Posts about Shrimp Breeding
Shrimp Contest 2023 North America
Judging
It truly is my honor to be part of the judging committee for the North America Shrimp Contest 2023 held in North Carolina. It took me a grueling 18 hours direct flight from Singapore to Newark New York Airport before having a lay over of 3 hours for the next flight around 2 hours to North Carolina. Having travel so far, it is indeed something i was looking forward to meeting the judges, panels and most importantly the breeders that i finally put a face to the name that i was talking online.
It is interesting to note the fact this year contest has lesser tanks but of quality entry. This blog post however is not to discuss about the contest but to discuss on what entails a competition grade shrimp.
For those who are interested to learn more about shrimps prior to joining a contest, these are some tips for you.
First Place Black Ninja
In the beginning we needed to get entries rolling in and that is where we entered a couple of entries.
As i was part of the jury i couldn’t judge this category so that means i wouldn’t be able to give high scores to myself! That is a common rule in the committee that we will not be able to judge for those categories we entered.
i wanted to take this opportunity to highlight here even fundamental shrimps such as the black ninja or black/red crystal category, can still be entered into the contest and showcase your selective breeding methodology.
Over here we can look at the very first important aspects to grading:
Color:
These pictures were taken by a breeder in the US from Kevin Sheppard. As you can see the colors of the black ninja even under intense lighting which is hung no further than 15cm from the top.
Black ninja are generally fairly translucent as their color pigmentations are often not very densely structured. It get worst as they age and may go into different shades such as brownish, red, transparent. To get to a full jet black with size, may take some time and a few tanks to keep selecting. what is important however is starting with a good source, as this will save you a few years.
Colors on legs, and other areas, are they transparent or with colors?
These are some of the areas where we will award additional points if they have them. So to have good colors at a fairly large size will give you more points.
Next in my opinion is about the patterns or Size, for this shrimp, the black ninja has a white mask on the head face area and are they the same throughout. These are some of the areas we look at when we are judging.
Overall Appearance
usually here is more of a homogeneity where we want to have the same size of shrimps form/pattern to denote stability of the shrimp. Also we look at the size ratio in the group. Sometimes over here, we do also look at how difficult is it to attain such a shrimp.
For example:
Black ninja is a reverse cross of the 4 banded PBL, it goes to black ninja and then finally we select it to make it totally black. In other words, when we select from 4 band to Black ninja, we must ensure quality ones as the further down we select it will help. In other words, if we have poor quality with lots of transparency and hoping to select it better in future will add more years to the long process.
- 4 band to Black Ninja one stripe choose the best you can to select next
- Black ninja one stripe to less white choose the best
- Black ninja less spot to full black choose the best
- In breed black and black and select the best.
From this to
this and from this
This
So from here we continue to select for quality of the shrimp and become more stringent in the process of selection.
How difficult is it to arrive at this stage? After i have done it, it doesn’t feel that difficult just need to have good stock, time, an eye for detail and patience.
Level of difficulty:
Depending on the judges experience, and many have difference experiences based on their learning curve. Difficulty of breeding and degree of innovation is different things but similar direction, because the more difficult it is to achieve, the higher the degree of innovation.
Also this is relatively subjective in the sense that i may feel it is difficult based on my experience but may be easy to you. Hence it is important for judges to have a wide range of experience globally and with an eye for details, the quality of the results will be great.
Activity/Health of shrimps:
How are the shrimps looking good? Here we look at individual shrimps and see if there are any deformation or potential deformity that may arise. Is the head to body ratio in accordance to the 1:3 ratio.
How active the shrimps are within the tank and are they looking stress etc? In the next section i’ll share more about breeding for competition.
Breeding for competition
In this section i would not be discussing about selective breeding which i have touched on numerous time on my blog and youtube. However what is important here is that we breed the shrimps with vigor.
Vigor:
It means that we shouldn’t be pampering our shrimps too much yet we give them the care needed to look good and survive well. The fittest survive. Why i say that, is because when we bag our shrimps for competition, the committee will put the shrimps into the tank which has a different tank water than the ones they were being at. So by ensuring the shrimps are strong and rigorous, they’ll need to be kept in such a way that they can withstand a range of parameters.
i did mention this in one of my youtube above absolute vs range. If we are able to keep them in a stable environment but do not chase for an absolute pH or TDS or anything, then as long as they survive well in that range it will give them ad edge over others.
