I have a bit of time on my hands this afternoon so thought i would do a little guide to CRS. I have seen and read many posts about people wanting to keep them so thought i would share some basics and things i have learnt during my shrimp keeping years. I am hoping anyone else who keeps them will add to this thread as I'm sure I'll miss a few things.
Understanding The Shrimp
Crystal red shrimp(CRS) are a colour morph of the wild black and white bee shrimp. A Japanese breeder found a red coloured shrimp amongst his bee shrimp colony and set about creating a red variant of the bee shrimp. This single red shrimp was repeatedly bred with and back crossed to create a stable red variety of the bee shrimp that we now see today. It is said that the CRS shrimp strain was created from only 3 shrimp, making it extremely inbred and sensitive. Due to its sensitivity its extremely important to get your water parameters right and keep them stable.
Water Parameters
PH:CRS prefer acidic water so a ph below 7 is important. There have been cases where CRS have been kept with a higher ph but lifespan, health and breeding are severely diminished. Ideally a ph reading of 6.0-6.8 is needed, the lower the better. With a low ph the free ammonia in the water is also much lower, again improving living conditions. GH: You need to be aiming for a GH reading of 4-6, this is to help with molting. The GH reading basically consists of the calcium and magnesium content in the water, both essential for shrimp to molt, breed and grow. Its always best to use RO water with CRS as you are able to add back to the water what you want, without nasty surprises coming from the tap water. KH: Most breeders aim for a kh of 0. In the wild shrimp often molt and breed after a heavy rainfall, keeping your kh at 0 imitates the rain and encourages constant breeding. TDS: TDS (total dissolved solids) levels should ideally be kept between 100-150. If you get your gh readings right using RO water then this is usually simple to achieve. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate: Like fish keeping, ammonia and nitrite levels should be 0 as standard. Nitrate in a shrimp tank also needs to be 0 or as close to it as possible. High nitrate levels lower the immune system of the shrimp making them very susceptible to bacterial infections, probably the biggest cause of shrimp deaths. Oxygen: Something that is often over looked is a simple air stone, from experience and experiments i have done i find high oxygen levels are essential! shrimp look, act, breed and feed better in a tank with good oxygen levels. Temp: Try to aim for a temperature between 21-23, a temp of 21c may result in a stronger colour to the shrimp, 23c helps eggs hatch a few days sooner. Try not to let the temperature fluctuate, pick a temperature and keep it.
Feeding
Personally i think our shrimp are over fed. In the shrimps natural habitat they feed off the leaves and biofilm they have available to them, they thrive on next to nothing. I used to feed my shrimp daily when i first started but i had a constant struggle with nitrate levels. Now i rely on bacterial based shrimp foods that help build a good biofilm, accompanied by 'black water' products that contain tannins and a good amount of fresh leaves such as spinach and stinging nettles. I always keep a couple cattapa leaves in every shrimp tank as standard, biofilm builds quickly on them, they release tannins and they have natural healing abilities. Packet shrimp food is great for a varied diet but feeding them once or twice a week from the packet is all that is needed.
Some of the above may seem a little daunting but its really not, if the aquarium is set up the right way from the beginning then keeping CRS is really simple. Thanks to their growing popularity there are many products designed solely for CRS. Shrimp substrates are brilliant, they buffer the water to near perfection, your only thing to worry about when using these is to get your GH and TDS readings right. RO water should be considered essential for CRS, again there are many products to help re-mineralise the water with the goodness needed. I think i have waffled enough now but hopefully other people can chip in with things i have not covered.
Breeding
Breeding CRS is as easy as breeding cherry shrimp once you have your water right. As mentioned above you should be aiming for a kh of 0 to encourage reproduction, its equally important for the water parameters to be stable and consistent. Sexing shrimp is also easy once you know what to look for, the females have a much rounder underbelly where as the males underside is less curved. The males also have longer atennules (the shorter pair of antennae). When a female reaches sexual maturity you will see what looks like a yellow saddle appear on her back, these are unfertilised eggs, the saddle can be harder to spot with strong coloured shrimp. Providing you have a mature male in the tank a mating takes place after the female molts and the body is much softer, after a couple days you will see the eggs move down to her abdomen where she will keep them moving using the pleopods (the mini legs on her belly). You can expect these eggs to hatch in around 4 weeks time.
Bacterial Infections
Bacterial infections are probably the biggest cause of unexplained shrimp deaths in the aquarium, they are much more wide spread than first thought. Due to the sensitivity of CRS their immune system is easily weakened letting bacterial infections run riot. A weakened immune system can be caused by many things but i'll try and cover the basics. High nitrate levels are an obvious cause, people new to shrimp do not realise nitrate levels acceptable in fish tanks are not acceptable to shrimp. Adding new shrimp to existing colonies is also risky unless quarantined, different shrimp from different aquariums have different fauna and tolerance to different bacteria. The shipping of new shrimp can also stress them out leaving them with a weakened immune system. Treatment: From my experience the best treatment for bacterial infections are pussy willow bark and beta glucan. Pussy willow bark should only be used short term, it has natural antibiotic qualities that can also start killing the good bacteria if left in the aquarium for more than 2-3days. Beta glucan has been scientifically proven to improve the immune system of shrimp. There are more and more shrimp products that contain beta glucan, dosing regulary can help fight outbreaks before they occur.
Here are 2 great links that explain bacterial infections in depth and list possible causes and symptoms:
http://www.crustahunter.com/en/node/894
http://www.garnelenblog.de/diagnoseliste/
Crystal Red Shrimp Grading
@ Admin/Moderator: Permission to post these images has been granted, proof available if required.
