Jump to content

breeding crystals


ineke

Recommended Posts

  • HOF Member

I have had my original crystals for a while now plus the new ones Brado sent me. I have about 35 so must be a reasonable male /female ratio. I have had no breeding at all- Brads might be a bit soon but my other 14 I have had for a good few months

They are in a 60 litre tank , benibachi soil, water is crystal clear, plants and moss in tank, plenty of hiding places, variety of foods and veg 2-3 times a week plus biozyme everyday. I have cut back on feeding -they actually come and get the food when offered.

WP"s

TDS 135

GH 6

KH 2

PH 6

Temp 23-24

Ammonia and nitrites 0

Nitrates 0-5

RO water with salty shrimp water top ups RO only.

Does this all look OK. I'm not worried too much if they don't breed yet but just want to know that I have everything right. I think I have and last week had a few moults lying around. No deaths , shrimp seem bright and active. Anything else I should be doing?

I have not been doing water changes other than siphoning out any uneaten food.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those water parameters are very good for CRS, maybe they haven't started breeding as they are not mature yet. Can you see any saddled CRS in your tank?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you feed frozen bloodworms every now and then? That seems to work for me...also do small water changes every fortnight to simulate rain. My TDS is 185-200 and they seem happy and breeding nicely, sometimes straight after dropping shrimplets they will berry up again next day or two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

I can't pick any with saddles but that may just be that they are not so easy to see. I have seen the boys doing their crazy dance a few times but can't see any eggs. I'm used to the cherries who are easy to see.

I have some mature crystals as well as young ones.

Would a water change help even though it all is within ideal parameters?

I know patience is the key and not particularly worried about not breeding but just want to make sure I am doing all the right things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

I do feed bloodworms about once a week it looks like I might need to do some water changes. I will give that a go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know in nature a lot of critters breed when it rains or a storm front is at hand...So I do small water changes to try and simulate that every now and then, it was also some advise from BB. Why not try it wouldn't hurt to do small ones (10%) and try the frozen bloodworms also it works great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

As I said I use the bloodworms once a week so I will do some water changes tomorrow and see how they go . Thanks:encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry you must have been typing the post about you feeding bloodworms the same time as me so I didn't see it, but hope they will start breeding for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

Thanks I am happy that they seem healthy and active and was wondering about the water changes because that is something I used to do but then got the impression that it was best not to do that. I'm really happy to go back to doing 10% weekly changes. I feed my fish bloodworms everyday so I might give the shrimp a few extra maybe twice a week instead of once a week. I also have a large range of foods( thanks Izzy) so feed them something different each time they get fed. Looks like its time for candles and mood music:encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ineke.... Definitely water change 5-10% weekly. Sounds like you've got a go varied diet, and WP.....how old is the tank. If you're desperate, there's always the "breeding liquid". BhahahahhahahaBhahahahhahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When a water change is done, then WP will change abit and that is what stimulate them to molt. Shrimps can only breed after they moult when there shell is soft. that is what I read from breeder over sea. On the other hand , he could be wrong but it make sense to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're desperate' date=' there's always the "breeding liquid". BhahahahhahahaBhahahahhahaha[/quote']

What's wrong with "breeding liquid" BB, you say that like you think it doesn't work, lol :smiley_simmons: (by the way, this was written in "sarcastica font" lol)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member
Ineke.... Definitely water change 5-10% weekly. Sounds like you've got a go varied diet' date=' and WP.....how old is the tank. If you're desperate, there's always the "breeding liquid". BhahahahhahahaBhahahahhahaha[/quote']

I must get that secret water. The tank is only about 3 weeks old , plenty of biofilm on the glass and everything in it was from a cycled tank - substrate , water, filters and medium. I'm not too worried about not breeding yet but more that I'm doing the right thing. I read on one thread not to do water changes just top ups so had stopped doing the changes but wasn't happy with that and did water changes on my cherry tanks today which made me think about the crystals that is why I put this thread up. I have always done 10% water changes on all my tanks and thought it a bit strange not doing them, especially in my nano tanks. So I'm going back to my old ways and see what happens. If they still don't look like breeding I will spend the money and get the secret water !!!!!!!:encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member
When a water change is done' date=' then WP will change abit and that is what stimulate them to molt. Shrimps can only breed after they moult when there shell is soft. that is what I read from breeder over sea. On the other hand , he could be wrong but it make sense to me.[/quote']

I think you are right MrShrimp that was my understanding but then I read about not doing changes and thought I was doing the right thing. I guess everyone to their own thinking but I'm much happier doing 10% water changes so I'm going back to that:encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member
What's wrong with "breeding liquid" BB' date=' you say that like you think it doesn't work, lol :smiley_simmons: (by the way, this was written in "sarcastica font" lol)[/quote']

I thought BB was talking about his secret shrimp water that's theMAGIC water!,!:couple_inlove:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sssshhhhhh!! It's a secret, lol :barbershop_quartet_ I only do 5% water changes when I do them :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

It's still a secret lol no body knows !!!! I do 5-10% depending on how the water looks . When I did a change in the cube they all came out and sat in the area I was slowly putting the water in. They do that for the weekly top ups too! Just looove the fresh water

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The tank is only about 3 weeks old

Ahhh, the new tank phenomena...... New environment,...etc....may take 5-8 weeks before you see any berried girls. Depend on a few factors/additives, but patience is always the best !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

Yes no hurry and I guess even my original crystals have had a few moves since I've had them. I still have to take the CBS out as they are in with the CRS. I am just changing the water in the tank I used for the Red Cherries to something closer to what the CBS need and then will put them in there. That's the big 100 litre planted tank so that will set them back further still but don't really want the two types interbreeding. The first 6 I got came from a mixed tank and the others are from Brad so they definitely need to be in separate tanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

WooHoo to me .Changed the water yesterday berried Golden Bee Today doing the happy dance:triumphant::triumphant::smiley_simmons:

Only trouble is I won't know what she mated with and I have CRS and CBS in the tank at the moment but who cares I've got a berried Crystal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome stuff Ineke, I heard that woohoo from up here, lol :victorious: Now you got 3-4 weeks of looking at berries, so exciting! :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

Thanks Squiggle I actually got a shock seeing this shrimp upside down with eggs so excited ! :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally do 30% water changes with my CBS.

As long as the replacement water parameters are as close to ideal as possible it causes no harm.

Larger water changes tends to make my CBS do the love dance.

Regular photoperiods I find play a role also.

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...