My Crystal Red Shrimp Tank

[Shrimper]

Quick update: My female has given birth for the 3rd time today and the Males are trying to breed with her as i type. The first batch of babies are starting to show signs of sexual maturity too as about half of them (obviously the males) are now trying to catch their mum

I'll try and get some pics when the windows aren't reflecting on the side of the tank to show how well they are growing, they are getting quite big already, at least half the size of the adults.

 

[Esfa]

Ah wicked!

I'm expecting a few in the post soon!

 

[kniesh]

Ok you have talked me into it, I have a 25gallon an a 10 gallon that are screaming out to be set up for these. Think I will set up the 10gal, do me a favour tho and convince the girlfriend i need to set up yet another tank!

 

[Shrimper]

Like i promised here are some more pictures of my shrimp:

My babies have grown up so quickly. The oldest shrimp in these 2 pics was born on March 24!

Here's Mum hiding in the Moss

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I've also found this old photo of when this was my Betta tank:

 

[guppy_man]

I love your CRS tank , i know you've already been asked by others for a few but, if you do feel you need to get rid of some ill pay you for them and for postage.

keep me in mind

 

[three-fingers]

Wow, they do grow fast, and have alot of white on them!

Nice pics.

I've decided for sure to turn my 25gal into a shrimp tank now .

 

[iSnail]

They are looking great Well done!

 

[millym]

fantastic tank & shrimp
we had amanos in our community tank & i loved watching them they were right characters i always remember one shrimp sidling up & snatching an algae tablet right from under a 5 inch yoyo loaches whiskers, hillarious, the loach was left looking totally baffled whilst the shrimp had scuttled off under a rock to enjoy his snack!
our amanos lasted nearly 4 years before dying (i opresume from old age) we must get some more for our big tank.

 

[Shrimper]

Wow, they do grow fast, and have alot of white on them!

Nice pics.

I've decided for sure to turn my 25gal into a shrimp tank now .

Thanks for the nice comments everybody

They have grown surprisingly quick. The second brood don't seem to have grown as much in their first month as the first brood did, I guess there is less microscopic food for them. I'm thinking of ordering some of the Japanese CRS food when I get paid next week now. Anybody got a recommendation?

To be honest I'm amazed how good the white stripes are considering the potential fathers. The Mother is the best of my original shrimp, but the fathers are a motley crew ranging from some who look a bit like her through to one with hardly any white. Amazingly the babies all have very white heads and good size 2nd and 3rd stripes. Also the majority have the 4th stripe at the start of the tail and even the "tigers tooth" marking on their side.

When it comes to grading the babies every guide seems to have a different opinion. Based on planetinverts.com I would say they are mostly A grade but based on Shrimpnow.com I would say they are mostly B. I know which I prefer

 

[guppy_man]

Looking at the one in your sig i'd say they were Grade A.

 

[Shrimper]

I love your CRS tank , i know you've already been asked by others for a few but, if you do feel you need to get rid of some ill pay you for them and for postage.

keep me in mind

Don't worry I should have some spare sooner or later...

I've made a spreadsheet, on which I made a few big assumptions:

• The brood will always be 16 shrimp
• 50/50 male to female
• They sexually mature at 5 months and give birth at 6
• There will be enough room for them all
• None of them die

but including babies I should have about 1500 by Christmas this year and over 1 Million shrimp by the end of January 2010 so there will be enough for everybody

 

[guppy_man]

One day the world will be taken over my shrimp, forget terrorism.... think shrimpism

 

[Liam]

They look very good, I never worry too much about the grade, though I like solid white and red stripes with nice dark red colour, dots on the head are cute too. I dont see the attraction of the almost all white ones. When I first kept them I had them in a five gallon tank I went from ten to almost 200 in the first year I had four females to begin with. I didnt upgrade their tank quick enough and though I sold about 100 the population began to crash, I thinned them out more and still the population went down, then in the summer the tank got too warm about 27C and that killed more of them. I got them a bigger tank and eventually they recovered and stopped going to shrimp heaven, so long as I thin out the cherry population regularly, they do fine, (cherrys multipily at about three times the rate of crs). I had the same experience the first broods had the most survivors. At first I thought they were easy but they can be tricky and even when there is no obvious problem they can be in trouble, I guess thats what makes them more expensive than other shrimp. I do think leaf litter does help the new born shrimp. I have tried Japanese baby shrimp food, aquaticmagic on ebay sell it, I am not sure if it is much of a help but many people say it is very good. I squash up some shrimp pellets and scatter them about the little ones get some that way.
So far your shrimp are doing great, but do watch the survival rate of the new babies if its low its time to sell.

 

[Gill]

amazing shrimper.
Very Very Enviuos of the CRS, when can i have some.
You can have some red noses' in exchange

 

[Shrimper]

They look very good, I never worry too much about the grade, though I like solid white and red stripes with nice dark red colour, dots on the head are cute too. I dont see the attraction of the almost all white ones. When I first kept them I had them in a five gallon tank I went from ten to almost 200 in the first year I had four females to begin with. I didnt upgrade their tank quick enough and though I sold about 100 the population began to crash, I thinned them out more and still the population went down, then in the summer the tank got too warm about 27C and that killed more of them. I got them a bigger tank and eventually they recovered and stopped going to shrimp heaven, so long as I thin out the cherry population regularly, they do fine, (cherrys multipily at about three times the rate of crs). I had the same experience the first broods had the most survivors. At first I thought they were easy but they can be tricky and even when there is no obvious problem they can be in trouble, I guess thats what makes them more expensive than other shrimp. I do think leaf litter does help the new born shrimp. I have tried Japanese baby shrimp food, aquaticmagic on ebay sell it, I am not sure if it is much of a help but many people say it is very good. I squash up some shrimp pellets and scatter them about the little ones get some that way.
So far your shrimp are doing great, but do watch the survival rate of the new babies if its low its time to sell.

Thanks for the tips Liam. I was thinking about upgrading their tank before the end of the year, partly to give them room, and partly as an excuse for another tank.

The temperature is one thing I am worried about, during the warm spell a couple of weeks ago my flat got quite warm while I was at work and the tank went up to abut 26/27 It cooled down once I opened some windows but it has got me paranoid i'm going to come home to a tank of cooked shrimp one day.

I was looking at aquaticmagic too! I'm considering ordering some interesting moss from them as well as the food. The Star Moss looks great. I like this bit from the ebay listing: "Its beauty calms your soul & fills your heart with an absolute feeling of joy..." Thats some useful Moss

As for the grading I agree its not that important and I do prefer them with Good Red & white stripes but It does mean I will probably get more money if I sell any at auction on ebay

Gill - I'm not too sure when they will be ready... I want to have more than 1 female breeding before i start selling them, but if the population starts to get too big i will thin them out before that.