Questions about krib fry and whisker shrimp?

Question

Okay, two questions:

1.) I bought a pair of kribs from PetCo (I know, I know, but I don't have a lot of choice around here) about 2-3 weeks ago.  The female started courting the male almost immediately, and a few days ago I noticed the female acting secretive and the male being more aggressive than normal.  Yesterday I discovered that they had a small herd of fry underfoot!  And on their first spawn, too ^_^.

They've both been very attentive parents, taking turns baby-sitting the little ones.  It's really fun to watch.  I was just wondering, though, should I feed the babies?  Right now they seem to be "grazing" on the substrate, and it's a pretty mature tank--almost a year old--so they're should be plenty of micro-critter goodies down there.  However, I've heard about feeding them crushed up bits of flake or fry food with a turkey baster?  Should I do that, or will they find enough food on their own?  If I SHOULD do it, when should I start?  They're about 2 days old ATM.

2.) I just came back from my LFS with a few shrimp--two Amano shrimp and something the guy called a "whisker shrimp".  Now, I know taking advice from pet store employees is risky at best, but this guy owns the place and actually does know what he's talking about.  So I'm usually pretty comfortable getting info from him.

I knew about Amanos already, but I specifically asked if the whisker shrimp would be alright with Amanos and cherries, as well as white clouds, since that's what it'd be living with.  He assured me they'd be fine together, and so off I went.

However, I looked up whisker shrimp online and found out my guy is a Macrobrachium species, and that they can be rather predatory.  Mostly I'm worried about my other shrimp and the white cloud fry.  The shrimp is about 2 inches long and does have very small claws, and looks pretty much just like this (scroll down a bit):

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/shrimp-other-invertebrates/56693-whisker-shrimp-2.html

I tried to get some pics of my own, but I don't know shrimp-speak for "hold still, dammit" and my cameras not great.  I will upload them if they're needed, though.  I'm willing to give the shrimp its own tank since it is pretty neat-looking, and I do have an empty 5.5 gallon sitting around.  Thoughts?

Gary C · Accepted Answer

Your krib fry are already free-swimming and feeding, so it's time to start feeding them. As you've seen, they can live for a little while on stuff they find in the tank, but pretty soon they'll finish all that off and need more food. The parental kribs are also reputed to chew up fish food and spit out the particles for their fry. I've never observed this myself, but it's said to be true.

You can feed them the usual fry foods, such as finely crumbled flakes, baby brine shrimp, microworms, etc. Using a baster to direct the food near the cloud of fry is also a good idea.

As for your shrimp, the real question is whether or not the fish can move fast enough to escape capture. Probably they can, except at night, when the shrimp is likely to catch some of them. I haven't kept this exact shrimp species, so I can't tell you more than that.

Anonymous · Answer

You don't actually need to do anything at all with Kribs, the mother feeds her children. Whatever you feed her she will chew up and spit fine particles out for the fry to eat. 

Shrimps aren't my scene, but fry forms part of their natural diet. The other shrimp should be fine as they establish their own patch and tend to stick pretty much to home.

Mother Krib would make short work of any shrimp going near her fry, she might be the smaller parent, but she is the meaner of the two.

Anonymous · Answer

The fish should start to eat baby brine shrimp and fry food after about 5 days after they have consumed their yok sacks. 

As far as the shrimp, if hes a bigger shrimp than the other shrimp hes gonna most likely go after them at some point. The smaller shrimps will become food. Thats just how shrimps work.

Anonymous · Answer

Well you don't have to use shrimp you can cut a 3inch potato off and get a container like a tub and then boil the potato for two minutes and then get some water fromm your tank and put it into your tub and then put the boiled potato in it and leave it for a week and then you will see that the water has gone all cloudy that tiny microscopic organisms are breeding the poor bit by bit and this will last you for about a week.
hope this will help you.

Anonymous · Answer

you would be ok in case you trim it. i does no longer advise shaving it off yet I advise which you pass away in line with probability an inch or so. canines use their whiskers form of like a cat. no longer basically do whiskers help them see on the hours of darkness- yet they could experience distance, velocity, and direction from them. some breeds of canines additionally use their whiskers to catch smells interior the follicle bedding.

Questions about krib fry and whisker shrimp?

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