Shrimps generally can survive well between 2-6 GH. Instead of adjusting your GH always so often, a stable tank is more important than chasing a value.
De-vein:
This process is widely known in the fish industry where they stop feeding a day or 2 before the packing process. The shrimps are then net out to an area where they will start to de-vein. This will ensure the shrimps are of great condition when packed and shipped.
Bags:
Breather bags, poly bags, any bags so as long they’re of high quality and process of preparing the shrimps and packing them are done well, they will survive for a long time in the bag. We normally ship with ice pack, due to the heat in Singapore.
What if you don’t do it:
We have seen many shrimp die even before we can judge them or they do not fare as well, also there are various reasons to it, like red shrimps generally have their colors faded during shipping, hence it is important to breed with higher intensity of color to offset some of these small adjustments. For example a darker shade of red will look lighter during stress, but a light shade of red will turn transparent. Remember that shrimp colors are by pigmentation very fine spots, so the more intense the pigmentation or density to size ratio the fuller the color.
Meeting new people:
Of cause all events highlight is really to meet with new breeders and those who are very passionate about the hobby. It is surprising to know that while we are divided far from each other, we share the same passion nevertheless.
What are the differences between them?
Main & Secondary Line Shrimps
It is becoming difficult to ignore the fact that the shrimp industry can be quite daunting if you are just entering the hobby. Even those who are in this for a few years may still find some of the things confusing. In this post we will help to share some information so you’ll be able to better decide with the information.
Main line shrimps
What do we mean main line shrimps? In simple terms main line shrimps are the breeders selectively bred shrimps. Selective breeding instead of mass breeding.
Main Line crossing
A main line cross is where a Boa x Boa and then the shrimplet that are boa are then use again for selective breeding. No other lines or shrimps are utilize to continue the line.
Secondary Line Shrimps
This is where mass breeding occurs and any shrimps can be use to generate volume and does not focus on lineage or colors, anything really goes.
Secondary Line Crossing
When a Deep blue bolt x with Black King Kong, there will be shrimplet that may look like DBB and some like BKK or some in between and some different. Hence in such circumstances this isn’t selective breeding. They are massing the shrimps to cater for the general market based on market pricing.
In general these shrimps will throw out anything and everything and if they are kept in planted tanks i believe they will be fine. However if your intention is to have a selected line to breed, this isn’t for you.
Does it matter?
If you have read this far, it shows you are keen in understanding the notion behind it. Keep reading. Here is where it get even more interesting and is happening all the time.
Breeders that share the line if they are main or secondary line is critical. One of the most important reason here is because as hobbyist we should be buying the shrimp we want and breeding out the shrimp we want. For example, if a breeder sells a “Deep Blue Bolt” which is a secondary line as Main line, and when the hobbyist buy it back and the shrimplet comes out anything but blue bolts. This can become very concerning. For example, i have also experience this and this is the sole reason why this blog and sharing exist because i feel strongly we need to be open and transparent.
From a cost perspective, the gap between a main line vs secondary line is huge. It can go up as far as 5x difference. This is preyed upon hobbyist who are not in the know. A reputable breeder will share openly the line if it’s secondary or main. There is nothing to really hide!
Secondary Line
Main line
Price perspective
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
Sharing a perspective on this and are you truly getting what you are paying for. While business survive based on profits, where is the line where it is drawn?
- Cost of main line shrimp: $10
- Retail of main line shrimp: $25
- Cost of secondary line shrimp: $1
- Retail of secondary line shrimp $20
To the untrained eye, it is difficult to discern between main and secondary line BUT the first bred out will almost show everything or down the line there will be other shrimps that comes out of it.
While we support local businesses we need to be truthful to buyers. “Not Knowing” is not an excuse for selling secondary line shrimps as main line.
If we use this in today’s market space with high price tag of main line boa vs secondary line, it will be exponential. Hence, buyers beware and if you are really keen in getting what you pay for, please ensure you ask everything you need to.
