Happy with my Fire Reds but....

[jettej]

So I haven't posted for a while due to work and trying to do everything before weather gets too nasty again. Anyways some of you guys may have seen a post at craigslist selling a Taiwanese Fire Red Cherry Shrimp from Issaquah. Well I contacted the guy a couple months ago and finally had a chance to go to his place and get some of his Fire reds 2 weeks ago. I only bought 10 and a few extras and a pinch of nice quality java moss.. Obviously I have them for almost 2 weeks now. I remember he gave me 1 female carrying eggs. But i checked today No one has eggs an no shrimplets!!! what's goin on? my first suspect is the sponge prefilter might be too big for the shrimplets so they get sucked by the filter. Here are some pics.

 

[Anonymous]

Jettej you will soon. The yellow stuff in the back that shrimp in the last picture. Thats eggs ready to be fertilized by a male.

 

[jettej]

Thanks Wes. one thing I noticed was Males gets crazy swimming around. and found out they are looking for the female that just released some enzymes and shes ready! Ugh Shrimps are weird lol!

 

[LuminousAphid]

I have had my RCS for over a month, and still don't see any babies, although there are a couple of berried females... I think we just have to be patient, my friend.

If there was one that was berried, but then you never saw babies, the mother might have gotten stressed during the move when you got them and aborted the clutch. I have heard it can happenwith freshwater shrimp.

 

[jettej]

I have had my RCS for over a month, and still don't see any babies, although there are a couple of berried females... I think we just have to be patient, my friend.

If there was one that was berried, but then you never saw babies, the mother might have gotten stressed during the move when you got them and aborted the clutch. I have heard it can happenwith freshwater shrimp.

The first part i would agree since i had em long and got nothing then... I should be patient like you.

Second part i also agree. That might have happened. Also the eggs probably died off since the water chemistry has changed even thou i carefully accclimated the whole crew. Or like u said the mother was just like F it im stressed. Threw the eggs away got sucked by the filters orrr just got eaten by snails or the shrimps itself. I am also planning to get yellows pretty soon. And Crystals once i gain my confidence handling shrimps

 

[Anonymous]

I am also planning to get yellows pretty soon. And Crystals once i gain my confidence handling shrimps

Here's a compatible shrimp list

 

[pbmax]

It's common for a female shrimp to drop her eggs when transferred to another tank. As long as you have an established tank with decent bio film and stable water parameters they should start breeding soon. I've never seen (or heard of) snails or other shrimp snatching eggs from a berried female that was still alive.

Your tank looks like a great place for shrimp! :spoton: 

 

[jettej]

Thanks Wes. So is it homing compatibility or breeding. Either or check means what and no means what? Haha

pbmax okay so here's the deal. I have those generic 10 gallon black hob filters using those rectangular refilable filter. I lost the stock sponge that used as a biofilm. So what i did was . I grabbed one of thos colored plastic scrubbers and stuck it where the stock biofilter used to be place. Does that sound decent or no? See.. idk how to determine a decent biofilm. Some people used straws and they said thats a good fix.

 

[pbmax]

Unless the shrimp are living in your filter, then what's growing in your filter likely doesn't matter much. I'm talking about the stuff the shrimp actively eat that lives on all of the surfaces in the tank.

The key for shrimp compatibility is not to mix neocaridina with neocaridina or caridina with caridina. For example, if you mix yellows and RCS (both neocaridina) you'll get undesirable coloration out of the offspring - this is bad.

 

[jettej]

Okay. Well yeah i guess my tank is fine then. I'm trying to keep the water parameters and the quality stable. I think i got decent  amount of plant for the size of the tank.

And okay. I never thought of mixing any shrimp. At least atm. But i'll keep that in mind. I am a pure/stock strain kind of person when it comes to fish/shrimp hobby. I have to gain enough confidence and knowledge to step up and experiment. I guess when i get CRS ill combine it with CBS if i get some.

Thanks much pbmax. Always full of info.

 

[LuminousAphid]

So will Crystal Red and Crystal Black's not interbreed? It sounds like the blacks would just be another color variation of the CRS (like Blue Velvet, green) but are they a separate species?

I think the key is you could have 1 tank with 2 types, as long as 1 is neocaridina and 1 is caridina. So that they don't interbreed and revert to their wild color form, which is what can happen I have heard.

 

[pbmax]

That table shouldn't say it's okay to keep Crystal Reds and Crystal Blacks together - they're the same species (caridina cf. cantonensis). In theory you'll still get the same banding, but the red and black colors will wash out over time.

For the record, blue velvets are not a color variation of CRS (Crystal Red Shrimp - caridina cf. cantonensis). They originated from selective breeding of RCS (Red Cherry shrimp - neocaridina heteropoda). You may not have been implying that, but the wording wasn't 100% clear so I thought I'd mention that.

