journal Fan's Japanese BlackBees and RedBees

[Guest]

Hi SKFers!

 

I"ve been a member for a few months and and I'm thinking I'm finally comfortable enough to make a journal that will be documenting my journey with breeding Japanese Black/Red Bees.  

 

A little info about me - I've been a shrimper for 5 years now and been into aquaria for 7-8 years. It all started with the GF getting me some goldfish to fit her theme of asking me to Prom (i'm older by 2 years and it was her prom and I didn't go to the same school) and since then have been involved with aquaria related stuff.  What started off as an attempt to keep the goldfish (those $1 for 10 goldfish) quickly turned into a betta hobby which lead to breeding with lead to live plants which lead to aquascaping which lead to where we are now... Shrimping....

 

Currently, I'm keeping only Caridina species but did start off with Neocaridinas but have recently decided to drop keeping neos to clear up space and narrow my focus. My shrimpy passion is a little "excess" to say the least. It has driven me to travel all over Asia to visit aquascaping and fishkeeping as it is bigger there but the food was also a good incentive to visit.   Of the Caridinas that I keep includes: Crystal Red Shrimp in the form of PRL and Japanese Red Bees, Japanese Black Bees, Red Wine - Ruby Red Taiwan Bees, Panda Taiwan Bees, Blue Bolts, Pintos, and Orange Eyes Blue Tigers (OEBTs). 

 

It wasn't until my most recent trip to Japan and getting to know a close friend that I discovered Japanese Red/Black Bees. These are (to me) a higher and purer form of Pure Red/Black Lines that we see available today. Originating from Japan, these bees were the predecessors of what we see today as Pure Red Line. I'm very happy to have been able to travel to Japan and bring back these precious guys. Although it did cost an arm and a leg, I'm very happy that I got the chance to experience the culture, the food, and the people.

 

A little insight on my plans regarding the breeding project. I'm planning to do rack style setups where as I can have 2 main rimless 25G cubes whereas I can breed the main colony of Japanese Black Bees (JBB) and Japanese Red Bees (JRB) and have subsequent 10g tanks underneath whereas I can cull and selectively breed for specific traits. 

 

Apart of being a shrimper I'm a growing macro photographer (thanks part to said friend and his patience with me) and so as my shrimping abilities grow, I also hope that my photography skills also developes in the same positive manner.

 

Nuff said, please enjoy photos I've taken so far.

 

Japanese BlackBees:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese RedBees:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The colony of RedBees and BlackBees started off very small but is growing quite rapidly. I'm very happy that I've been thus far successful. I hope to grow out my population within a few months and be able to start my selectively breeding process very soon!

 

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

[jayc]

 

Wow, cool JBB and JRBs.

Now you're just teasing us.

[inverted]

Great pictures mate....some nice looking bees you have there aswell.

[keego]

WOW, super photos

[kizshrimp]

Yeah beautiful shrimp and great shots! Please keep them coming ShrimpFan. 

[ineke]

Awesome shrimp , Great pictures! It's amazing how such a small creature can become an obssession with us all!

Thanks for sharing 

[buck]

So jelly! Any full tank shots? Beautiful shrimp!

[OzShrimp]

Awesome shrimp mate! look forward to more in the journal :)

[Disciple]

Excellent photos and awesome shrimp. Thanks for sharing.

 

I also enjoy reading you blog, I hope you do regular updates.

[fishmosy]

Fantastic shrimp. Thanks for sharing.

[Guest]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcoming and support! I'll work hard to breed and keep this thread with updates to my happenings.

It is quite funny how something so small can grow a seed to something so big. I have too many tanks now but even so, I find it difficult to do effective selective breeding.

Also, thanks everyone who does follow my blog. That's going to be updated frequently and with my other shrimps. [emoji1]

[Guest]

Took a few more photos this weekend when I was over at the other house. I spent the weekend setting up the last 3x 10g and finishing up the breeding rack. Now I have 6x 10g with 2x 25g cubes at the top. The dual cubes will serve as massive breeding factories while the 6x 10g will serve as culling tanks. I'm thinking of adding another 2x 10g at the top at a later day and that'll serve as tanks to keep Crystal Whites and maybe Pinto mixing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[albash]

They look beautiful, Shrimpfan - very solid colours. I don't know when I can reach what you have now. Maybe you want to share a tip or two of how to make shrimps happy and stay look good?

[Guest]

They look beautiful, Shrimpfan - very solid colours. I don't know when I can reach what you have now. Maybe you want to share a tip or two of how to make shrimps happy and stay look good?

Thank you. I'm observing that the babies starts off with an off red color. More orange than red, but has they mature their colors darken into a crimson red. Genetics play a big role in colors. If you cull aggressively I can see you ending up with what I have within a year or two.

Aside from genetics, proving ideal parameters is a key factor to obtaining the best looking shrimps. Ideal parameters includes the right ph, kH, gH range with sufficient minerals and traces to allow for shrimps to develop and grow.

There's a big taboo and misconception about fertilizing shrimp tanks. Folks often believe that just hitting the gH/ph/kH range is sufficient but that's not true. That often will lead to shrimps with very unhealthy shells that's too thing due to the lack of minerals.

[Shrimpmaster]

This is a awesome topic to follow already!

 

Respect you travel all across the world to look for the best shrimp. Thru shrimp lover!  

 

The shrimp look realy nice. Body shape is also a plus. The PBL or JBB are one of the best I've seen.

 

But one thing I wonder. In my PRL I never have pieces that are a little transparent like this one. And even if one would pop up, I would cull out them immediately. Is this a bad thing in your opinion. Or could the red get thicker when they get older?