Understanding The Shrimp
Crystal red shrimp(CRS) are a colour morph of the wild black and white bee shrimp. A Japanese breeder found a red coloured shrimp amongst his bee shrimp colony and set about creating a red variant of the bee shrimp. This single red shrimp was repeatedly bred with and back crossed to create a stable red variety of the bee shrimp that we now see today. It is said that the CRS shrimp strain was created from only 3 shrimp, making it extremely inbred and sensitive. Due to its sensitivity its extremely important to get your water parameters right and keep them stable.
Water Parameters
PH:CRS prefer acidic water so a ph below 7 is important. There have been cases where CRS have been kept with a higher ph but lifespan, health and breeding are severely diminished. Ideally a ph reading of 6.0-6.8 is needed, the lower the better. With a low ph the free ammonia in the water is also much lower, again improving living conditions. GH: You need to be aiming for a GH reading of 4-6, this is to help with molting. The GH reading basically consists of the calcium and magnesium content in the water, both essential for shrimp to molt, breed and grow. Its always best to use RO water with CRS as you are able to add back to the water what you want, without nasty surprises coming from the tap water. KH: Most breeders aim for a kh of 0. In the wild shrimp often molt and breed after a heavy rainfall, keeping your kh at 0 imitates the rain and encourages constant breeding. TDS: TDS (total dissolved solids) levels should ideally be kept between 100-150. If you get your gh readings right using RO water then this is usually simple to achieve. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate: Like fish keeping, ammonia and nitrite levels should be 0 as standard. Nitrate in a shrimp tank also needs to be 0 or as close to it as possible. High nitrate levels lower the immune system of the shrimp making them very susceptible to bacterial infections, probably the biggest cause of shrimp deaths. Oxygen: Something that is often over looked is a simple air stone, from experience and experiments i have done i find high oxygen levels are essential! shrimp look, act, breed and feed better in a tank with good oxygen levels. Temp: Try to aim for a temperature between 21-23, a temp of 21c may result in a stronger colour to the shrimp, 23c helps eggs hatch a few days sooner. Try not to let the temperature fluctuate, pick a temperature and keep it.
Feeding
Personally i think our shrimp are over fed. In the shrimps natural habitat they feed off the leaves and biofilm they have available to them, they thrive on next to nothing. I used to feed my shrimp daily when i first started but i had a constant struggle with nitrate levels. Now i rely on bacterial based shrimp foods that help build a good biofilm, accompanied by 'black water' products that contain tannins and a good amount of fresh leaves such as spinach and stinging nettles. I always keep a couple cattapa leaves in every shrimp tank as standard, biofilm builds quickly on them, they release tannins and they have natural healing abilities. Packet shrimp food is great for a varied diet but feeding them once or twice a week from the packet is all that is needed.
Some of the above may seem a little daunting but its really not, if the aquarium is set up the right way from the beginning then keeping CRS is really simple. Thanks to their growing popularity there are many products designed solely for CRS. Shrimp substrates are brilliant, they buffer the water to near perfection, your only thing to worry about when using these is to get your GH and TDS readings right. RO water should be considered essential for CRS, again there are many products to help re-mineralise the water with the goodness needed. I think i have waffled enough now but hopefully other people can chip in with things i have not covered.
Breeding
Breeding CRS is as easy as breeding cherry shrimp once you have your water right. As mentioned above you should be aiming for a kh of 0 to encourage reproduction, its equally important for the water parameters to be stable and consistent. Sexing shrimp is also easy once you know what to look for, the females have a much rounder underbelly where as the males underside is less curved. The males also have longer atennules (the shorter pair of antennae). When a female reaches sexual maturity you will see what looks like a yellow saddle appear on her back, these are unfertilised eggs, the saddle can be harder to spot with strong coloured shrimp. Providing you have a mature male in the tank a mating takes place after the female molts and the body is much softer, after a couple days you will see the eggs move down to her abdomen where she will keep them moving using the pleopods (the mini legs on her belly). You can expect these eggs to hatch in around 4 weeks time.
Bacterial Infections
Bacterial infections are probably the biggest cause of unexplained shrimp deaths in the aquarium, they are much more wide spread than first thought. Due to the sensitivity of CRS their immune system is easily weakened letting bacterial infections run riot. A weakened immune system can be caused by many things but i'll try and cover the basics. High nitrate levels are an obvious cause, people new to shrimp do not realise nitrate levels acceptable in fish tanks are not acceptable to shrimp. Adding new shrimp to existing colonies is also risky unless quarantined, different shrimp from different aquariums have different fauna and tolerance to different bacteria. The shipping of new shrimp can also stress them out leaving them with a weakened immune system. Treatment: From my experience the best treatment for bacterial infections are pussy willow bark and beta glucan. Pussy willow bark should only be used short term, it has natural antibiotic qualities that can also start killing the good bacteria if left in the aquarium for more than 2-3days. Beta glucan has been scientifically proven to improve the immune system of shrimp. There are more and more shrimp products that contain beta glucan, dosing regulary can help fight outbreaks before they occur.
Here are 2 great links that explain bacterial infections in depth and list possible causes and symptoms:
http://www.crustahunter.com/en/node/894
http://www.garnelenblog.de/diagnoseliste/
Crystal Red Shrimp Grading
@ Admin/Moderator: Permission to post these images has been granted, proof available if required.
I'm sure someone on here has CRS in a heavily planted tank though?
I guess that's pay back for the Crewe comment 