How long do floaters float?

[MrsDebLo]

I had my first floaters a few days ago! Man, I love those little babes! But, after 2 days they’ve disappeared

Do floaters float for more than a few days? Or, did they just not make it?

Debbie

[Dch48]

Mine floated for right at 28 days. I'm pretty sure I saw 6 and now I know I have at least 4 juvenile shrimp. I saw the floaters every day so I hate to say it but you may have lost yours. Hopefully not though. You do have a lot more cover for them to be in than I do so maybe they're just behind something.

[MrsDebLo]

I bet I lost them I hope everything with my tank is ok. I have 7 shrimp total and 4 are berried, so I assumed all was good.

I hope my other babies will make it.

Thank you for the reply! I really appreciate it.

Debbie

[JoeG]

Mine floated for 29 days. How many floaters did you have? Each day after about a week or so you will start to see less floating under the light and more hanging around on the glass or on the landscape. Disappearing after a couple of days doesn’t seem right.

Having berried shrimp is usually a sign of good water conditions.

[Dch48]

One thing. What is the salinity of your water? I have read in a few places that the survival rate for the larvae is greatly dependent on the salinity with more survival at higher levels. They say in nature, the larvae are rarely seen as they retreat into the subterranean parts of the caves where the salinity is higher. The adults can get by in low salinity or even fresh water but the larvae need more. One person tested it and found larvae survival to be only 20% or less at salinities below 1.005 and 80% at 1.010 and higher. Mixing sea salt like Instant Ocean at half the concentration given on the package should produce water of 1.010-1.012 specific gravity which seems to be the ideal. These shrimp can even survive in full strength seawater which is like 1.024. My tank sits right at 1.010 after topping off with distilled. When mixing new water (which is rarely needed. I only add it when I have taken some water out for testing or something) I use 2 tablespoons of Instant Ocean in a half gallon of distilled water.

I've only been keeping these shrimp since early August but I have had pretty good success. I still have my original 16 adults plus 4 new juveniles in my little one gallon tank. I have not seen a single one die.

[MrsDebLo]

Awesome info!

I just checked my salinity with a refractometer, and it’s 1.010.

I did top off my tank a day or so before I saw them floating. It was 4 total. And, they were hanging out exclusively where I added fresh RO water. There’s virtually no water movement. I wonder if that was it?

So, I killed 24 in the beginning with a paper towel.....now I killed 4 from adding fresh water. 4 of my 7 shrimp are fully berried. I think my poor shrimp are reproducing so well, because they are worried they need to keep up with me or face extinction!! LOL

Do you think I should increase the salinity a little? Or is it too risking with my track record? LOL

Debbie

[Dch48]

I doubt it was the new water if it was a day before you saw the floaters. The water mixes pretty rapidly even without circulation. They may still be in there and hanging out in the cover. While floating, they seem to only move up and down with the head hanging down. When they start to actually purposefully move head first and not just up and down, they are just about ready to become full fledged shrimp. Since my batch of floaters hatched more than a month ago, I have not seen any other berried females so 4 out of 7 is doing extremely well.

[MrsDebLo]

I hope they are hiding. I’d be so happy!

Now it’s time for me to pray my other babies will be ok.

Dch48, thanks for taking the time to respond to my posts!

Debbie

[QsusieQ]

I found that floaters are attracted to light.
Just an idea- shine a small flashlight at the top of the tank. I’ve noticed they seem to gather towards the beam.
It may draw some out of hiding spots and make for a better head count

[Mustafa]

How are your shrimp doing? Did you end up getting more larvae?