Mixing neocaridina and caridina works great as long as you can find a happy medium as far as water parameters go.

 

[jettej]

So will Crystal Red and Crystal Black's not interbreed? It sounds like the blacks would just be another color variation of the CRS (like Blue Velvet, green) but are they a separate species?

I think the key is you could have 1 tank with 2 types, as long as 1 is neocaridina and 1 is caridina. So that they don't interbreed and revert to their wild color form, which is what can happen I have heard.

Crs and cbs will definitely interbreed. But its just the coloration. I know someone doing that and the spawns are good. Its mixed yes but u still come across with cbs mate with cbs and crs mate with crs. The downside is the longer the community grows larger. The less chance same coloration will meet. And i think thats what pbmax meabt about colors will wash out.

 

[jettej]

That table shouldn't say it's okay to keep Crystal Reds and Crystal Blacks together - they're the same species (caridina cf. cantonensis).  In theory yo. u'll still get the same banding, but the red and black colors will wash out over time.

For the record, blue velvets are not a color variation of CRS (Crystal Red Shrimp - caridina cf. cantonensis).  They originated from selective breeding of RCS (Red Cherry shrimp - neocaridina heteropoda).  You may not have been implying that, but the wording wasn't 100% clear so I thought I'd mention that.

Mixing neocaridina and caridina works great as long as you can find a happy medium as far as water parameters go.

I think we are reading the table wrong.i think Check means they WILL/CAN breed whilst x meant theyre not compatible breeding. So if u r watching to keep same strain but 2 different kind of shrimp. You wanna find an X compatibility so you can home them without interbreeding. And if u want to interbreed something. Like in pokemon. U want to find 2 shrimp that has check on it.

And You said if crs and cbs mix. The red and black colors will wash out. Meaning dull colors or just turn into white? Cuz if they turn into white would it make the crystal's grade go up? Sorry if im so fail at this.

 

[Anonymous]

Unless you dont care like me. Just put all freaking shrimps together.  Lol
@jettej. Red X means will interbreed and green check means ok to live with, without interbreeding.

 

[pbmax]

I think we are reading the table wrong.i think Check means they WILL/CAN breed whilst x meant theyre not compatible breeding. So if u r watching to keep same strain but 2 different kind of shrimp. You wanna find an X compatibility so you can home them without interbreeding. And if u want to interbreed something. Like in pokemon. U want to find 2 shrimp that has check on it.

And You said if crs and cbs mix. The red and black colors will wash out. Meaning dull colors or just turn into white? Cuz if they turn into white would it make the crystal's grade go up? Sorry if im so fail at this.

As SirWesDragon said, X means you shouldn't keep them together because they'll breed. Take Blue Velvets and red cherries, for example. And ghost shrimp - they're green for everything, but they interbreed with no other known shrimp.

From my brief reading on the topic, I believe you'll retain the white bands if you mix CRS and CBS, but the red and black bands will fade to brown. It's just a bad idea.

 

[BillHN]

lus1: 

I think we are reading the table wrong.i think Check means they WILL/CAN breed whilst x meant theyre not compatible breeding. So if u r watching to keep same strain but 2 different kind of shrimp. You wanna find an X compatibility so you can home them without interbreeding. And if u want to interbreed something. Like in pokemon. U want to find 2 shrimp that has check on it.

And You said if crs and cbs mix. The red and black colors will wash out. Meaning dull colors or just turn into white? Cuz if they turn into white would it make the crystal's grade go up? Sorry if im so fail at this.

As SirWesDragon said, X means you shouldn't keep them together because they'll breed.  Take Blue Velvets and red cherries, for example.  And ghost shrimp - they're green for everything, but they interbreed with no other known shrimp.

From my brief reading on the topic, I believe you'll retain the white bands if you mix CRS and CBS, but the red and black bands will fade to brown.  It's just a bad idea.

 

[jettej]

Thanks pbmax for Maximum info.!! Helps a lot!

Anyways, Just did my after work Morning Routine check with my tanks and look what i found:

A abandoned Alien/Robot Suit!



And after that I also found these:

One of the larger females got some load!



So happy! thou its normal and RCS are easy to breed. I'm just happy to see them breeding in my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Make sure water changes are important part of your weekly routine. Shrumps love water changes and promtes breeding. Leave the exoskeleton for shrumps to eat for calcium. For calcium use cuttlefish bone or shrimp calcium supplements. I use the bone its cheaper but you have to tie it down with a rock and remove weekly it rot.

 

[jettej]

Make sure water changes are important part of your weekly routine.  Shrumps love water changes and promtes breeding. Leave the exoskeleton for shrumps to eat for calcium.  For calcium use cuttlefish bone or shrimp calcium supplements. I use the bone its cheaper but you have to tie it down with a rock and remove weekly it rot.

So whats the best way to acquire cuttlefish bone? Yeah i will be doing one now. Thanks!