# Vacation over, and more TBs are berried!



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

So I got home last night and checked my tanks to see if all were well. Found my Crystal White Bee shrimp female (berried one) hiding under the moss wire sq...she's got a little hidey hole under there where she can enjoy peace and quiet 

Ive located my BKK berried female and she's doing fine, and low and behold I have a new BB female berried. Still waiting to find my WR berried one, sure she's in there somewhere.

In my Tiger tank I found a Red Tiger berried and another OEBT too...so that's 3 gals including the Tibee female.   Busy little bums while Ive been away.

BTW I had NO lights on over my planted tank for 7 days, and would you believe the plant growth is just incredible...new growth everywhere, just don't understand that part. maybe its just the co2 that's doing it.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

scan me a copy of the instructions you left your daughter!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Hah, all I said was to top up the water levels when they went down past a line I put on the tanks, and to feed small piece of barley pellets every 3 days, put it in the clay dish in front of the tank...whatever wasn't eaten it still is OK to keep in the tank. That's it!!

Hey try turning your lights off for a few days to see what happens...seems to have worked just fine for me


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## Egonsgirl (Feb 28, 2012)

Welcome home Anna, glad you made it safely. And congrats on your preggers. I have several crs and cherries berried but what made me smile ear to ear last night, was my green long-finned cory girl deposited some eggs in my community tank. First time I have ever seen this... sooooo cool.... lol I removed the eggs, but don't know if they were fertilized or if they will survive.... this is new to me. Missed you!!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

thanks Tina! Missed my shrimpie buddies while I was away....kept reading the forum...guess I truly am a Shrimpaholic 

Tina are you raising them in a separate tank or in the community tank? Do you hatch live brine shrimp for them to eat? Maybe try putting some of the earthworm powder/flakes (small) in for them to munch on.

My little fishes (I have 2 now) are growing well in my planted TB tank along with the shrimps. I feed some of the earthworm powder on the top of the water for them and what falls down the shrimps eat. 

Going to be getting a couple of new Bettas from Thailand to breed  Yep said I wasn't going to do it again, but I need something to do now so this is my new project. 

Getting a good looking blue/yellow pair to try out!

We need to get together for coffee before Xmas...you me and Karen if your up to it.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Turning off the light for a day or two definitely has some good effect on breeding. I had a power issue in early July so even filtration was off for about 8 hrs, and the second day I got many berried shrimps. I guess they are like human, when the light is out ......


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Ha Randy, maybe its because they can't see one another so the girls can't get away fast enough  ....whatever it is, it works....this is the second time my shrimps have berried when the lights have been off for a few days. 

It worked in my tiger tank too....got a red tiger, 2 x oebts and a Tibee all berried in that tank and lights were off too.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

couple of more pics of the TBs.

This lady is due soon a Crystal White Bee.










and this is my dragon wine red panda! Note the black marks on the head and body inside the red....dragon...yeah!










here's my BKK almost ready to drop, her eggs are almost hanging off her.


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## k1ng (May 23, 2012)

Your really good at keeping shrimp alive and taking a risk for the expensive ones. I couldn't even keep 10 blue pearls alive. Good luck with all the babies.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Ahhh well its just when conditions are good that they all get berried....however this is my first time with TBs so getting them berried and raising the babies is two different things....hopefully I can do it. 

Ive got a few new CRS babies growing up good though, but most of my flower/lightning headgear females are now too old to breed....they are just living the good life in comfort in that tank.

Getting in some new stock soon to replenish that tank, maybe some PRLs.


Actually blue pearls can be finicky too...I had a tank of those and they eventually just petered out even after I had babies born so don't beat yourself up over that....they aren't the easiest of the neos to raise.

Try some tigers, you might like those and they tend to be hardier than most others...just start with some regular ones, then once you get them to stay alive/breed you can move up to the nicer ones like OEBTS.


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## k1ng (May 23, 2012)

Thanks for the info on the blue pearls because after them I wanted to give up cause I couldn't keep them alive. I guess ill give it another go then.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

NEVER give up!!! 

Shrimp keeping is all about learning...and patience. These little creatures teach us a lot, and are sooo darn addictive. There isn't anyone on this forum that can say they haven't lost a good amount of shrimps in the beginning. 

You learn from your mistakes....whether its not getting the water parameters right or the right soil that lowers PH to what to feed them and how often etc.