Here are some of the questions that can be asked:
- Who is the breeder
- is this a main or secondary line shrimp
- selective or mass
- how long has the main line being bred
- What is the grading criteria
Some telltale sign that you’ll need to watch for:
- Quality does not have quantity
- if it’s too cheap to be true, it is
- unable to answer or tries to smoke through
- unable to share lineage openly
- shifty in answering
- History of mixing and having multiple lines
- History misuse of other lineage to sell
- Has no backstory of how the shrimp are bred
I hope this post have shed some light on it, i have created a video on this as well.
Thanks for reading!
Shrimp Breeding Element 2: Breed
Breeding shrimp (Food/Biofilm)
There are a lot of factors influencing the shrimp ability to breed from water parameter to food to shrimp genetics. However, today i would like to touch on a fairly common topic on Shrimp Food. The first question i get asked frequently is how often should i feed my shrimps? If you have a lot of shrimps like 20 or more, you might want to consider a daily staple feed fed twice daily and also a grazing material. Grazing material such as Lubao, Indian Almond leaves, Alder cone, cholla are some good examples.
The reason to feed them twice is so all your shrimps are fed and the female will ‘Think” that the tank have sufficient food to support their next generation. The whole idea is to feed lesser quantity but high frequency. So twice is good and if you can do 3 times it works as well.
If you feed in the morning and the shrimps are unable to finish it within 4 hours, then you’re not required to feed the second time in the evening Thats my general rule of thumb, Remove the food by then or if you have ramshorn snail, they will help with scavenging and foraging on the shrimp food. If the shrimps are not feeding, it could be there are still plenty of biofilm in the tank but do watch out if the shrimps are looking lethargic and not feeding.
A grazing material aids in building up biofilm for shrimps to consume between meals. Think of it like a snack and a good grazing material will be the food source between feeds.
There is a wide range of food in the market and i think we are spoiled for choice and which one is good for my shrimps? Personally i like using a good staple food and that is Hwa V1.
Staple Food
- Basically shrimps are not that fussy eater, most of the staple food sold in aquarium shops today are basically ok to feed your shrimp. I personally prefer keeping things simple and to feed only 1 type of staple food but a variety of grazing material is very crucial.
- I’m using Hwa Version 1 Shrimp food pad, this food is formulated with carefully selected ingredients to provide shrimp with all their requirements.
- if you are using some shrimp food which you think they’re good for your shrimp, good! There is really no need to change.
- Occasionally i feed blanched spinach, they’re fairly good especially blanched spinach. if i’m feeling rich, i’ll order a pack of organic spinach and take out one serving for the shrimp while i consume the rest as a salad.
Grazing material
Now here we get serious, grazing material in my opinion is equally important to daily feed. The amount of surface area for creating biofilm is important as it mimics the natural environment where Shrimps feed on biofilm.
Lubao, Indian Almond leaves and moss are three very popular and recommended grazing material. Alder cone and Cholla are not native to at least this part of the world, so i defer that information to those who have them. For Indian Almond leaves and Lubao we have very easy access to them hence we use them readily. I really like using Lubao because it is technically a microoganism food that produces food for cultivating microorganism for the shrimp to feed on and also biofilm. Indian almond leaves without going too deep into this topic has antibacteria properties, produces biofilm and are well liked by most shrimp. Grazing material is important because shrimp feed constantly and if there are not enough biofilm in the tank and daily feed is not consistent, the shrimps will not breed. They will start cannibalizing during molting. Hence, it is highly critical to have grazing material available.
A living grazing material that works very well is moss. Moss harbour a lot of microorganism which allow adults and shrimplets to graze on. Moss also provide cover for berried shrimp and shrimplets however it is also important not to over crowd the tank with moss because if it get too dense, some of the berried female may get stuck in there and die. Hence, always thin out the moss to a small bunch the size of your hand
Male to Female Ratio
Male to Female Ratio:
There are simply too many males in the tank causing a higher probability of females being harass and eventually succumbing to death. This is because too many males will try to mount onto the female shrimp which during the process might injure it as the shell is very soft after molting. It does not really happen to males because when male shrimp molt they do not emit the pheromones like female do. So chances are the male will be left alone for the shell to harden after molting.
A good ratio to consider:
- 2M 8F
- 3M 7F
- i personally like to use 1-2M to 15-20F
Sticking with it
Making it work
As the pandemic continues on, i would like to reach out to everyone and say please stay safe!
