Rinfish (Aug 16, 2015)

No other shrimp species. =)

I think you solved the mystery - its *definitely* a scud. The pictures look basically exactly like what I was seeing. I'm a little relieved it wasnt a baby amano, I was started to really question my water parameters haha. Thank you!


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Do you have fish in the the tank? The scuds will make tasty snacks.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Amphipod, in other words.


Amano zoes aren't much bigger than scuds and may require a magnifying glass to see. (depending on how good your eyesight is) Even with perfect eyesight, zoes aren't easy to see when they first hatch!

This page has some good close-up shots of what amano babies look like....

Caridina japonica - breeding Vol.1


Video of amano zoes attracted to light. You can only easily see them because of the light. They are pretty transparent when born.... not easy to see if you only have a few in a tank in broad daylight or with tank lights!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Hvrsl9ae0



And the amanos can be born even smaller than that.... eggs can hatch as early as 18 days or as late as 50(?) days. The longer the female holds onto the eggs, the bigger hatching there will be. First hatching may start around 3 weeks, then the 'big hatch' which may occur over a 3 to 4 day period, takes place at 4-6+ weeks.



Amanos breed just fine in freshwater! And the eggs hatch just fine in freshwater, too! The tricky part is transferring the zoes to saltwater and feeding them until they morph into tiny adults. Transferring is the easy part. Feeding them and keeping the water clean or stable is the trickier part... 35 ppt or 1.026 SG salinity sounds like it has the highest survivability rates. About a day or so after they morph, they need to be transitioned back to freshwater within 1-4 days. That is, transitioned either over an entire day, or over 4 days, doing 50% freshwater changes in the container the baby amanos are in. The fun part about this is that the zoes don't all transform into mini adults at the same time. After hatching, it can take another 28 to 50 days to morph into juvenile shrimp.


Amanos can have hundreds, if not thousands of eggs, and most people would be lucky to get even a 10% survival rate. I had two berried amanos (well, they're berried again, second time, but from the first time) and from them, I have at least 2 zoes left. One hatched her eggs at 4 weeks, the other at 3 weeks. Had a lot of dropped eggs... the zoes are 2 weeks old now... I don't have high hopes of them making it to adult-hood.


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## Yukiharu (May 3, 2014)

From the zoe that I have had and neglected, I think once you're past the one-month mark you'll be fine. Somehow I managed to have around 4 juveniles transform to adults by doing absolutely nothing in their brackish tank. Of those I was able to get two because I transferred the other two a bit early.


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## Rinfish (Aug 16, 2015)

Thanks for the feedback guys. =)

I'm almost positive it's a scud; I woke up yesterday to find one of my plants freshly eaten. =(
@longgonedaddy I have a betta and three cory catfish. I'm *hoping* they'll take care of the issue. My betta seemed to gobble up my poor blue dream velvet shrimp in no time (RIP little guys), so he owes me this one. haha

If it does turn out to be the little amano zoe that could, i'll let everyone know =) I havent made any measures to make the tank brackish, and i doubt the normal amount of aquarium salt would do the trick.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Regular aquarium salt will not work. You do need ocean/sea/marine salt for raising zoes.



Hopefully, your fish will eat the scud.


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