I started with cherries, then went to yellows, then blue pearls, then tigers, then CRS...and with those I crashed and burned BIG time!  Just couldn't get them to stay alive. So went back to Tigers...once I managed to keep those alive I bought OEBTs and after managing to get them to breed (300+) I finally said OK now Im ready to try those darned CRS again 

Well I read and read everything I could about them from every forum I could join, and once I had what I thought was the right info I bought a few to start with and it worked....they lived. The rest is history! 

Try it again....


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## k1ng (May 23, 2012)

Im ok with the cherries and have made decent money from them which went and still is going into my shrimp hobby that I can hopefully get going again. I will definatley give i another go but there arent to many shrimp breeders in my area and not alot of you shrimpers in toronto ship. So in the mean time Ill stick to what ive got until im up intoronto or something. By any chance you still hoarding any OEBTS?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I can ship shrimps to you no problem. I have shipped from here to BC, AB and NS with no deaths.

I use Purolator overnight, but in Ottawa I can ship by Greycoach if you are willing to pick up the package at the Bus terminal. My Sister used to live in Carleton/Gloucester, so I know a little about shipping packages by the Bus as we sent Xmas gifts that way.

Purolator might be more expensive but they get there in great shape, by noon next day....think its about $30 to Ottawa.

Let me know when your ready for some and I can help you out.

My OEBTs are not big enough to sell yet....maybe in the spring.


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## k1ng (May 23, 2012)

Sorry for hijacking your thread, and thanks for the help and advice. Do you by any chance have any pics or vids of your OEBT tank? Also the shipping depends on the time and im not to far away from the bus terminal so it all depends.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Sorry not able to take any videos, and no pics but I can see what I can do for that.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

congrts anna u have beautiful mama kingkong btw do you know the father?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Abraham I don't know yet, but the eggs are black so Im thinking its one of the other 3 BKK males I have. I don't have any Mischlings in this tank now sold them off, so its only TBs. 

If it was a WR the eggs would be red according to the experts on SN.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

So I think my BKK has dropped her babies in the breeder box, she doesn't look like she's carrying any eggs now....less fat than a few days ago.

However being black and the soil being black I cannot find anything that looks like a baby shrimp in the box  They may be under the sponge filter or down inside the top part where I cannot see them.....should have put white sand in there  Well guess time will tell if there are any in there...I know my Tigers and Tibee babies were extremely hard to see for at least a week, then they slowly showed up. 

I don't know how big TB babies are, they could be tiny little things and very hard to see if they are indeed all black. Will just have to have patience now...gggrrrhhh...want to see them!!!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

update on BKK.

NO babies!  Don't know what happened, she was berried when I put her in the breeder box, then a couple days ago she must have dropped them as she no longer had them on her. I just checked today, and there is NO baby shrimps in this box.

I have heard that sometimes the 1st berry is not successful, so I am assuming that was the case here, if they did get birthed they didn't survive and either she or the other shrimp/snail ate them.

I have her back in the main tank now to see if she will get berried again...hopefully.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

If the babies died then the mom usually eats them all up before you get to even see them 

happened with my CRS. I left the momma in the breeder after she dropped. Saw the shrimplet. The next day or 2 and no more babies :O


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## jumpsmasher (Oct 1, 2012)

bettaforu said:


> update on BKK.
> 
> NO babies!  Don't know what happened, she was berried when I put her in the breeder box, then a couple days ago she must have dropped them as she no longer had them on her. I just checked today, and there is NO baby shrimps in this box.
> 
> ...


My golden bee female dropped most of her eggs about a week before they were due - the father was a BKK. She did hold on to 5-6 of them though and about a week later I had some michling shrimplets.

I have a orange sakura momma that keeps doing the same thing - she only keeps around a 1/4 of her batch every time.

So hopefully there still might have so shrimplets in your tank or some coming soon!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yeah, some moms are just NOT good ones and there's nothing you can do about it. If you are lucky and you see them birthed you can maybe take her out right after to help with the survival rate, but that's rare that you get to see them being born.

Just will have to try again...still got a few others to go BB, CWB, Snow and not sure about the WR she looks berried but its so darn hard to tell as they keep the eggs way up under the shell and I can't get a good enough look at her.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Woohoo....just spotted movement in the breeder box so got the magnifier out and here was a baby blue panda....yep its blue. I was thinking the babies would be black, but forgot they can be blue then slowly darken as they grow.

