Greetings fellow shrimp lovers!

[tonix]

Hello, my name is Steve. i live in SA and have been interested in shrimp for just over a year now. i currently have a 30cm cube that houses some cherries and CRS. I also have some natives: Darwin red noses, Typus and Chameleons. My goal when setting up my tank was to get my foot in the shrimp breeding door step, and now successfully bred cherries, chameleons (have about 10+ chameleon shrimplets now) and CRS. I have got about 6 crs shrimplets but the breeding rate seems to be significantly slower than the others, maybe the water chemistry needs to be better? Soon i'll be moving some shrimp into my 2ft tank, so i can get a lovely colony going! Here are some pictures!

Thank you

Steve

[Dean]

Welcome to SKf Steve, nice pics mate.

[Heavyd]

Great pics Steve.

Welcome to SKF.

[MrShrimp]

Welcome tonix, thanks for sharing those nice pics. I think you will have better sucess with the 2ft then the 30 cm. the bigger the volume of water, the easier it is to keep stable (very important for shrimps).

[Squiggle]

Welcome to the forum, looks like you've got a nice selection of shrimp there already & some great success too. This is definitely the best place to learn more about shrimp, ask as many questions as you like as there's no dumb ones here. Hope you have as much fun here as we do. :victorious:

[ineke]

Hi Steve great to see more South Aussies coming on the forum. Heaps to see and learn here. The Crystals need different water conditions than the cherries to get good breeding results so aim to get the water right for the Crystals and the cherries can cope with that although their breeding may slow down for a while until they get used to it. Our water here in Adelaide had quite a high ph so if you are keeping the Crystals in plain tap water that may be your problem. Hope you enjoy our forum

[tonix]

I have been using puratap water for my water changes, the pH of the tank is around ~6.8 , i've been thinking about using distilled water as i don't have access to an RO kit or Rain water. An RO kit is something that i'd like to purchase in the future, but i don't currently have the funds for that. i currently have a breeding pair of discus in a 100L tank, i am in the process of setting up a 4ft to house the pair of discus which will free up their current tank. This will be the new shrimp tank!

If anyone has any suggestions for getting an optimal pH let me know.

i have been in the hobby of aquariums for the last 13 years, which i had a range of fish keeping experience. I currently have a discus pair, a ghost knife and a large community tank in the living room which houses some large clown loaches. These days my focus is on aqua-scaping and shrimp keeping! would love to learn more about keeping the exotic breeds of shrimp but have a long way to go before i can invest the money and time that they deserve.

[ineke]

You are lucky my puratap water is ph 7.5. The water parameters for Crystal shrimp -CRS and CBS-

PH 6.2-6.6 and can go lower

KH 0-2

GH 4-6

TDS 80 -100

Water temp 21-23

Taiwan Bees

PH 5.6-6.2

KH 0-1

GH 4-6

TDS 80-100

Temp 21-23

Cherries

PH 6.4-7.6

KH 0-10

GH 4-14

TDS 80-200

Temp 18-23

hope that helps:encouragement:

[Wraithie]

Hi and welcome mate!

most keepers control their ph by using specific substrates which will buffer the tank water down (different values depending on how thick you have it) our sponsors sell a couple of types.

would love to see a pic of your discus tank :)

[tonix]

Thanks ineke, that was incredibly useful, so i assume that RO water is the best way to go about controlling your pH, especially for pH's as low as 6.

i think if i was ever going to invest in the cost of some expensive shrimp i'd have to make sure i knew 100% what i was doing and had the proper equipment to do so!

I welcome any tips or advice anyone might have.

i'll do some tests soon and let you know what exactly my puratap gives!

@WraithieI'm currently using fluval stratum, and i have used quite a thick amount in the tank. When i setup the new tank i'll have to grab some substrate from Dean.

I'll get back to you on the photos of the discus

[ineke]

I use stratum for my cherries although they do well on any inert gravel too but once you go to the higher grade Crystals and TB's you should invest in a better substrate like benibachi however if your water has a higher ph then the buffering of that soil will be used up quicker. With RO water it will last much longer. I just got a cheap portable RO unit for under $100 and its excellent so if you don't want to spend a lot then that type of unit is fine.

[tonix]

I've seen the portable RO units before, once i get myself an income i'll be sure to purchase one of those :) i'd like to get some benibachi when i set up the 2ft tank and move my crs to that tank and just have the cherries in the cube and also get some of the benibachi balls. i'd love to breed some higher grade crs! it's good to know someone whose experienced with shrimp who is from Adelaide thanks!

[fishmosy]

Hey Steve welcome to SKF

[ineke]

I have only had shrimp since January my knowledge is still limited but I have some beautiful shrimp now and a good variety with the help of the forum members. A couple of varieties still refuse to breed for me despite having everything that has been recommended to me.

[tonix]

Thanks for the welcome fishmosy, i already feel at home!

@ineke, i think i started around that time too it's good to know i'm in the right place to learn though.

I did a water change just now and tested the puratap right out of the tap. it was higher than i previously thought around the 7.0 mark.

After having finished up i noticed one of the little guys go for an exploration adventure!

[ineke]

They are so cute and look so proud when they are little. I still haven't got my CRS Or CBS to breed despite having optimum conditions for them.

[tonix]

I have two berried and one that i think is saddled, but only being able to see a few baby crs seems a little strange, maybe i am just used to cherries though.

sorry to hear about your CRS and CBS. How long have you had them for?

[ineke]

I have had them since Feb but initially I was looking after them wrong and always rearranging the tank. I have only done my water changes now and not fiddled with them for a couple of months so waiting patiently for them to breed.:)

[wayne6442]

Wow Steve nice shrimp, welcome to the forum SKF Enjoy!