This post is really about sticking with it and staying the course. I have received good feedback about breeders who truly stuck with it and make it work. Those who really stuck with it got to make it work.
Shrimp breeding is fairly straight forward and there isn’t much you need to do once everything is in place. Letting the shrimp do their thing and breed with the environment you have setup for them matters.
There isn’t one best way to breed shrimps nor a best water parameters, there are many ways to breed shrimp just finding a suitable and optimal way. In most of my post, i often share what works for me and stuck with it because it has given me results.
i would encourage you find yours and make as much mistakes in the beginning to learn. Once a method is really doing well for you, can stick with it until you learn something that you never had known about. Then adjust and gain better and better. Improve them over the years and do what you can for creating the environment for them.
biofilm and selective breeding
Selective breeding in my other post have provided an in-depth information on what it takes to breed good shrimps. However, to build the shrimps up for breeding, the often overlooked part is biofilm because the rest of the process are quite similar.
In many of my articles i have shared the importance of biofilm and the consistent use of it will encourage breeding and overall enhancement of water quality. Continual usage will ensure that beneficial bacteria have food source to feed on and the biofilm is the key to better saddling and breeding.
When we use the kallax ball or lubao, it helps encourage growth of beneficial bacteria but if we remove the food source for them, the beneficial bacteria will lower in tandem with the amount of available food. We all know that beneficial bacteria helps maintain high quality water condition and it is important to maintain it stably.
using and introducing biofilm is a long and slow process, quitting won’t make it faster and to get there we need to stick to the process and continue on while we may not see results in 10 days or even 20 days. As ecosystem require a longer time frame before the shrimps start growing into it, we will need to be patient and stick to it.
For those who stuck with it at least for 3-6 months started seeing results because the entire ecosystem start to work well for the shrimps. Breeding will increase and shrimplets will breed through.
As long as you are using the lubao and kallax ball that were carefully blended and individually hand pack by myself will be fine. The process of preparing it for use followed to the T will certainly bring many more breeding females in the long term. Many renowned breeders have use the ball crafted by me and have real positive effects and does not float after 5 days. I’ll not put my name on something that doesn’t have the best in me, as i too wouldn’t want to have a ball floating up after a week. When the ball is half submerge between the water surface and ambient air, the fermentation process is disrupted and it create a rancid smell when expose to air. That is the reason why the Shrimp sanctuary ball will continue to remain under water where the shrimps are.
if we take a look at this example, we start with 2M 10F and after awhile, we got 4 female to berry and ideally we get about 40 shrimplet for a newly minted female since they’re not large yet to carry bigger brood size.
What i have observed is that if our conditions are right and biofilm is introduce from like plants/moss/lubao, it encourage more female to saddle which overall helps to get more female to breed. With the additional 20 shrimplet will certainly provide more shrimp numbers so you can start selecting process easier. While not all females look the same and to get that particular nice female you have to breed is like playing Russian Roulette, so we have to induce and encourage females to saddle as much as we can.
The more difficult the shrimp for example BFT, Boa, the more we would like the females to berry constantly and carry out their next generation because time isn’t on our side. There is only so much time we have to ensure the shrimp breed to good numbers before they retire.
Another example would be to get that particular nice female to saddle and breed may take in general 3-4 months but by introducing biofilm, it helps to further encourage to get saddle as soon as possible since biofilm is usually the last missing puzzle.
Continue to push forward
While there are setbacks in shrimp keeping, it is important to know that the setbacks are actually meant as a setup for you for better things to come. Reason being is that if we don’t fail, we are not even trying. I’m not asking you to fail but it is important that failing is an option and that you pick it up each time you fall. As you grow through it, you gain more and more experience and breed better and better shrimps. There are many successful breeders breeding excellent shrimp and you can follow their methodology and get there as well.
Remember, don’t be discourage, give it your best!
Thanks for reading!
Inbreeding and Line breeding
What works?
A shoutout to the breeder who have asked for this article to be covered, thanks for your support!
According to definition inbreeding is breeding very closely related shrimps with each other such as father-daughter (F0-F1), mother-son (F0-F1) brother-sister (F1-F1). Outcrossing is breeding totally unrelated shrimps or very distance relative, While line breeding is breeding lies somewhere in the middle.
