journal my setup

[HexaD]

Small update with the tank, had 2 CRS deaths over the month but I guess that had more to do with age as I around 20 shrimplets swimming around. very happy! However, I am having some issues with the dark chocolates. I had 6 in the breeding box above and lost 4 when they swam out thru the small holes (including the pregnant female). I came back from work one day and couldn't find any dead shrimp or jumpers on the ground, they just *poofed* and vanished without a trace. :( But at least the 2 left (luckily a pair) in the breeding box were safe and after a month of perseverance, the female finally got pregnant this morning is spectacular style!

This iPhone photo doesn't do her justice but under the light she was illuminating a small tint of red, blue and green! Truly amazing!

[Kitz]

I thought they are kK for a sec because of the purple green color on them. Hope they breed well for you.

[Loach]

That shrimp is so shiny! Good luck with breeding them:)

[Neo-shrimp]

Thank HexaD for the update...Good luck mate with the chocs (very solid colour)...I am enjoying reading and looking @ your thread...CJ

[Gbang]

IMF amazing female!!!!

[HexaD]

Thanks guys <3 Hopefully she will give birth smoothly and I'll post a pic of the shrimplets

[lin]

nice dark chocolate mum give us some pics of the baby CRS as well

[HexaD]

OH NO GUYS, GOT HOME TODAY AND SAW MY PREGNANT DARK CHOCOLATE LYING SIDE WAYS, I QUICKLY GOT HER OUT OF THE BREEDING BOX AND INTO THE OPEN WATER WHERE THERE IS MORE CIRCULATION AND OXYGEN, but......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnKPkou-3qQ

I can tell she hasnt given up yet, she is still alive and kicking when I move her and is able to swim!

I've since put her into a net in front of the spray bar ...............

Could it be too much debris and nitrate went up? Or is there planaria? ANY TIPS? PLEASE HELP :( :( :( :(

[Masta]

Oh no! That looks really bad, I've never had this happen to me as I have an air pump for my shrimps, hope it all works out well!

[Jess]

On dear :(

If she doesn't make it, there is still a chance you can save her eggs. Gbang did a great post on how to extract and hatch them http://www.shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/content.php/145-Gbang-s-guide-to-shrimp-adoption-AKA-egg-tumbling

*edit*

Just realised you probably know that and have probably done it before. Hopefully you will still be able to save these guys :(

[mickeyG]

Oh hexd that vid was bad as to watch, poor girl looked like she was trying to get up. Hope she pulls through for ya as she is a very nice.

[HexaD]

Thanks for the support guys

@Jess I have experience but no success in tumbling the eggs tho, wish they had some professional tools for sale to accomplish this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACI74o0Tgw&feature=youtu.be

After 2 hours under the spray bar, she seems to be able hold herself up, I've given her the mission that if she can swim out of the net, she should be strong enough, lets just hope she proves me right! I'm still flustered as to what happened, I have a oxydator in the breeding box, so shouldn't be an oxygen problem.

Could it be malnutrition? I only had some moss in the box and it was very hard not to overfeed the two shrimps in there. Once I put a bee polen granule in there and they could hardly finish it, i wanted to net it up but it just disintegrated. Since she's been in the net, I've dozed Mosura BT9, Bioplus and Tonic Pro..

[BlueBolts]

Oh hexd that vid was bad as to watch' date=' poor girl looked like she was trying to get up. Hope she pulls through for ya as she is a very nice.[/quote']

Agreed....that was a tough video to watch ! Best of luck ....

[Dean]

hay HexaD

whats the ph in that tank? im sure you know this but cherry dont like the low ph range. sorry if you answered this already as i didnt read the complete thread.

the other thing is that the oxidator shouldnt really be in the breeder box, it should be somewhere with good flow all around it in a open area. not confined to the small area of the box..

[HexaD]

Thanks Dean and BB,

From memory my tap water is 6.5 but that's before it goes through the RO system, I will have to check it again tonight as I really seldom do PH test.. I thought that having an oxydator in a small confinement would circulate some dead water, apparently not lol.

That's the main issue I find with in-tank breeding boxes, if the holes are too big, the shrimp escape, too small and you get dead spots. Compare that to the external hang-on ones which get plenty of oxygen and circulation via an air pump, they tend to get affected more by room temp in summer. Hopefully with the popularity of shrimps, we will get to see new innovative products which fix these issues :)

I went to check on her before I went to bed last night and realized that she escaped from the net, which can only be a good thing right? But I found her lying sideways struggling to get up in the glass dish.. Worried that the other shrimp might pick on her, I scooped her up into the net and placed her under the spray bar again, only thing is this time I placed another net on top so she could only escape from the tight side openings

And she did me proud! This morning I found her out of the net and standing/hiding next to the driftwood hiding. The photo is a bit unforgiving as I had to enlarge it with my 4S and the angle is a bit magnified by the Cade, so fingers crossed! Can't wait to get home today, looking at adding a sponge filter to help and hopefully she will still be alive when I get home today!

