My Shrimp Only Tank - Cherry and CRS

[LondonDragon]

Well just a quick update, got some twigs and put it in the tank to break the mass of green lol
Here is the outcome, what do you guys think???









Thanks for looking

[NewFishKeeper]

hiya i like it with the twigs! But then again i liked it without too

lovely tanks and heres to many spawns from your new CRS

[apistomaster]

Crystal Red Shrimp just can't handle temperatures much higher than 25*C.
I had to learn the hard way.
It is 110*F here today and hopefully the last time we get that hot this year.
I was really discouraged but it is obvious I can't raise them the year around.

Cherry shrimp, their yellow morph and Chinese Zebra shrimp have all been able to survive water temperatures as high as 31*C
for those who also have high temperatures to contend with there are at least these varieties and species that will make it. Even so, there will be a mini-crash in the tanks with very high shrimp population densities if the water gets that hot.

[steph44]

Hi, lovely pictures!
People here in France now breed more & more shrimp species (almost a frenzy, for some people).
I had basic heteropoda, red cherry & the white ones... gosh, can't remember tonight. and an impressive pair of macrobrachium.
They are gracious & fun to observe.
We stopped the heteropoda (a 60L) since we had them for feeding purposes (for African cichlids), & strangely enough, the biggest ones disappeared: we found out they got eaten by hypselecara temporalis when sloughing.

[LondonDragon]

Many thanks for the replies, I am now keeping the temp down with fans at around 22/23ºC.
I have now about 50-60 red cherry shrimplets, and the CRS seem to be doing well too, no eggs on those yet, fingers crossed ;)

[apistomaster]

I think you will begin seeing little Crystal Red Shrimp within 6 weeks since your shrimp are very healthy and the temperature is well within their comfort zone.
I enjoy see your beautiful shrimp tanks but If shear numbers become the priority, then raise shrimp in aquariums with a fair amount of detritus. One particularly productive shrimp tank is my Panaque l204 "Flash" Pleco aquarium. I am only keeping one large pair in a 29 High full of Ceratophyllum but they are an infamously messy pleco sp. Their abundant partially digested waste plus the cover from the plants has allowed me to go from 10 each yellow and Chines Zebra Shrimp to a population explosion and this is despite over 300 Betta sp "Mahachai" being present. The Betta have not appeared to eat enough shrimplets to set them back any. I expected them to eat a lot of small shrimp, especially while the breeding Betta pair was present. They would spawn every week. I had to take them out because I have all of these Betta I could ever want. Just have to wait about 4 months for the Betta to mature. I took about 100 of the larger Betta fry out but still have a huge number of baby guppy size fry in there.
My main point is that between the messy pleco sp and heavy feedings of the Betta fry on beef heart blend the shrimp have been undergoing a population explosion of their own and a messy tank is a productive one. These 2 species of shrimp don't interbreed so each remains distinct.

[LondonDragon]

Not much happening here other than the Red Cherries breeding like rabbits!! Last time I counted it was about 60 or more shrimplets in there of various sizes and the females are carrying eggs. The CRS are doing well to but so far no news on them breeding, I haven't seen the female carrying eggs since I put her in the tank.

Some photos:








CRS:










Thanks for looking, critics and comments always welcomed

[LondonDragon]

Hi guys, just a quick update of the tank itself, they shrimp are doing great, and the red cherries are breeding pretty fast, have little shrimplets all over the place, will have to get rid of some soon enough.
Few photos to see whats going on:









Thanks for looking

[corywink]

great tank, gives me inspiration to start a mossy shrimp tank can you tell me what moss you used for the moss tank?

[LondonDragon]

great tank, gives me inspiration to start a mossy shrimp tank can you tell me what moss you used for the moss tank?

Many thanks, everyone should have a shrimp tank ;) I used for the wall and tall piece of wood weeping moss, on the arch is Xmas moss, underneath willow moss, on the right hand side Flame moss, and near the rock in the middle where the arch terminates is Pellia.

[LondonDragon]

Just did a short video of the tank this after a water change, don't know what happened to the quality of the video, after upload its became a little blurry.

Anyway here it is: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=86fJEpX6FJE

Thanks for looking.

[LondonDragon]

Well just a quick update on this tank, the ADA Amazonia II soil I put in this tank when I first setup it up started breaking up after 6 months of usage so this is what my tank looked like when I uprooted some plants or messed about with the substrate:





So after 5 months of milky water I decided to get rid of the ADA soil and purchased some of the new Oliver Knott Nature soil instead which is shrimp friendly, so it claims.

A few photos of the substrate change, goodbye ADA Amazonia II FOREVER!!!! Worst thing I ever purchased in my life!!!

Tank clean and ready to go:


The inspector watching to make sure I was doing everything properly:


Just after planting and turning on the filters:


4 hours after setup, crystal clear water for the first time in about 4-5 months!!


Closer look:


Really like this substrate, colour and size are perfet for this size tank:


I couldn't find the rocks I needed so used what I have and this tank now needs a few extra plants too.

Later on in the day I added some of the shrimp and created the fissidens fontanus carpert.