Line breeding as you can see lies somewhere in-between inbreeding and outcrossing and can be understood as a planned inbreeding or a strategized inbreeding.
The purpose of inbreeding is to keep or enhance a certain trait or bloodline such as to continue for example the redness or size of a PRL.
The purpose of linebreeding is to keep the trait of a particular shrimp. For example red legs on a PRL.
So using both breeding method has it’s pros and con because too much inbreeding while can continue or enhance the desirable trait but run the risk of degrading shrimps of deform nature.
Where should i start?
When we first purchase our shrimp from a breeder, high chance the shrimps are closely related, however buying from a bigger breeder the chance of the shrimp being related are further apart.
When the shrimps are closely related, we can assume that they’re most likely brother sisters or cousin or close cousin. That way, we will start with mass breeding them before starting to select.
For example, i have selective took out from a brood 2 males and 3 females to selective breed, they are closely related cousins as i control the males that i use from 2-4 depending also on the number of females. 
When close cousin breed, they will firstly continue the desirable trait but will not really enhance the trait and with mass breeding, the idea is to get as many shrimplets as possible in the shortest possible time. From there lock in after a few generations the desirable trait you would like and then start inbreeding.
When should it end?
We can safely assume when we purchase shrimps from a breeder chances are the shrimps are very closely related unless the breeders keeps multiple tanks of the same parentage and keeps a strict breeding methodology.
As you can see in the example if we start off with a pair and slowly breed them to masses and then when we have our shrimplets (also helps to prevent too much inbreeding as male as small as 0.8cm can fly), it is important to remove them. The whole idea is to create 2 lines and relative or half/brother/sister (cousins). This way it will help pass on desirable trait and minimize undesirable trait when half brother/sister mate and at the end of the continuum if one would like to inject yet another desirable trait, an outcross can be made when you purchase the same line from the same breeder as we can safely again assume they are distant relative.
This PRL has been inbred (crossback) to maintain the desirable trait of size and redness. Now i’ll start breeding to a good number and split into two tanks so that i’ll have cousins. It takes almost 2 years to get to this stage.
selective breeding “Be All End All”
Selective breeding takes time, years and years of consistency but many give up before results are seen. Selective breeding is the Be All End All in raising the quality of the shrimps.
This can be modified depending and minimally you’ll need 3 tanks to get to the desirable trait, i have expanded the number of tanks to split out the improvement tank and championship tank.
Main Breeding tank: when we start breeding 2M 8F of decent quality, this tank will continue to breed for shrimplets.
Shrimplet tank: this is where we will house all the shrimplets and once you have decent female, put it back into the main breeding tank. Over time you will find that there could be 2-3 good males and 10 good females, you can then take them out and put into the improvement tank.
Improvement tank: Strict inbreeding happens, and then the shrimplet can be scoop out into another shrimplet tanks and then the process above continues and then get to the championship tank which would probably be your goal to get there.
However, when you get there, the shrimps are fairly inbred, so now it will be good to split the tank into two and then get cousins so that the genetics pool do not get too similar.
Hope it helps! If not drop me a PM in messenger facebook and i can clarify any questions 🙂
Lighting and it’s importance
Using Light to your advantage
A shout out to a breeder down under and this post is dedicated to you. Your question regarding if lighting helps with shrimp breeding. I think the long and short of this is it will really depends. What kind of answer is this?
Sunlight is the food source of everything and it is important to the entire ecology of Mother Nature. So is lighting important to breeding, yes it does to a certain extend but does not have an immediate impact however critical.
The reason for this is because light helps plants such as moss and floating plants grow and make food which in turn provide shelter and food for microorganism. In the same line the plants also help cultivate biofilm providing food to shrimps. With this it may appear that lighting is important.
Does shining light for long hours make shrimps nicer? No it doesn’t. Light does not make a shrimp nicer by shining long hours on it. They too do not get sun tan like humans do. The only thing that is achieve certainly is a higher electricity bill.
Type of lights
There are plenty of light choices in the market now and are fairly affordable. When i first started this aquarium hobby it was only florescent light tubes and then then Pressured Lamp and moved on to T5/T8 and eventually now with LED with multiple colors for different purposes.