 

[Guest]

I am very fortunate to have a lovely GF who loves to travel and accompany me and put up with my crazy antics. She is willing to travel to different parts of Asia with me (as I've openly refused her suggestions to travel to Europe and other parts of the world ). I’m just lucky that the parts of the world I like to travel to is big on shrimping. It’s my way of “hitting two birds with one stone” sort of thinking. Who knows, maybe I'll visit HK again and visit Mr. Shrimpy Daddy in the near future. It also helps that she speaks Cantonese and has an excellent sense of direction. I rely heavily on her when I'm in Asia. It helps to have a GF that can communicate with the vendors in HK (Cantonese dominate zone). Haha!

The JRB and JBB have excellent shape and posture. They really look amazing.

The transparent one is a very young shrimp, but I am also wondering why it looks the way it does. I've been back and forth with SD about the possible causes. I believe the culprit is the tank size. Due to the size of the tank, my dosing of minerals and traces is off. I believe my traces and minerals inside the 25G Cubes are lower in levels than compared to my other tanks. I’m working on fixing these issues before I report back.

I definitely agree that culling aggressively is key to having the best shrimps. I'm also keeping a close eye on the tank. I've been culling whenever I'm over at the house.

Interestingly, a few of babies that I did cull undergone a darkening of their red coverage area as they matured. I've added these back to the main tank but am still keeping a close eye on them.

Tell you what though. My JRB require more work than my JBB. Nearly all the JBB babies are super awesome.

Edited March 17, 2015 by ShrimpFan

[albash]

Thank you. I'm observing that the babies starts off with an off red color. More orange than red, but has they mature their colors darken into a crimson red. Genetics play a big role in colors. If you cull aggressively I can see you ending up with what I have within a year or two.

Aside from genetics, proving ideal parameters is a key factor to obtaining the best looking shrimps. Ideal parameters includes the right ph, kH, gH range with sufficient minerals and traces to allow for shrimps to develop and grow.

There's a big taboo and misconception about fertilizing shrimp tanks. Folks often believe that just hitting the gH/ph/kH range is sufficient but that's not true. That often will lead to shrimps with very unhealthy shells that's too thing due to the lack of minerals.

 

I use RO with additional GH+ when did water change. Occasionally I feed them kale powder. Do you reckon I have enough minerals for them to grow strong and beautiful?  I think I have spot on ideal parameters but my CRS don't really on breeding - not really sure why.

 

When you say traces - what is that exactly if you don't mind sharing?

[Guest]

Is it safe to assume you are using Salty Shrimp GH+ when you say you're using GH+? 

 

Most of the time, the minerals derived from the substrate and not use much the mineralizer itself. Most Mineralizer on the market only contains Calcium and Magnesium salts that together increase the general hardness of the RODI water. As such, the mineralizer itself has little to do with providing the complete needs of shrimps. More often than not, breeders will rely on their substrate to provide the trace nutrients for their shrimps but the only problem with this is the substrate is deplete of trace minerals very rapidly (usually within the first 5 months of the substrate's life). Most breeders will need to add supplemental trace nutrients to keep their shrimps happy and healthy. 

 

I'm using an entire lineup of Shrimpy Daddy Products. He is a sponsor here incase you were interested to checkout or ask him any questions. 

[Guest]

 

 

^ One of the babies from the first release now an adult and a momma herself. I'm very proud of her and just amazed at how she has grown.

 

I did a quick count of how many BlackBees were inside the 25Cube and I came to a count of 90ish. Pretty amazing if you consider that I only started off with 5 and of the 5, only 4 survived and bred. 

 

I also had photos of the J.RedBees and RedBees but I seemed to have misplaced my SD card containing photos from Sunday's photo session.    Yikes! I hope I simply misplaced the SD card and not inadvertently dropped it or lost it somehow... If I manage to find it i'll upload more photos from Sunday.

 

Thank you.

Edited March 23, 2015 by ShrimpFan

[Disciple]

Love this thread.

 

You give Shirmpy Daddy a run for his money with your pictures.

 

I guess the JBR AND JBB's are your favourites but can i request to see some of you other shrimps too?

[Guest]

Love this thread.

 

You give Shirmpy Daddy a run for his money with your pictures.

 

I guess the JBR AND JBB's are your favourites but can i request to see some of you other shrimps too?

 

Thank you. I hope I am able to give Shrimpy Daddy a run for his money as he is the man currently mentoring me in shrimp keeping and photography. In a way, I like to believe that I am getting better under his mentorship so it is a great honor for me when folks genuinely like my photos.   I still have a lot to learn from Shrimp Daddy and I feel like he is still leaps and bounds ahead of me. Slowly but surely, I will learn and play catchup.

 

As for photos of my other shrimps. I didn't know if folks would be interested. I have a few photos on the PC of my Taiwan Bees. 

 

^She is currently my favorite Blue Bolt. Her shade of blue is so strange and different. She's full bodied but her off-blue color is what makes her so special and interesting to look at.

 

^Blue Faced Monster! She's 1 of 5 original Japanese BlackBees. My biggest and "The Den Mother" of the tank. She consistently has the biggest brood and highest breeding frequency among females inside my tank.

 

^Typical Full Bodied Blue Bolts folks are more accustomed to seeing

 

^Mothra Bee from Japan (Mosura Bee)

 

^Unique Headgear Blue Bolt

 

^Typical Shadow Panda

 

^Deceased Blue Bolt 

 

^Does he look familiar?

[Disciple]

Thanks for sharing. Blue bolts are my favourite!

[Guest]

Blue bolts are one of my favorite types of bees as well.

[Disciple]

At first I was drooling   and then when i saw the pics at work haha.

[Guest]

At first I was drooling and then when i saw the pics at work haha.

Haha! A photo speaks a thousand words. I'm happy you enjoy them.

Ps: it's confirmed. I've lost my sd card.... [emoji17] time to find another. So sad...