Crystal red shrimp colony

[Miniandy]

My tank is 220l with tropica soil, co2 injection and a thriving plant mass. From that perspective everything is going well. However, I want to try my hand with some shrimp (outside of the already resident amano's).

My water parameters appear to lend themselves to caridina shrimp as I have a GH of 6 and a KH of 2 out if the tap. The PH in the tank is 6.4-6.5 with CO2 on and doesn't completely de-gas so never goes above 6.8-6.9.

Stocking wise it's very light, half a dozen neon tetra, the same number of black neon's and a few guppies. There are a few oto's too.

Looking to draw on some experience as I am unsure how well the crystal red shrimp will get on in my tank? Will they breed & thrive, or are they just going to tick over or will they wimper out? Would I be better going for a neocaridina variety?

Your input would be greatly appreciated 😀

 

[MichaelJ]

My tank is 220l with tropica soil, co2 injection and a thriving plant mass. From that perspective everything is going well. However, I want to try my hand with some shrimp (outside of the already resident amano's).

My water parameters appear to lend themselves to caridina shrimp as I have a GH of 6 and a KH of 2 out if the tap. The PH in the tank is 6.4-6.5 with CO2 on and doesn't completely de-gas so never goes above 6.8-6.9.

Stocking wise it's very light, half a dozen neon tetra, the same number of black neon's and a few guppies. There are a few oto's too.

Looking to draw on some experience as I am unsure how well the crystal red shrimp will get on in my tank? Will they breed & thrive, or are they just going to tick over or will they wimper out? Would I be better going for a neocaridina variety?

Your input would be greatly appreciated 😀

With that water you can keep Crystal Reds (or Bee Shrimp) and Cherry Shrimps without issues. What is your TDS? Preferably you want it to be down in the 75-150'ish ppm (150-300 uS/cm) range, but it can be higher depending on how well the stock is adapted - just make sure you drip acclimate slowly. If your amanos' are thriving on the tap you should be clear of any heavy metals or other toxins, so it should be ready to go.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Wookii]

I've never had much success with Caridina shrimp in CO2 injected tanks, but YMMV . . .

 

[MichaelJ]

I've never had much success with Caridina shrimp in CO2 injected tanks, but YMMV . . .

Hi @Wookii, I wonder why. How much CO2 (ppm) did you inject? Could be Crystals are more sensitive in this respect or it could have been something else. I am not a CO2 user so I don't have that experience.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Wookii]

Hi @Wookii, I wonder why. How much CO2 (ppm) did you inject? Could be Crystals are more sensitive in this respect or it could have been something else. I am not a CO2 user so I don't have that experience.

Cheers,
Michael

I was just injecting around the typical 30ppm.

Caridina are just much more sensitive shrimp than Neo’s, even more so if you have the more heavily selectively bred strains that are even further from the wild strains.

Like I say, your mileage may vary, if someone gets hold of a particularly robust strain of crystals, they may be fine. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Miniandy]

Thanks for the replies. I really wanted to gauge if I was going to have a growing colony or something else, so that's really useful.

Anyone else have any more anecdotal experience?

I will have another tank setup in the autumn, I might wait for then.

 

[Miniandy]

With that water you can keep Crystal Reds (or Bee Shrimp) and Cherry Shrimps without issues. What is your TDS? Preferably you want it to be down in the 75-150'ish ppm (150-300 uS/cm) range, but it can be higher depending on how well the stock is adapted - just make sure you drip acclimate slowly. If your amanos' are thriving on the tap you should be clear of any heavy metals or other toxins, so it should be ready to go.

Cheers,
Michael

My TDS should be in the 100-140 range, but the TDS meter I bought doesn't work. Waiting on a replacement, I will reply with the results when they are in.

 

[Miniandy]

Testing for TDS, out of the tap is 160 and around 190 in the tank. Not sure what thats telling me, I was expecting a lower value as the gh/kh values from the tap are lowish (6 and 2).

I might longer term move to using RO.

I picked up a dozen CRS and so far they have settled in quiet well.

 

[Miniandy]

A little update on this, I have seen 2 sets of baby shrimp in the tank (different sizes) and I think one more burried about to drop. Not sure how many will survive the tetra's, but we'll see.

Fairly happy with this, but unsure how long it will last. The tank has broady gone to pot, lots of staghorn algea and I have come to realise that the substrate is depleted. My CO2 appears to have gone a bit wobbly in between now and the last post too.

Not sure if this helped or not with them breeding, or if it will continue as the PH of the tank has gone up. I'll see how things go.

I will battle through my alea issues, as I need to learn how to overcome the problem in the tank. I'll also keep an eye on the shrimp and see if they continue to breed or stop. I might move them into a separate tank.

Pics to follow, baby shrimp are super cute.

 

[Jaseon]

I'll also keep an eye on the shrimp and see if they continue to breed or stop. I might move them into a separate tank.

Although some keep shrimp with fish its not ideal for them stress wise. They will thrive in their own environment.