I have used quite a number of light sets before and for shrimps it is rather straight forward, since we are not growing high light plants, then there isn’t really a need to splurge on high end light sets. However, it is important that the lights promote growth of your plants at least and not so dim that even mosses don’t survive.
For shrimp keeping both T5 and LED are recommended, however i will now lean towards LED because it is light, doesn’t give off too much heat and have a very long lifespan.
T5 light sets are fairly heavy and i have retired my T5 light as there is a need to change the tubes annually and it is expensive to keep it running. LED on the other hand can be cable tie to the rack and or place on the tank and easily moved around since they are lightweight.
The prices for LED nowadays are as affordable as T5 if not more affordable as the massive shift towards LED. With more advance LED light set there is also dimmable feature, sunset feature, timer, wifi all inbuilt.
Currently because it is fairly affordable to get LED lights hence i’m using Chihiros normal white light LED which does the job well.
how much light is sufficient
Generally if you see plants such as mosses and floating plants growing then you have sufficient light for your tank. I’m using a 6000k Chihiros light there are 5 levels of light intensity i’m setting it to level 3 and they are doing great. When the entire ecosystem is well establish and mature, while light doesn’t appear to have immediate impact but overall it does help.
Just like lubao/kallax ball which create biofilm, while they don’t have immediate impact but overall it helps with the ecological system in your tank. This is yet another soft value that is often overlooked.
So does the amount of light helps or impact breeding, indirectly it does because a decent amount of light certainly still help with the whole eco-system hence all these small sum adds up to a successful breeding experience.
Hope you have a good read!
Water Parameters Hard Value
I split water parameters into two different large category namely the Hard and Soft parameters.
This post is a follow up of the previous one where i touch on water parameters. This will help to provide a clearly picture of what it meant to have both hard and soft water parameters and the importance of it.
Hard water parameters are those that most of us use test kit to measure, this is where the hard values are tested and indicate a value corresponding to either acidic, dissolved solids etc.
Have a goal
One of the most important steps in breeding shrimp is to have a goal in mind and a direction where you would want the shrimp to develop into. This will help lift you up when the going get tough. I have breeders tell me that after 1 generation of breeding they can’t get any nice shrimps from their brood. Do not breed shrimps with a defeated mindset.
With the goal in mind, even with 1 pair of shrimp, one can still succeed as long as the process of breeding them are kept the same like your other proven methods. High grade shrimps can be costly hence it’ may not be financially viable to get a big colony to start with. Even if one starts with 1M 2F it is still possible to be great.
The 1M 2F trio should then be bred to masses first and from there keep using the female shrimplet from the F1 to breed more and get to masses as soon as possible.
Racing against time
Shrimp have a very short lifespan, hence it is a racing against time to quickly get them to breed as fast as possible. Female shrimps when they reach about 1.2cm start to breed but their brood size is small but with higher frequency.
As they start to mature their brood size becomes larger but with lesser frequency. When the female start to get old, their breeding slows down to once in 2-3 months. Hence the ‘breeding’ duration is really short.
Why am i saying this? The reason is because the conditions have to be optimum during the breeding period and to ensure maximum clutch size everytime. Not forgetting newly minted female often need to gain experience in the first few brood before successfully deliver shrimplets.
Water conditions often measured by parameters are just one side of the equation. The other part of the equation is if there are sufficient biofilm, microorganism, hiding space, breeding ratio.
Second part of the equation
A large part of the 2nd equation consist of biofilm/microorganism/hiding space/male to female ratio etc. This is where it is often overlooked and equally important to water parameters. I like to categorize it as the last piece to obtain an optimal ecosystem.
As hobbyist we can’t measure biofilm or amount of hiding space, it however has a very strong contribution to the success of breeding. We can setup a tank with soil, filtration, plants and get the right water parameters but that does not mean your breeding tank is well established or optimal for breeding.
Getting to that optimal point is where considerations such as if there are sufficient biofilm in the tank (can be lubao/kallax ball/moss/leaves etc). Is there microorganism in the tank that is feeding on the biofilm as well. Hiding space while important also has to be visible so shrimps don’t hide and die in there without knowing. How about the male to female breeding ratio of 4:20? All these are measurable elements that are often missed out but contributes a lot to the success towards breeding.