[durro68]

Best of luck mate!

[b00f]

Have you considered using intake box, with small airstone in there, just to keep the water moving?

Combining both bits of technology, to suit your needs?

I have been looking at ideas myself, and was swayed by both these restrictions on in and outside type boxes.

Maybe even hooking the external box up to a small(really small so its not too blowy in there) pump, which pumps fresh water into the box (which is actually inside the tank.., air stone in there as well to help) then have some small holes to let water back into tank.

Make sense?

[ineke]

Best of luck HexaD so much effort and things can still go wrong. Reading this blog makes me realise how little I know and how lucky I am that I haven't killed off my RCS through ignorance (yet) :)

[HexaD]

Thanks guys, it's just frustrating for me to acknowledge that they aren't like your average single pet i.e. dog, where you can take them to the vet and find out what's wrong on the spot. It's the pain of finding a dead shrimp, and then getting over it on the weekend because you know you can either just buy more or it was just the single one from 10++ other shrimplets that pains me.

Have you considered using intake box, with small airstone in there, just to keep the water moving? Combining both bits of technology, to suit your needs? I have been looking at ideas myself, and was swayed by both these restrictions on in and outside type boxes.Maybe even hooking the external box up to a small(really small so its not too blowy in there) pump, which pumps fresh water into the box (which is actually inside the tank.., air stone in there as well to help) then have some small holes to let water back into tank.

IT DOES! Come to think of it I could insert an air tube in, the holes should fit, the only issue I can think of is the bubbles will push against the dividers I have on top of the lid. Reason is the holes on the lid are wide enough for the shrimp to escape and I am currently putting the breeding box's dividers to cover the holes. But you never know till you try, I'll post some pics tonight

[b00f]

Im sure you can make something work.

Maybe get a cheap box off ebay, and chop it up a bit to suit?

I was thinking when i get mine to get a box, and keep the dividers out, and remove mum once laid and keep the young ones in the box.. It's just a matter of finding one which holes are not too big for babies to escape.

Air stone in, and hook up a pump to pump water through the box, and out the slits in the side/top, where ever they may be..

Keeping the entire box below the water level, with some smaller holes in the lip to let the air flow through and out the top of the box.

[Kitz]

Its such a nice solid black cherry you've got there, the best thing to do is not to disturb her too much. The more you disturb them the more likely you will kill them IMO. :)

[HexaD]

@ b00f, I decided to take out the breeding box as I don't have any other specific specimens to breed and I'll be heading overseas for a month. But since I'll be going to HK, I am looking forward to shopping around Goldfish St and see what awesome gadgets they have

@ Kitz, I agree in not disturbing her, but I was very worried she that was too weak and she would get bullied/eaten by the other shrimps, especially when she has tasty eggs in her belly lol

Well, this was the last I saw of her before heading off to work yesterday morning, going all spidey and hanging upside down, so I assumed that she is feeling much better..

However, she has been MIA since. I came back home and stared frantically at the tank for 1-2 hours before making a risky move. My head kept telling me to refrain myself from putting my hands in but they were too itchy lol, so I lifted everything in the tank.. And nothing. Guess it's all over then :crushed: Missing till further notice, and the most frustrating thing is seeing the male choc flyinggggggg happily around the tank and popping up everywhere!

Which brings me to another question, what do you guys do before dipping your hands into the tank? Is there a standard procedure? i.e. I come back from work, use dettol on my hands, wash it thoroughly, dry it on a towel, before putting them in. Is that ok?

I took some other pics to keep my mood up. The CBS babies would have thrilled me so much (they still do), but to think I would be affected by a missing cherry so much a year ago truly shows how far this hobby has come! :o:cool: I <3 shrimping!!!!

[Heavyd]

It's an interesting question you raised about cleaning hands. I usually only put my hands in when it's been hours since I've done anything and never on days when I've touched chemicals.

I would be concerned using the dettol as a little bit of it is absorbed in your outer skin layers, at least that what I understand as you can smell it on your skin later even after washing. Happy to hear the opinions of others.

By the way, what is the moss in the last picture?

[HexaD]

That's what I thought too about the dettol, its like you never know what's left on your hand after you come back from work or after doing the dishes an hour ago, lets see what the other say! The last moss in the pic is mini fissidens :)

[Heavyd]

Great! So now I need Mini fissidens as well.