After spending 5 hours catching shrimp so that I could change the substrate this is what I had left LOL



Thanks for looking

[nvcichlids]

If I am able to set up another tank, I would LOVE to do a shrimp/invert tank. I think your tank is AMAZING and love the moss, I just have never been able to keep moss alive in a wall format. Do you use CO2?

[LondonDragon]

If I am able to set up another tank, I would LOVE to do a shrimp/invert tank. I think your tank is AMAZING and love the moss, I just have never been able to keep moss alive in a wall format. Do you use CO2?

No CO2 or liquid carbon in this tank, I am just dosing TPN+ twice a week.

[nvcichlids]

can I ask what TPN iS

Edit: how many cherry shrimp could I keep in a 5.5 gallon tank?

[LondonDragon]

can I ask what TPN iS

TPN+ stands for Tropica Plant Nitrution Plus, its a commercial all in one aquarium plant fertelizer.

Edit: how many cherry shrimp could I keep in a 5.5 gallon tank?

I have a holding tank for cherries which is about that size where I keep around 100 cherries at a time.

[nvcichlids]

Thanks for that insight. I may start a cherry shrimp tank in the near future!

[LondonDragon]

Here is how the tank looks today:










Some macros has one of the little CRS was right at the front of the tank, they don't look high grade at least not this one but its a start ;)

Spot the CRS (and not the dirty glass):








Adult CRS:


Some of my adult Red Cherries:




Thanks for looking

[glenny]

Stunning pictures!!!

[LondonDragon]

Just a quick update, the first lot that bred are about half a cm in size now and I have seen about 6-7 of them at the same time in the tank so things are looking good, today I spotted some more tiny 1mm red/white CRS. But also spotted 3-4 Black CRS, so I now have the Red and Black Crystals breeding in the tank
The fan really helped with the hot weather, the temps never went above 25C, now the its becoming a bit cooler and with the fans was taking the temp down to 18C I have turned them off, so the temp now stays are around 23-24C

Some tank photos:







Thanks for looking

[DutchFry]

that's one very sweet tank!

you must be very happy with the very clear water, especially after the troubles you had with that!

keep up the great work

[LondonDragon]

that's one very sweet tank!
you must be very happy with the very clear water, especially after the troubles you had with that!
keep up the great work

Many thanks Dutch, I am very happy now with the Naturesoil, would recommend to anyone that wants to keep planted or shrimp tanks!

[L number Banana]

Oh that's so peaceful and lush

What's the substrate plants? Good shrimp viewing carpet!

[LondonDragon]

Oh that's so peaceful and lush
What's the substrate plants? Good shrimp viewing carpet!

On the right hand side its Staurogyne sp. and the main carpet is Fissidens Fontanus. Thanks

[LondonDragon]

Haven't posted anything in ages on this journal, some shrimp photos

One of my super reds:







Photos of my Crystals offspring:











Thanks for looking

[andywoolloo]

it's beautiful! it was beautiful before and after the amazonia substrate.

amazing, makes me want to do a shrimp tank. What size tank is that?

you are very good with plants. And no CO2 you said. What kind of lights are on that tank?

[LondonDragon]

it's beautiful! it was beautiful before and after the amazonia substrate.

Many thanks

amazing, makes me want to do a shrimp tank. What size tank is that?

Its only a Juwel Rekord 60, 60cm wide and 54 liters!

you are very good with plants. And no CO2 you said. What kind of lights are on that tank?

No CO2 at all, it has 30w of light and only dose Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus

[shamrock]

hey LondonDragon

nice tank! i got pretty excited at one stage (early on) and bought a 72litre planned for shrimp, i filled it up in the bathroom to test for leaks and it's been there fore the past 6m hahahah.

what's a small, but managable tank to put shrimp in? i guess the water parameters need to be pretty stable for shrimp, so better with a bigger tank? can they manage in a nano tank?

thanks

ps. any good resources you can recommend for shrimps? btw, what do you do with all your excess shrimp? use them as feeders? sounds bad, i know...

[LondonDragon]

Hi Shamrock,

It all depends on what type of shrimp you want to keep, but that 72 litre is perfect for any kind of shrimp you want to keep.

If you want to keep Cherries then they are easy and hardy shrimp, they do well in most types of water and also various temps 18-30ºC

I am now keeping shrimp in 15 litre tanks also and don't see any problems with doing that, I am breeding cherries on a 15 litre nano and at one stage I had about 200 shrimplets in there, just gotta make sure you have a nice filter for it, I am using hang on filters and had a problem with one that almost wiped out all the shrimp in there. Not due to tank size just they require more frequent maintenance that I was expecting.

Here some photos of my 15 litre tank:









and a small video:

http://vimeo.com/11504409

I do not use the shrimp as feeder when I have a lot of them I just sell them off cheap online to other forum members and ship them via the mail.

Cheers

[shamrock]

hi,

great tanks btw!

what i may do is to start off with a planted tank project using a nano tank. then perhaps add 1-2 shrimp later. CRS are quite nice. i think you have a few?