While the hard numbers measuring for pH/KH/GH/TDS/Nitrite/Nitrates are important, a successful breeder goes beyond just the above measurements to ensure breeding success.
There is a research paper on biofilm, here is the link i would like to share with you. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229113535_Importance_of_biofilm_as_food_source_for_shrimp_Farfantepenaeus_paulensis_evaluated_by_stable_isotopes_d13C_and_d15N
Hence, it is important not to have a defeated mindset when breeding shrimps. Look beyond measurable water parameters, these are just the foundation of shrimp breeding. Once your ecosystem is well established, breeding shrimps would then be rewarding and gratifying. Till then, never be discourage, never give up, give it all you have and remember one day when you succeed, reach out to those who need help. Each one teach one.
Hope you had a good read!
How does grazing material impact the breeding process
It is becoming difficult to ignore the fact that grazing material is one of the key elements for successful shrimp breeding process. It can be understood from the abundance of available grazing material to ensure continual breeding to happen. Shrimps like in the ‘Animal Kingdom’ breed when the conditions and environment are ideal. They thrive and procreate their next generation. In their natural habitat, shrimps feed consistently all the time. While their ‘hands’ are constantly feeding they’re trying to pick up the biofilm and consume them. Biofilm is an important source of nutrients to shrimps as they consist of nutrients that can be absorb naturally by the body. In this day and age, high quality feed is made to create as much beneficial nutrients to the shrimp. However, according to some research (Importance of biofilm as food source for shrimp), the feed they use although ingested were not properly incorporated by the shrimp tissue. In other words, it appears to suggest that while we may feed our daily feed, there are still some nutrients that must be compensated through biofilm consumption.
The term grazing material really encompass a large area but what i would like to share in this article is while most grazing material are used, it is the biofilm they produce that have a direct impact to shrimp overall health and breeding. Biofilm grows almost anywhere, and it is not simply the biofilm that is the important intake, it is also the microorganism that the shrimp consume. With an abundance of microorganism and biofilm, that is where the ‘invisible’ nutrients are playing a major role of the breeding process.
Growing biofilm
There are many ways to cultivate biofilm such as leaves, cholla wood, media, plants, mosses and microorganism ball aka Kallax ball or lubao.
Leaves such as Indian almond are good source of biofilm generation, the leaves soak in water will start developing thin layer of biofilm for the shrimps to consume, however the leaves will not be able to consistently produce biofilm as the leaf tissue are consumed together with the biofilm by the shrimp.
A wide variety of biofilm producer is ideal, and personally i’m using plants, mosses and definitely the lubao or kallax ball.
While one cannot directly see the impact of shrimps consuming biofilm, however there are research paper that is done scientifically that natural food for shrimps are biofilm and is the key that allow shrimps to continue their existence.
Biofilm, female shrimps and shrimplets
If one have put leaves in the tank or have use Kallax ball or lubao, it can be observed that during the conditioning phase of breeding (saddle), they can mostly be found near biofilm source. When female shrimp berried, it is often seen that they are on the biofilm generation such as lubao in this case when i use them. While shrimp feed are fed daily, the female shrimp continue to graze on the lubao very frequently more so when they’re not berried. This observation is seen across many tanks when female shrimps berried.
Another observation and reported by many who have used lubao is shrimplets find their way to the biofilm source and graze for the first few weeks of their live and then move on to other food source. The constant biofilm allows females and shrimplets in my opinion benefitting the most out of it.
With the above, it in turn help to encourage females to saddle more readily and directly improve shrimplet survival by providing first food.
Long term impact
The long term impact for having a consistent biofilm source in the tank outweigh the risk of deformity and degrading, and hence important to have different sources of biofilm readily available in your tank. Like i’ve mentioned, every surface area in the tank is able to harbour some biofilm but the more direct source it is, the more you’ll be able to control.
While we may not be able to see any impact immediately, biofilm is still an important source of grazing material/nutrients for the shrimps and if you’ve not considered them before, i hope this article would allow you to wade deeper into the water and learn more about the intricacies of why biofilm is an important source of nutrients to shrimps.
Thanks for reading and keep believing!
