I sucked at tigers

What I mean is I suck at breeding tiger shrimps, don't get me wrong ;-)

I've tried a few different setups and water parameters and none worked well. They (mostly OEBTs) would breed but baby survival rate had been terrible.

So I gave it another shot. Got 6-7 BTOE/Royal Blue and 3 OEBTs in a 5 gallon tank with akadama. I didn't lose any shrimp in the 4-5 months they have been in the tank. One OEBT got berried about 3 months ago and I think I finally broke the dry spell..... the babies have survived for about 2 months now and I don't think I lost many. And now more are berried.... could it work this time? I'll wait and see.

This particular one seems to be a royal blue? 

Extreme BKK berried

These extreme BKK seem to breed slower. With spring coming, hopefully they will breed better. Haven't spot any berried shrimps for the last 2 months and got two berried (maybe more) after an early February storm.

She is berried again

So the breeding has resumed after a 2.5 month winter break. She is berried again by a extreme BKK, or maybe a pinto in the same tank. What will I get this time?

CRS breeding in winter

So, what are they thinking in the merciless Canadian winter?

 So I have moved most of my shrimp tanks in my new shrimp room (started cycling in July 2013), it's in a small 10'x14' room in the basement. The breeding had been great from the beginning, all shrimps were breeding up until late October when the room temperature dropped to 18 - 19C (~65F). The babies kept growing although very slowly, and breeding slowly slowed down.

I have less than 10 shrimps that got berried in December, and I have probably over 500 bee shrimps in the shrimp room. And less than 5 in January.

What's going on?

I remember although breeding slowed down, but I had way more berried shrimp last year in tanks I had heaters in. This year it just slowed down to almost a full stop.

I have a CRS tank in my living room. The population grew from 3 to about 150 between March 2013 and November of the same year. I also observe no berried shrimp in that tank. Before November, female shrimps constantly got berried.

A lot hobbyists contribute this to barometer changes in the winter. I can't disprove that, but it doesn't explain why breeding still goes on in my buddies' shrimp tanks, but almost every tank in my house slowed down.

Hope things will pick up again soon. My experience tells me March is the magic time. I will just convince myself it's just a matter of time like I've told others countless times.

Share your experience?

Happy Chinese New Year

Cutie

Caught this baby playing on moss.....  so cute.

And his brother (or sister).

The the photo op ended because the shark has come....

Tangerine Tiger from Germany

I find that a lot of Tangerine Tigers on the market less attractive because the "tangerine" colour isn't "orange" enough ;-) So when there was the opportunity I jumped on it to get some in a group buy.

And a month has passed since I got them, they seem to be happy in my tank.

TT (Tangerine Tiger) is probably the easiest tiger shrimps to keep and breed, may be with the exception of regular/super tigers. But I'm known for pathetic in breeding tigers, so I will see if they will make me look better ;-)

I keep them in regular CRS parameters, maybe 1 or 2 degree C lower in tank temperature. Perfect for the bottom level on my shrimp racks.