Aquarium shrimps have long won the confidence of experienced aquarists and become full inhabitants of domestic underwater communities. However, novice fans lovers do not know many nuances of the content of these wonderful arthropods, and therefore the question of their breeding is more than relevant.
Description
Aquarium shrimps are omnivorous crustaceans and are distinguished by high unpretentiousness to the content conditions. In natural reservoirs, they are able to survive not only in fresh, but also in salty water. An Asian continent is considered to be the birthplace of shrimp, although some of them were first discovered in Japan, Panama and Venezuela.
Unlike its nautical fellow, aquarium varieties have a small, consisting of several body segments, 5 pairs of limbs and an impressive tail.
In case of sudden hazard, it allows segmental quick jumps to be returned to a safe place. The front three segments have a dense shell that has grown out. Thanks to this structure, shrimps are not afraid of attacks of aggressive fish and are capable of living on one territory with predators. The maximum size of aquarium shrimp reaches 8 cm, and the female can be one and a half times larger than males.
Shrimps are distinguished by the complex structure of the oral apparatus consisting of three jaws that work together with three front pairs of limbs. Such "penetrates" help articulated and simultaneously capture food.
Thanks to the long and very sensitive alert-antennas, shrimps have excellent smelling and touch.
They are able to capture weak rustles and barely distinguishable smells of potential food. G Lases are also distinguished by an interesting structure and are able to rotate freely, which allows articulated easily to find the prey that fastened. In addition, the wide view of the review gives them the opportunity to notice the enemy in time and with the help of their massive and spring tail quickly rolling into the shelter.
The females have small paws on the belly - pleopodes intended for movement in water and tooling caviar. In males, abdominal paws are also there, but their front pair is transformed into the breeding organ. And those and others have a bright interesting color and look great in home aquariums. Many aquarists equip the tanks with shrimp with a special backlight, which adversely emphasizes the beauty and originality of arthropods. Thanks to a wide variety of aquarium species, there is an opportunity to acquire both completely small representatives, which will be successfully combined with small fish and large spectacular individuals that are not able to be lost among other beautiful species, combining with them harmoniously.
The growing demand for aquarium arthropods is due to a number of indisputable advantages of these creatures.
- Shrimps are distinguished by good endurance and often forgive mistakes for their maintenance. They are quickly adapted to the proposed conditions and do not require the presence of huge tanks. Some kinds of shrimp feel perfectly in nanoacarums with a capacity of up to 1 liter.
- Thanks to the presence of aquarium shrimp, water in the reservoir does not mutte and remains clean for a long time. This is explained by their bottomwise lifestyle, in which arthropods are happy with pleasure at the bottom and rehaust the food and remnants of plants that are not eaten by fish.
- In the daytime, shrimps lead a rather active lifestyle, because of what they are very interested to observe. They will fun on their tail-faith in case of danger and are crawling along the leaves of underwater plants. In addition, after molting, they begin to grow lost limbs, which is also very curious to see.
- Shrimps differ in peace-loving character and do not attack other inhabitants of the aquarium.
However, along with the obvious advantages, the cons content of aquarium shrimp is still available. For example, they are often becoming victims of larger fish, which is why the aquarium checks the neighbors is needed very carefully.
Especially vulnerable shrimps are becoming after molting, when the old chitinosa shell is already dropped, and the new has not yet fastened.
In such periods, arthropods should be isolated in separate reservoirs or subtle to small non-aggressive fish. Conditional minuses include the fact that when creating good shrimp conditions, they begin to make it very quickly. In order to prevent the overpopulation of the aquarium, this moment must be taken into account and in advance to find the "market sales" of numerous offspring.
Views
The classification of decorative shrimps occurs in several features, such as dimensions, habitat and painting. Among the wide variety of species are present both completely unpretentious in the content of individuals and copies that require the hands of an experienced breeder. Below are the varieties of freshwater aquarium shrimps, to cope with the content of which can be even a beginner aquarist. All of them are absolutely non-aggressive and will not give their owner any hassle.
- Blue pearl It is a small segmental length of no more than 2.5 cm with a beautiful blue color. According to its intensity, one can judge how much a shrimp lives in a comfortable environment. So, if she stays in a beautiful mood and good "physical form", then its color will be bright blue, while with a deterioration of the content conditions, it will quickly pale, and the blue shade becomes barely distinguishable.
- White pearl Externally, it is very similar to the blue and differs only by color and more transparent body. It is the transparent structure that makes it easy to distinguish the female from the male. The female inside the body are well noticeable ovaries that are not in the male.
