Are you a science teacher, or just have an aquarium to calm the ADD type students?
I think showing all of the food chain in a micro-environment would be a great lesson for kids these days since this generation is out "on the land" even less than the immediately preceding generations.
Science. I use the bristlenose for punnett squares and genetics in the classroom. Keep a variety of traits (albino, brown, long fin, short fin, etc) in the breeding tank. Once the eggs hatch the kids figure who the parents are. Would be cool to add PK breeding into the mix.
Their ghost shrimp will be the PK shrimp aka Mississippi grass shrimp Palaemonetes kadiakensis,,, aka ghost shrimp, glass shrimp. Very similar anatomically to P. paludosus. It takes close examination of the rostrum to separate the two species. Carolina may know the species???? Maybe not? As noted they are also available in eBay.
Science. I use the bristlenose for punnett squares and genetics in the classroom. Keep a variety of traits (albino, brown, long fin, short fin, etc) in the breeding tank. Once the eggs hatch the kids figure who the parents are. Would be cool to add PK breeding into the mix.
Awesome usage, catscratch!
P.S. If you would like to add another aquarium, Petco has been selling their Aqueon line (basic) aquariums for 50% off most of the time this fall. I did pick up a large one for my wife's classroom.
Mods - please delete my postscript if it crosses the commercial promotion line. (I have no interest in either company.)
John, I emptied my small forage pond that shrimp were stocked into last year and to my surprise, maybe got 100-125 specimens out of it. Even full of river bullrush, arrowhead and sago pond weed.. Didn't see anything like what I had expected so I think there is far more to their survival and recruitment than I understand..
I can't tell you the find differences between the various species of PK shrimp. But some definitely are warm water only species and others are hardy under the ice. I would guess Snipes Kansas shrimp are the hardy type.
The ones sold by the Carolina supply house may NOT be.
Ghost/glass shrimp sold in pet food chain stores are not the desired shrimp for survival in freezing water.
Snipe, I'm shocked that that's all you could find! When I've come across them in the wild they were usually in thick stuff like chara or coon tail. I've even seen them in the thicks mats of moss. Unfortunately ever since I've wanted them in my pond I haven't come across any.
Distribution for grass shrimp - Palaemonetes kadiakensis. It lives wide ranging on both sides of the Mississippi Rv from the Gulf coast up through Ohio to northern Lake Erie and the southern 1/4 of Michigan. In Pennsylvania, where it is introduced, it was collected from areas with a mixture of eel grass (Vallisneria americana), pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.), and coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum) (Kimmel and Argetn 2008). It really thrives in plant infested ponds often with too many plants for easy angling for fish. A wetland of about any size attached to a pond would a very good place to grow grass shrimp and forage minnows.
Look at the type of habitat where this singing angler catches his grass shrimp.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/09/2209:45 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
The geographic distribution of grass shrimp is quite large, but it appears that our distribution of suppliers is fairly limited at this time.
My question: Does a Louisiana grass shrimp have the same cold tolerance as a Lake Erie grass shrimp? Or do you think there is probably some wide variance within the same species?
The shrimp in the youtube video above are much bigger than the ones that survive in northern waters. I think the only way to know cold hardiness when buying online or from a supply house is to buy a small number and put them in the fridge overnight and see how they do.
The larger size of the Southern PK shrimp could IMO be easily due to the longer growing season for these shrimp. These shrimp since they are invertebrates could grow larger when they have a longer growing season? I would like to get a few preserved shrimp individuals to verify the species using close microscopic analysis of necessary features for species identification. Does anyone have some of these Gulf coast area PK shrimp to send me?? As canyon says another easy way to determine cold tolerance is to put some in the refrigerator at 39F to 40F for a week or two.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/10/2209:15 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
The larger size of the Southern PK shrimp could IMO be easily due to the longer growing season for these shrimp. These shrimp since they are invertebrates could grow larger when they have a longer growing season? I would like to get a few preserved shrimp individuals to verify the species using close microscopic analysis of necessary features for species identification. Does anyone have some of these Gulf coast area PK shrimp to send me?? As canyon says another easy way to determine cold tolerance is to put some in the refrigerator at 39F to 40F for a week or two.
I brought mine from near the coast and they have done well in oakwood . We have had skim ice over most of the pond and they made it
I put in 100 of the LA PK shrimp in September. Nothing in the pond but FHM & a couple of map turtles. I'll take a look-see come spring & see if any survived the winter & how they're doing. RES & SBS won't go in until April or May. Hoping the shrimp can get well established by the time the bream are big enough to feed on them.
Regardless, I'll let y'all know how things turn out.
I stocked Nebraska PK shrimp from a former PB forum member and they overwintered well, but then disappeared a few seasons later. I tried stocking PK shrimp from a source in Florida on ebay and they have not overwintered.
Canyon - How do you know they FL grass shrimp died because of temperature and not due to poor or incorrect habitat? . Grass shrimp of all life stage sizes are very vulnerable to predation.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Very true Bill, I thought about that after finishing my post. My post led the reader to believe that they died due to not tolerating the winter. I should have said they were not seen in the spring so I don't know if they could not tolerate the cold or if they found the habitat or lack of weed cover the reason for their demise. I was assured by the seller they would survive freeing temps in a northern pond but I should have been wiser and put a few in the fridge. I still can order another batch and do this test and also do another restocking as a reasonable second step. Perhaps when the fish are cold and moving slow the PK shrimp will escape predation?
I do believe they prefer the crunchy weeds (calcium containing) and perhaps need more dissolved calcium in the water? I suspect the water chemistry may be more to blame then anything else. For those who have posted before that they stocked a handful and have tons now, I'd love to know their water chemistry numbers (pH, hardness, dissolved calcium etc) I understand that they have a certain affinity for some types of grasses or weeds over another which I can't do much about since my pond doesn't seem to support aquatic growth except for FA. A rim of swamp buttercup and a few sedges have sprouted on the banks and self propagated this year.
I hope to try to transplant duck potato and I started a thread on hoping to get some pickerel weed established next year. Would love to find some chara or eelgrass.
My PK shrimp came in today I purchased off eBay. Excellent packaging, no deaths, and a very nice assortment of large to small sizes. I also believe I ordered 10 and I got more like 15. Currently tank raising them in my garage over winter. I realize ultimately I’m gonna need thousands. Guess we will see how well they tank breed. Water is currently set at 75 degrees as I read this was optimum breeding temp. I have filamentous algae and coon tail in there. They really seem to like picking through filamentous algae the most. I’ve also noticed they like to search for food in groups. Will be fun to watch them grow.
Are you using any special growing and special lighting and foods for encouraging egg development? There are some grass shrimp breeding instructions on YouTube that you should see for proven success techniques. Please return and keep us in the loop of your informational progress.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/16/2210:26 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I've read the shrimp have a true favorite when it comes to what vegetation they like to eat. Somewhere on the forum I read that a preferred leaf is from the mulberry tree. Probably too late to find any leaves for them to sample. They eat green vegetables like zucchini or kuiri squash. Aquarium shrimp often are given indian almond leaves.
Some indicate leaves that release tannin is helpful too, not sure why. Many experiments await!