Its definitely blue and looks panda.

If there is one there's maybe more, so Ive put the airstone back in and the moss ball and some earthworm powder for it to snack on....hopefully it will survive and maybe some others.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

bettaforu said:


> Woohoo....just spotted movement in the breeder box so got the magnifier out and here was a baby blue panda....yep its blue. I was thinking the babies would be black, but forgot they can be blue then slowly darken as they grow.
> 
> Its definitely blue and looks panda.
> 
> If there is one there's maybe more, so Ive put the airstone back in and the moss ball and some earthworm powder for it to snack on....hopefully it will survive and maybe some others.


I would like to see a picture.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

HOHOHO...Abraham, so would I....its so hard to even find this baby...I thought for sure it was gone this am, searched and searched the box and still couldn't see it. 

Put the IAL back in and within a few minutes there it was...very tiny too small to even try to photograph right now. But its still alive and I don't know if its the only one either....keeping fingers crossed there are more, but will settle for one if that's all I get. 

If I manage to keep it alive for another 2 weeks, then I am sure by then I will be able to grab a photo.

On another note, my Black/white Tibee female is heavily berried and I have lots of new babies in this tank, including Tangerine Tigers.


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## weebie (Nov 19, 2012)

Just out of curiosity, how do you do water changes do you top your water when it evaporates? or just do about 10% water changes then add water?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I almost never do water changes, I don't believe in disturbing the natural balance in a tank unless there is a major problem with ammonia. I will periodically check my levels, usually once every 2 -3 weeks, and if nothing is out of wack I just top up with tap water/water conditioner added.

In my planted Taiwan bee tank I do use the RO/Water mix with conditioner in it and once a week add montmorillionite calcium clay to keep minerals good in the tank.

All of my tanks 5 of them have new born babies and berried females 

I don't have too many big tanks (over 10 gallons) so my shrimp populations are kept pretty low, but that's how I like it. The planted tank is a 4ft long x 18 x 12 and houses my Taiwan bees (some 20+) they are all healthy and doing fine. My other 4ft tank holds my Tangerine Tigers and Tibees, and I have lots of new babies in this tank.

In the smaller tanks (9 gallon custom made 12 x 12 x 12) I have berried Tibees, Red Tigers, OEBTs, and in the other 2 tanks I have SSS+ CRS/CBS and Snow whites that are berried and young juvies growing up. 

I know lots of people don't agree with my methods, and that's fine, everyone has a way that works for them. I believe disturbing the water with constant water changes to adjust PH, just puts stress on the shrimps and makes for unhappy shrimps that either die or won't breed. 

I also do NOT clean algae off the walls of my tanks other than the front so I can see what's going on in there. This allows babies to have something to eat right away, as they don't eat adult shrimp food, mostly biofilm for the first few weeks of life.

I try to keep it simple and leave it to nature to adjust the environment...shrimps adapt very quickly to their environment, so if they like the way the tank is, they will breed and be happy. JMO


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

OK I know its an indistinguisable blob of blue right now, but this is my one and only baby BKK. I think its a blue panda, I can see faint barring on it, don't think its a Blue Bolt...but its soooo very tiny and hard to photograph yet....so for now its the "Blue Blob" 

Still alive and that's all I care about.


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## Bigdaddyo (Jan 23, 2010)

I get the same excitement from my Cardinals. Congratulations on your success.
I'm the same way with water changes in my tanks. I have a 65 long with 10 Hypancistrus plecos in it and 18 or so Rasboras and I've done 4 water changes in a year. Now I do vac waste from the substrate regularly so I may have to replace 1-2 gallons a week. For the most part I just replace evaporated water.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

looks like a bluebolt. they are more probably they are just hiding somewhere.


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## aaronc (Jul 24, 2008)

Hard to see from the pics, but I'm gonna say blue panda, just wait a bit to see if the black develops. Great job Anna!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yep someone else confirmed its a blue panda. Im happy I have it, even though its only one, its precious.

Now if only I could find the CWB babies in the big tank....HA, that's not going to be easy, they could be anywhere and being so clear as adults I figure I won't see any of those until they are all grown up.

Next in line is the BB, who will be going in the box next week...don't want to put her in too early and stress her out, and it will give the baby panda a bit longer to grow before a big Momma starts crawling all over it.


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