- Green shrimp It is a larger view, reaches a length of 3.5 cm and very slowly multiplied.
- Cherry, red and yellow shrimps differ from each other in color and title. All of them grow up to 2.5-3 cm, quickly multiply and perfectly suitable for content in small aquariums.
- Banana shrimps Filtrates are quite large arthropods and grow up to 10 cm. The life expectancy of individuals is 2 years, and the color is represented by yellow shades with brown stripes. Unlike other species, it is very clumsy and void, but feeds in a special way. She sits under a stream of flows coming from the filter, and spreads his fanish cilias located on the clashes. As soon as a piece of edible falls into the opened fan, she immediately brings him to his mouth and eats. There is such a shrimp somewhat more expensive than other types, but it is much more interesting to watch it.
The following types can be attributed to the category of more demanding arthropods, for the content of which the presence of special knowledge and greater experience. Aquarium soil, where data is contained, needs special processing, and water should be cleaned through the reverse osmosis system. In addition, the larvae of some species need salt water, as they do not survive in the foreground.
- Red Crystal It is a very beautiful view of shrimp. Their snow-white body is covered with wide red stripes, which makes arthropods very noticeable in the overall aquarium. These shrimps grow up to three centimeters, quickly multiply, eat little and require strict compliance with the temperature regime. Optimal for them are +26 degrees Celsius, with more warm water, arthropod can die, and with a colder one - stop multiplying.
- Amano. Shrimps of this species are characterized by a translucent gray-blue or light green case, grow up to 5 cm. Boca arthropods are often decorated with brown spots, which gives them a very interesting appearance. Amano is recommended to settle in small companies in 8-10 individuals: they are not affected by peace and no damage to the community. The view requires the creation of special conditions of content and strict control over the rigidity, acidity and water composition.
- Harlequin. Shrimps of this species have a beautiful colorful color, in which black, red and white colors are present. This is perhaps the smallest aquarium shrimps, as the size of an adult share is 0.6-1.2 cm. The harlequin is considered a very demanding type, slowly multiplies and is suitable only to experienced aquarists.
- Red-eyed shrimp Also requires special care, it has a translucent body and a bright red nose. Adults may be contained in fresh water, and for larvae is required exclusively solid water. The length of the shrimp is from 3 to 4 cm. In addition to high decorativeness, this species brings practical benefits: arthropods are absorbed by harmful algae, which contributes to the preservation of the purity of the aquarium.
- Cardinal - Bright and beautiful species, grows up to only two centimeters. The body of shrimp is painted in all shades of red, and bright white dots are located on the sides.
- Tiger chrimp Although they do not require a special composition of aquarium water, however, they need a large reservoir, a volume of at least 50 liters. Representatives of the species grow up to 4 cm long and have a beautiful bright color.
How to choose?
The choice of shrimp for aquarium is a matter of responsible, so it is necessary to approach him with all seriousness. This is especially true of novice aquarists who are not too familiar with the peculiarities of the joint content of fish and shrimp. If the aquarium with the inhabitants already exists, then it is necessary to familiarize themselves with the compatibility of certain species using special literature for this. When you start a new aquarium, you can go to the petroach and look at the shrimp neighbors.
To begin with, it is recommended to purchase 1-2 adults, to hold them a couple of days in quarantine, after which it is to transplant in the overall aquarium and watch.
If the choice was made correctly, then all the inhabitants of the aquarium will be cheerful and active. In this case, you can safely buy the desired number of shrimps, given the volume of the tank. Experienced aquarists advise not to acquire just those delivered to the zoosalon fish, but wait for a while. If, after a few days, shrimps will be alive and healthy, then you can make a purchase. This is due to the fact that most shrimp are carrying from Asia, and give a complete guarantee that they are healthy, no one can.
Content
Grow shrimps is completely simple. For this you only need to comply with the conditions for the content of arthropods and carefully care for them.Select aquarium
Before you go to the petrohouse for shrimps, you need to go to the aquarium arrangement. You should choose a reservoir with such a calculation that no less than 0.5 liters of water should have for each adult. The smallest species live well in nanoacarums, but the free space is the key to the peaceful coexistence of species. The form of aquarium may be any, but due to the fact that shrimps prefer to conduct a bottom lifestyle, it is desirable that the bottom surface has a large area. The optimal option will be the acquisition of a rectangular wide tank, which is also much easier to clean than round variants and aquariums, "glasses".
