Berried shrimp with fish?

[Womble]

This is my tank:


I have glowlight rasboras, neon tetras and white cloud minnows. Everyone gets on well and they all seem healthy and happy.

I also have neocardinas: 2 bloody mary (one has turned clear) and 9 blues.

For the past 3 weeks, one of the blues has been berried:


and today, I have just discovered that the red one is also in the family way:



I'd like as many to survive as possible.
I'd also like them to keep their colours: I am assuming that the blue will have blue offspring, but the red one is likely to have uncoloured ones. In the long term, I want coloured ones as they are prettier.

Should I just leave them as they are? Add in somewhere for them to hide? Nursery tank?

[fr499y]

A lot of the babies will hide within the gravel seeing as it’s pretty big

[plankton]

They are both colour morphs of neocaradinas so will "interbreed" and eventually they will revert to the natural light brownish colour.
Why have you left the plants in their weights and not planted them? They would give even better hiding places as they spread. They're more likely to die off with the roots restricted.....

[Womble]

Thanks.

So, just leave everything as is, keep giving them occasional algae wafer and Bacter AE and wait for the patter of tiny feet?
(E: and stop vacuuming the gravel when I do a water change)

Then, when they are all grown into adults, I should consider a second tank and separate them into colours if I want to maintain the 'bloodline' of colours.

With regards to the plants, if I take off the weights, they float up. I've tried burying them and it doesn't seem to work because they don't have much roots at the time - though the spears have got quite good ones now. Is there a technique that I am missing?

To be fair, they have been growing very well: after the first month, they had doubled in size and I had to remove half of them.

[SPACKlick]

With big gravel like that you sort of have to bend the bottom of the stem and pin it between some bits of gravel. There's a knack to it

[plankton]

The roots will grow better when free, the stems will plant better then, but as above, there is a knack to it, especially with elodea (the one in the middle). I usually put a bigger stone over the planting as well.
Sounds like you have a grip on raising shrimp.

[Martinspuddle]

To give you an idea, this is what a wild colour Neocaridina Shrimp look like in my aquarium.


Click to enlarge

[Womble]

Very helpful, thanks. I will give it a try when I do my next water change.

While I am in the company of the wise, why is it one of them has lost all their colour?





This little chappie was a Bloody Mary and a strong red colour (darker than the one previously posted) and about a week after I bought it, it lost its colour.

I bought 4: One became berried, this one lost its colour, one lost its life and one just got lost (I have no idea what happened to it)

[Martinspuddle]

Some of mine are paler than the one in the picture I posted. Water parameters, feeding and stress levels can all be a factor with their colour.



Another one of mine taken a couple of years ago, no idea why there is a colour difference other something to do with the gene pool.

They all happy going about their business, breeding and young ending up in my Eheim Pro 4 external.

[Womble]

A month later and I have 3 tiny shrimp (could sit on the fingernail of your little finger) and 2 that are bit bigger (thumbnail size).

I am guessing that the smaller ones are hatchlings and the bigger ones are just moulted.

1- How long does it take for a moulted one to get back their colour? They were (I think) and red and a blue and they are now transparent with brown go-faster stripes
2- The hatchings are similar colours - will they stay that way, or will they gain their colours?