Unlike fish that either retain eggs inside themselves or lay them, shrimp carry their fertilized eggs under their tails. During this time, they constantly fan their eggs to supply them with oxygen and prevent fungal infections from growing on them.
It’s important to understand that breeding fancy red tiger shrimp takes a lot of work, time and patience. The first step is ensuring the water is suitable for breeding.
1. Water Parameters
Shrimp add a vibrant splash of color to freshwater aquariums and play an important role in their ecosystem as well. With a little patience and attention to the details, shrimp breeding can be a fun and rewarding hobby. However, it’s important to understand that success with breeding shrimp relies on a few key water parameters.
The most obvious factor that must be in place is clean, stable, and chemically balanced water. This includes both hard and soft water and a suitable pH, temperature, and salinity.
In addition, the water should contain adequate levels of both nitrogen (nitrates) and phosphorous to support growth. This is because shrimp are omnivorous scavengers that will eat just about anything. This will include common fish food like flakes and pellets, as well as algae and biofilm that forms on aquatic plants, especially Amanos. In fact, adding a small amount of dissolved organic matter to the tank is often recommended to promote beneficial bacteria that will help to decompose waste and reduce nitrates.
Another critical factor is adequate levels of both calcium and magnesium. These are necessary for the shrimp to molt and form their shells. However, there needs to be a balance, as too much magnesium can cause the shell to break during the molting process (the infamous white ring of death). Too much calcium also causes the shrimp to overstress during molting, and this can lead to a premature death.
As a result, it is important to have regular and large water changes, though these should be done with care, so as not to drastically change the water chemistry. Typically, five to 10% water changes are sufficient in a mature shrimp tank, but this can vary depending on the tank bioload. It is recommended that a drip system be used to conduct these large water changes, as this helps to prevent the rapid fluctuations in the aquarium’s water parameters that can often trigger molting.
Most freshwater shrimp breeders will find that they have more success with Neocaridina shrimp, which are tolerant of less-perfect water conditions and require very few fertilizers and other additives to thrive. Even so, these shrimp still need a well-cycled tank of at least ten gallons, with twenty gallons being preferable. For best results, this tank should be filled with a mix of undemanding plants such as java moss and Christmas moss, which are both slow-growing and harbor micofauna that the shrimp can pick through and eat. Alternatively, other undemanding and easy to grow plants such as bucephalandra, anubias, ferns, and even some types of kalanchoe can be used in a shrimp tank, provided that the plants do not produce much in the way of nitrates. These plants will help to decompose the nitrates that the shrimp are consuming, and they will also provide some hiding spots for the shrimp.
2. Genetics
The success of any breeding program is driven by the genetics of the animals. With this in mind, it is important to understand what traits you want to target for your freshwater shrimp breeding business. For example, some freshwater shrimp breeders may focus on fast growth lines while others prefer balanced or robust lines. Regardless of your target market, it is crucial that you use only the highest quality genetics to ensure successful breeding.
While some breeding traits like growth rate are measured on individual shrimp (called phenotypes), other traits are better evaluated on family level through DNA testing and genotyping (an analysis of the sequence of an organism’s DNA). Genotyping uses a technique called SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) to identify differences in an individual’s DNA sequence, which can be used to select individuals with superior performance for the desired trait.
For instance, SNPs can be used to identify differences between shrimp that are resistant or susceptible to diseases. Disease resistance is an important trait to target in your freshwater shrimp breeding program, as it can dramatically reduce the amount of time needed for a batch of shrimp to reach marketable size. Most breeders use challenge test experiments to evaluate pathogen-resistance in their breeding programs. However, challenge tests can be expensive and difficult to execute in the field. In addition, results from challenge test studies are often not replicated on-farm. Therefore, it is important to consider alternative selection methods to improve shrimp resistance.
A new method of genetic evaluation, called genomic selection (GS) can be used to identify the best shrimp for breeding purposes. GS is an advanced selection process that takes into account an animal’s genetic makeup, which is then compared against the environmental conditions that it will face on farm.
Using GS, the most suitable shrimp are selected for production at a lower selection intensity than traditional breeding methods. This allows for more rapid progress toward your breeding goals and improved economic returns.
For example, GS has been successful in developing disease-resistant strains of Pacific white shrimp. Taura syndrome virus, a deadly disease that was a major threat to the industry 20 years ago, is virtually eradicated now thanks to GS breeding. The same methods can be applied to other disease-prone pathogens, such as white spot syndrome virus and AHPND/EMS.
GS has also been effective in improving the uniformity of weight at harvest in shrimp, an important trait for farmers. The additive genetic variance, heritability and coefficients of residual variation for weight uniformity in this study of a Pacific white shrimp population were all different from zero, indicating that genetic improvement could be achieved. In addition, the genetic correlation between the population in the selection nucleus and the commercial population was also high, indicating that improvements made in the nucleus would be transmitted to the commercial population, resulting in higher weight uniformity in the commercial crop.
3. Tank Setup
Shrimp thrive in tanks that resemble their natural environment. This is especially true with Neocaridina shrimp, which are most successful when kept in a tank that mimics the natural habitat of lakes and ponds. To this end, a tank that has a lot of rocks, wood and plants is ideal.
In addition, a substrate that allows the shrimp to dig and explore is important for breeding. For this reason, a sand substrate is preferable to gravel. Additionally, a filter that allows the shrimp to hide is also beneficial. Ideally, an air driven under-gravel filter is used in the tank, as it does not require vacuuming or cleaning and allows for a good population of breeding shrimp.
Another thing to consider is that shrimp are sensitive to water changes and tend to have a higher output of metabolic waste than fish, making them more prone to a drop in water parameters than their counterparts. In order to combat this, it is often best to do smaller, more frequent water changes (e.g. two 30% water changes each week are better than one 50% change).
As with all tanks, a good filter is essential. It is also recommended to have a sponge filter in the tank, as this type of filter will help improve the dissolved oxygen levels, directly improving the shrimp’s ability to breed. If a sponge prefilter is not available, a canister or HOB filter can be used, but it should be fitted with a small sponge to prevent the shrimp from getting sucked into the filter.
It is also a good idea to have some sort of algae control system in the tank, to keep the water clean and healthy. Many owners use an algae sock in the tank, which helps remove excess algae and encourages the growth of live phytoplankton, which is very important for shrimp breeding.
A final consideration is that of tank size. While many people have successfully bred shrimp in tanks as small as two or three gallons, ten gallons is generally considered the optimal tank size for breeding purposes. This is because shrimp are very prone to sudden drops in water quality and can quickly become stressed or even die under these conditions.
In addition, a ten gallon tank is large enough for a group of ten to fifteen shrimp and a reasonable amount of base stock (i.e., females and males). It is important to avoid mixing different colors of shrimp in the same tank, as they will not breed well together. This is not to say that neos and bees cannot be intermingled; however, this should only occur with tanks that have similar water parameters. It is also important to note that neos and bees should not be kept with ghost or glass shrimp, as these species are very aggressive.