From above, the reservoir must necessarily be covered with a glass cover or a grid that prevents joining the inhabitants of the reservoir on the carpet. If it is supposed to contain not only shrimp, but also aquarium fish, then in the container you should install as much of all possible shelters and labyrinths, put the scenery and lay the moss. This will help the articulated hide from the pursuers who often take them for food. Therefore, the best solution will be the arrangement of a shrimp, where they will be contained exclusively arthropods.
Water and sad
The next step in the launch of the aquarium will be the preparation of soil and water.
As a soil, you can use large river sand.
It is pre-washed and calcined in the oven at a temperature of 220 degrees for 30 minutes. As for water, for unpretentious shrimps, we can use conventional tap water. Nothing terrible will not be that she has a little increased rigidity, since the elements present in such water will need a shrimp to build a shell with a molting. However, if the rigidity level is too high, then there is a risk of slowing down the process of reproduction.
As for fluid temperature, it must be within + 20 ... 28 degrees Celsius. When it is raised to +32 degrees, shrimps begin to die, and with a decrease below + 15 ... 18 - loss of mobility and cease to multiply. However, a temporary decrease in the temperature regime is not mortally for artiform, and after normalization of the conditions, they quickly restore their functions.
Water with a neutral level of pH and zero rigidity are required too pressing species. You can achieve such indicators, passing fluid through the reverse osmosis system, then add a special salt to it.
Water for such inhabitants need to be defended for a long time (sometimes up to two weeks), and only after that pour in water.
Further substitution of fluid is carried out once a week by the method of 1/4 of the total volume followed by the top of the fresh portion.
And also follow the condition of the air in the room, and not allow the use of sprays and other volatile compounds. This is due to the flow of surface gas exchange, during which chemicals can get into water. Besides, Most species poorly transfer increased nitrogen concentrations, which should also be considered when choosing aquarium water . As algae, Yavansky Moss, Piste and Rogoltnik are used.
Scenery
The next stage of the aquarium arrangement will be the selection of underwater scenery. When the content of shrimps in the general reservoir, the number of all kinds of houses, grottoes and other shelters should be maximum.
Ceramic pots, large roots and squabs can be used as scenery, as well as finished products.
but When buying the latter, it should be verified in the absence of a paint coating on the surface of the products . New wooden scenery should be placed for several days into the water. This will contribute to the separation of painting pigments from wood, and will prevent further turbidity of water.
Equipment
Next, you need to start choosing the necessary equipment, such as a compressor and filter. The first is necessary for saturation of aquarium fluid with oxygen, and the second ensures the purification of a closed ecosystem from the accumulated organic and mechanical garbage. However, if only shrimps will live in the aquarium, then the filtering system can not be bought. If the inhabitants are too much, then the most suitable option will be the acquisition of an external canister or inner spongy filter. On the device tube you should wear a sponge, which will help prevent suction of small shrimps into the filter and the livestock will save.
Shrimps lead a daily lifestyle, and therefore need a long-lasting lighting day. If the aquarium is in the depths of the room, and its inhabitants are lack of sunlight, it is necessary to use additional lighting. As a backlight, it is recommended to use fluorescent or LED lamps that are capable of providing high-quality lighting, do not cause water heating and consume little electricity.
And also take care to ensure the optimal temperature mode of water. This measure relates to a greater extent to several thermal-loving species requiring a stable temperature of +26 degrees. To do this, you will need to purchase a special aquarium heater equipped with a thermostat. However, it is quite risky to rely on the device quite risky, it is better to measure the temperature of the water with a regular thermometer from time to time.
In particularly hot days, when the temperature in the aquarium increases in a natural way, it is necessary, on the contrary, to use any equipment that can reduce it to the desired values. For these purposes, you can use the usual fan or a special refrigeration unit. And also should be taken from a bottom siphon designed to clean the waste of fish and shrimp from the soil. If the bottom regularly does not specifice, then the decomposing organo will begin to distinguish a large amount of ammonia, which will lead to a disease of the livestock.
Settlement of shrimp
After the capacity is prepared, you can begin to the most important stage - the population of shrimp. It is necessary to do this very carefully, so that arthropods experienced as little shock as possible from entering new habitats. It is advised to acquire young shrimps: although they are less beautiful than adult individuals, but it is easier to carry transportation and are adapting faster in a permanent place. You can transport shrimps in a cellophane package or a transparent container filled with water from the previous aquarium. It is advisable to grab with you a few twigs of underwater plants, also taken in the previous tank.
