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Been working on my Crystal Reds


tolstoy21
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On 2/20/2023 at 6:35 PM, Theplatymaster said:

nice! these are caridinias correct?

Yes. Caridina. I've had these shrimp for about 5 years, but I've only started selectively breeding them for about a year now.

I'm trying to develop out two lines from these. The mosura's shown above, and a high grade 'four banded' one. The four banded shrimp are typically considered 'S' grade and not graded as highly as the mosura that have much more white, but I find a lot of people like the four-banded ones. So, I'd like to make a line of those that are a higher grade than what I typically see.

Edited by tolstoy21
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Shrimp look great my dude! I’m about to convert my 20 long to a blackwater tank and I’m curious to see if my cherry shrimp can convert to that environment as my water is basically already there without the heavy tannins. If they can’t, I’m definitely gonna try out some Caradina’s and I’m excited about the potential whole new shrimp world that could open up for me. 
 

What parameters do you keep these guys at?! If I’m totally honest, I don’t really watch my parameters a ton, but I’m curious as to what you do as I know you’ve had plenty of success with these guys 

Edited by AllFishNoBrakes
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On 2/20/2023 at 10:23 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

What parameters do you keep these guys at?! If I’m totally honest, I don’t really watch my parameters a ton, but I’m curious as to what you do as I know you’ve had plenty of success with these guys 

I've stopped watching mine as well.

I keep the shrimp at about the following params . . . 

Ph: 5.0 - 6.8 (the range depends on how much life is left in my buffering substrate)
Temp: 78F
dGh: 5
dKh: 0
TDS: 125-200

I only use TDS as a measure of how much remineralizer I've put in the change water. I have a bunch that live in my community tank where the TDS is 350+.  According to the interwebs, they should be DEAD DEAD DEAD in this high of a TDS.  But, in reality what matters is what the TDS if comprised of, not the total number. The dGh in my community tanks is 8, and the dKh is 0. Ph runs at about 6.6. They do fine there, but I haven't paid attention to if they are breeding in those params.

What I have found with CRS over the past years is that the generations of fry you rear will acclimate to your conditions so long as they are in the ballpark of what they like. It's new shrimp that have issues, ones that have not been bred in your water.

When I buy new shrimp, my goal is always to acquire enough that I can make it to that first generation. Then natural selection will work its magic and the shrimplets that survive are bullet proof in my water. 

I always expect some die off with a batch I've bought and introduced to my water. In fact, I lost a bunch years ago when I was first starting out this colony.  After that introductory period, I've only experienced die off once when a matten filter got too clogged up with organics and tanked the Ph down into the 4s.  First the shrimp stopped breeding, then they started dying by the dozens every day until I stabilized things.

Ok if I'm being honest, my second big shrimp disaster was when three apistogramma fry hitched a ride into the shrimp tank by hiding in a plant. After about a week, I started noticing that all the smaller shrimp were vanishing. I only found the apistos because I moved the sponger filter to clean it.

Edited by tolstoy21
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On 2/21/2023 at 12:22 PM, tolstoy21 said:

Ph: 5.0 - 6.8 (the range depends on how much life is left in my buffering substrate)
Temp: 78F
dGh: 5
dKh: 0
TDS: 125-200

I only use TDS as a measure of how much remineralizer I've put in the change water.

Appreciate the notes and in-depth response!

Most of my tanks run in the low 6’s with basically 0 buffer. TDS runs like 50-100 in my tanks, yet my Neo’s have thrived for me for years. I think it’s because I originally got them from someone locally so I agree with you 100% on that. 
 

I’m not sure the botanicals/tannins will do much to my water other than tint it because of where the parameters already sit. My cherry shrimp tank already has a slight tint due to the cholla wood that’s been in there since the tank was set up over 2 years ago. Regardless I’m excited to check it out and if the cherry’s can’t make the change I’m definitely looking towards some Caradina’s to try out. 

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On 2/21/2023 at 2:22 PM, tolstoy21 said:

What I have found with CRS over the past years is that the generations of fry you rear will acclimate to your conditions so long as they are in the ballpark of what they like. It's new shrimp that have issues, ones that have not been bred in your water.

Mind blown.

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On 2/21/2023 at 2:19 PM, tolstoy21 said:

don't really use botanicals with my shrimp other than as an occasional food source. I find a good buffering substrate holds the Ph where it needs to be well enough without needing to add anything else.

Word up. I’ve been itching to do a blackwater tank so that’s the main goal here, for me. Just stoked to find which shrimp will do well in that environment 

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On 2/20/2023 at 6:19 PM, tolstoy21 said:

Hey all, been working on developing out my line of CRS. I'm starting to get some good results, but am still working on developing better leg color. Here is a shot of one of my current breeders. 

P1130155.jpg.67e757b1ac67067c292befe7e66d2422.jpg

 

The culls don't look so bad either . . . 

P1120925.jpg.11137d72c9d1126d123986a3cf42f1b4.jpg

 

 

Nice!!! These look amazing so far!!!

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