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Freshwater shrimp


lmsmith

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you know they probably won't survive in a tropical tank. if they manage to escape being eaten they only live about an hour in my tank anyway. it's 23 degrees.

i used to put them in a barrel outside in the shade and they would be sweet till i needed them for food

They're living in tropical conditions at the store. I'll give them a go, other wise I'll feed them to my marines

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They're living in tropical conditions at the store. I'll give them a go, other wise I'll feed them to my marines

yeah i know they can... i'm just saying, i've never been able to get wild ones to do it though. maybe if you acclimated them over a couple of weeks to higher temps.. but you might just find they just turn pink and start looking delicious..

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yeah i know they can... i'm just saying, i've never been able to get wild ones to do it though. maybe if you acclimated them over a couple of weeks to higher temps.. but you might just find they just turn pink and start looking delicious..

I don't eat fish or seafood, but I'm sure my kitties would be keen!

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the bigger ones can flick around if on land.. awesome for kitties to chase down!

i've wondered in the past if there is another species of freshwater shrimp on the market.

as in this thread, i'm pretty sure you're not supposed to sell them - but i have bought warm water shrimp from randoms on trademe before. and they do sometimes sell in LFS.

but aside from native (coldwater) shrimp there are no other species allowed in NZ.

i would be interested to hear if you are successful in adapting wild caught shrimp to warm water... let me know how it goes

8)

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I have acclimated many successfully to tropical temps, find they struggle much above 26 degrees though.

also if you get the big one return them as they are the females and will help restock the population, smaller ones acclimate heaps quicker anyways. If I only spend 1/2 an hour acclimating them I find I lose around 1 in 10, if I spend over an hour I rarely lose any.

also they seem to acclimate quicker in summer as the water they are coming from is generally quite warm. the Creek I collect from was at 26 degrees yesterday (most were in a shadier area though)

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might do a check on the way home in a couple of spots, but I find slower moving (but still flowing) water, drains that flow into estuaries are good, try the creek down the bottom of girls college, areound Buretta golf course, down the bottom of the boardwalk, the drains around the Wairoa river, the creek in the valley in Ohauiti.

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I have acclimated many successfully to tropical temps, find they struggle much above 26 degrees though.

also if you get the big one return them as they are the females and will help restock the population, smaller ones acclimate heaps quicker anyways. If I only spend 1/2 an hour acclimating them I find I lose around 1 in 10, if I spend over an hour I rarely lose any.

also they seem to acclimate quicker in summer as the water they are coming from is generally quite warm. the Creek I collect from was at 26 degrees yesterday (most were in a shadier area though)

Perfect. That's great info, thanks.

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the bigger ones can flick around if on land.. awesome for kitties to chase down!

i've wondered in the past if there is another species of freshwater shrimp on the market.

as in this thread, i'm pretty sure you're not supposed to sell them - but i have bought warm water shrimp from randoms on trademe before. and they do sometimes sell in LFS.

but aside from native (coldwater) shrimp there are no other species allowed in NZ.

i would be interested to hear if you are successful in adapting wild caught shrimp to warm water... let me know how it goes

8)

I'm going to buy some this weekend, but if they don't have any, I'll pop down to the stream by my house and go hunting.

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So, went out for ramble this morning and found what looked to be a good spot over the back of Papamoa. Climbed over a few rocks to get to the flowing, fresher looking water. Slid over and got a wet arse and a shoe full of water. Swishing around with the small net for about 20 minutes in different parts of the water and eventually bagged myself two little shrimps :thup:

Also caught four fish about 2.5" - 3.5" long. No idea what they were but had quite nice brownish/black markings. Looked like what we would call a gudgeon http://www.purepiscator.com/img/hof/gudgeon.jpg back in England but this was smaller with quite a wider mouth.

Anyway, I put those guys back and took me shrimps home.

Acclimatised the two little guys(?) for around half an hour by slowly adding more and more warmer water from my tank. They seemed happy, to be moving around and ready for introducing to my 25L tank.

:facepalm: BOOM

They were mobbed!!

The Betta and (small shoal (6)) Neons thought it was Christmas, running around, shouting and screaming trying to get to their new pressies &c:ry

The smaller shrimp had an eye missing and a few legs before he was even half way down the bloody tank. They both made it to the plant-cover and hid for a while.

I felt a bit bad for the shrimp, but the new behaviour in my Betta was great to watch. He started stalking through the plants and places he'd never usually go until he came across the lame shrimp again........and attacked!!

He kept going until the thing didnt move any more and to my suprise, carried it in his mouth to a hollow-bell I have in the tank. He dropped it outside and basically kept circling the bell one or twice, flaring. Almost like he was showing off about what he'd just caught. He'd then stop and take another bite or two from it before resuming his circling. When he came up for a bit of air, the Neons would rush in to have their nibbles before he came back to chase them off.

I know it didnt work out too well for shrimp Number-1, but watching what just happened had me better entertained and enthralled than the bloody movie we hired last night, it was great seeing the different behaviours in my fish......even though it did cost me a bruised bum and wet shoe!!

Shrimp Number-2 is a little larger and has managed to keep out of the way. Lets hope he survives to do the job they were put in there for, if not, looks like I'll be getting the beers and munchies in and settling down for a good action show......I'm Sparticus!!

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