The new reservoir of the inhabitants are poured along with the water in which they arrived, and with algae.
Then gradually poured a pre-cooked sparkling water and observed the behavior of shrimp. If arthropods are strung up and droopy the aquarium, it means that the case is in poorly defined water or in the violation of the temperature regime. In this case, the error is corrected, and, without hurry, continue the launch of the aquarium.
It should be noted that water for shrimp must be defended in a dark place for at least 1-2 weeks, since only in this case the necessary microflora develops in it. And also should not be installed a shrimp in the room where they smoke. Shrimps are very sensitive to the smell of tobacco, and in such conditions they will not stretch for a long time. Shrimps can not be settled in general aquariums in which drugs or water stabilizers have been used shortly before. The launch of arthropods is possible only after its full replacement, as any contact with chemicals can lead to a fatal outcome.
Feeding
Shrimps are absolutely non-addicts in food and eat everything they offer.
It can be like remnants of fish feed in the form of a moth, cyclope or Daphnia and specialized compositions for arthropods.
They forgively forgot them to feed the owner and can eat algae particles that are found in the ground or on the surface of the leaves. Among special feeds can be noted compositions in the form of flakes.
They are easily absorbed by shrimps, contain all the substances necessary for their growth and development. In addition, in such feeds contain the components necessary to strengthen the shell and the intensity of the color. In addition to the finished compositions, crustaceans can be fed up with natural products, such as cucumbers and spinach. Feed shrimps 2-3 times a week, as with more food they become lazy and refuse to clean the aquarium.
Reproduction
Dilute shrimps at home is quite simple. To do this, you only need to get acquainted with the basic rules of reproduction, and strictly follow the recommendations of specialists.
- Before breeding, the livestock choose large and healthy female and male. Determine the floor shrimp is easy. To do this, it is enough to pay attention to the size of the body, coloring, habits and the presence of "saddle". So, males are much smaller than the females and have a more blooming color, and sometimes almost colorless are completely. In addition, they are much more active and have no so-called "saddles". The saddle is called white formations - ovaries that are well visible through the shell.
- To accelerate the half-breeding of females, the water in the aquarium is recommended to change to fresh more often. This will contribute to the speedy link, which, in turn, is preceded by the release of pheromones. However, and without extreme help of shrimp, it is normal, often without requiring additional stimulation.
- Female female begins to highlight enzymes. They attract the male, and it starts to fertilize the eggs formed under the tail in the female.
- After the fertilization takes place, you need to monitor the characteristics of water, since with the deterioration of external conditions, the female drops the caviar, and the reproduction process is interrupted.
- The female gently keeps out the fertilized caviar, often it smokes and removes empty eggs. 4 weeks after fertilization, the eggs are formed by eyes, which are clearly visible in the belly of females. Shortly after the appearance of eyes from eggs, fry than 2 mm sizes, one in one similar to their parents.
- At one time the female postpones up to 30 larvae. As soon as they come out of the caviar, they immediately begin to eat and go to an adult lifestyle. However, small shrimps grow and develop a very uneven, because of which larger individuals are burned more weak, thereby adjusting the number of livestock.
The first few days of the fry is practically not visible in the aquarium: they have a transparent body and float along the walls of the tank.
It is possible to notice the kids on the eyes and on the mustache. During this period, inexperienced aquarists often confuse fry with parasites and replace allegedly polluted water to clean. As a result, they pour all shrimps, and can not understand why they were left without replenishment.
Compatibility with fish
Shrimps are very peaceful creatures and approximately behave in common aquariums. This is primarily due to the instinct of self-preservation inherent to all crustaceans. After all, in order not to attract attention to yourself and not be eaten, arthropods are trying not to stand out from the "crowd". In this regard, in the neighbors shrimps should be selected by the same calm fish as they themselves. Shrimps can be divided into one aquarium with neoons, guppies, Danio, microrastructions, grazilisami, paratoticincons, microposciles, snail by ampouillia and helen, Siamese algae, anti-cereals, alcutters, and sobiquals.
With swords, tripsomes and corridors, joint cultivation is allowed under the condition of a large aquarium, which avoids competition for the territory and food. It is undesirable to squint shrimp with cichlids, golts, goldfish, gururas, scalaria, bombus, bits and with aggressive varieties of Somov. It is undesirable to place bright and pale shrimp trees in one reservoir. Neighborhood can lead to their crossing and loss of color intensity.
About aquarium shrimp Cherry - their reproduction, content, feeding and compatibility with fish in the general aquarium can be viewed below.