Jump to content

Caridina confusa - the false zebra shrimp


fishmosy

Recommended Posts

Very nice, and the best of luck with the babies.

Sadly my false zebras failed to thrive and now after I put the remaining ones in with my DAS, DRN, Chameleon, Blackmore River I don't think I have any false zebras left.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a shame. They come from the same areas as zebs, often in the same rivers/creeks, so they are best kept in a similar manner. I can post up how I keep mine if people are interested. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, fishmosy said:

I can post up how I keep mine if people are interested. 

*Encouragement*

BTW - I'm very impressed with the (for want of a better term) the "Micro Bolbitus like" plant that your C. confusa is climbing over.  Did you collect it on one of your trips?  Seems to have a decent amount of fresh new growth.  I have something similar  that was given to me by Jeff at LCA but its gotten quite "leggy".  I think it needs more flow to keep it shorter but haven't found much info on growing it.  I'm treating it like a moss or bolbitus (ie. pretty much ignoring it and hope it grows).  It did attach to a pebble for a while but has worked itself loose.

Edited by Grubs
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought someone might ask about that @Grubs. I call it mini bolbitis, I actually have two types, this one and a smaller variant with thinner multi pronged leaves. They originally came from Harvey Creek near Cairns. 

mine seem to do really well in my CRS tanks, but poorly in my cherry tanks. 

Will post my set-up soon. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caridina confusa set-up

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

The tank was originally set-up for zebs. So it has a Quartz/granite sand base, with larger pieces on granite stacked on top. The tank was cycled for six weeks before the shrimp went in, using a large aqua one sponge filter that now resides in the left rear corner. Water parameters are maintained the same as zebs, TDS 20 - 40, KH and GH < 1, temp 20-22. I use RO water and Salty Shrimp minerals for water changes.

Since the shrimp went in, I added a massive bolbitis that fills up most of the tank and a native fern. Also added an AZOO HOB filter for extra current. The black rocks down the front have mini bolbitis and a freshwater bubble algae that come from similar water parameters (see my video on Caridina longirostris to see the bubble algae in the wild). 

There is also a mulberry leaf decomposing amongst the bolbitis, but I haven't seen the shrimp eating it, so I won't be adding it again. 

The tank is lit with an Aqua Pro Z 60cm, which spans two tanks as my tanks sit end-on on the rack (from memory, the tank is 1*1*1.5 ft). There is getting to be a nice cover of algae on the walls, but there is a bit of hair algae developing on the bolbitis. 

Edited by fishmosy
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Awesome news, I've finally spotted some new bubs. they are transparent and hard to see but I have around 20 or so. they are around 6mm at the moment. Only found them because I moved them to a different tank to make room for some new shrimp which should be arriving in a couple of weeks.

 

PA060588.JPG

 

PA060590.JPG

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Great to see some bubs, I miss my confuse but at least my Chameleons seem to be breeding up a storm.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...