# Looking For Reputable CRS Breeders In The UK



## Quetzalcoatl (16 Jan 2012)

As the title suggests I am desperate to get hold of some A grade Crystal Reds. Are there any reputable breeders/dealers in the UK, preferably in the North West. 
Anybody with any experience, and information in the care for these beautiful little inverts would be greatly appreciated too. I have had great success with Red Cherrys, who bred like crazy in my current set up, and my Amanos all did great too. 

I will be looking at purchasing several (depending) on price in the next few months, when I will be rescaping....


----------



## Sentral (17 Jan 2012)

Try beeshrinp.co.uk and kedsgrove tropicals on eBay for online stores of shrimp. Also have a look on aquatics classifieds, it'll be much cheaper and perhaps local.

http://www.planetinverts.com/ is probably the best resource out there!


----------



## Tom (17 Jan 2012)

Sentral said:
			
		

> kedsgrove tropicals



*Kesgrave


----------



## basil (17 Jan 2012)

Are you in Crewe?


----------



## Quetzalcoatl (17 Jan 2012)

> Are you in Crewe?


No thank god....   I`m in Congleton, just far enough away...  

Thanks for the pointers guys. Does anyone keep CRS?


----------



## Dincho (17 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> > Does anyone keep CRS?



I think most here do


----------



## basil (17 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> > Are you in Crewe?
> 
> 
> No thank god....   I`m in Congleton, just far enough away...
> ...



OK, fair enough.....unfortunatley my crs live in Crewe. But if Crewe shrimp ain't good enough for Congleton.......  

Dincho has some belters......but sounds like you might not be ready for the really high grades just yet.


----------



## skeletonw00t (17 Jan 2012)

Im in stoke - i could come to crewe for some CRS - do you sell them Basil!?


----------



## Quetzalcoatl (17 Jan 2012)

Basil, please accept my sincerest apologies. I have nothing against the good people of crew and their CRS. I work with several Creweites over here in Middlewich. Lovely lads Nikolai, Milek, and Aleksy are.....Sorry mate. I joke, please don`t take offence  

So do you trade? I would be interested if you do. I`m not quite ready at the minute as I need to rehome some current live stock! Like you say, I`m not ready for the high grade CRS yet. And the price scares me a little!


----------



## Dincho (17 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> Basil, please accept my sincerest apologies. I have nothing against the good people of crew and their CRS. I work with several Creweites over here in Middlewich. Lovely lads Nikolai, Milek, and Aleksy are.....Sorry mate. I joke, please don`t take offence
> 
> So do you trade? I would be interested if you do. I`m not quite ready at the minute as I need to rehome some current live stock! Like you say, I`m not ready for the high grade CRS yet. And the price scares me a little!




LOL grovels then begs for shrimp, i love it!!!! I'm sure he won't take offence, living in crewe you have to expect it


----------



## basil (17 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> Basil, please accept my sincerest apologies. I have nothing against the good people of crew and their CRS. I work with several Creweites over here in Middlewich. Lovely lads Nikolai, Milek, and Aleksy are.....Sorry mate. I joke, please don`t take offence
> 
> So do you trade? I would be interested if you do. I`m not quite ready at the minute as I need to rehome some current live stock! Like you say, I`m not ready for the high grade CRS yet. And the price scares me a little!



None taken sir.....and thanfully the majority of the population of Crewski don't have the same fierce appetite for shrimp as they do for carp!!   

I don't trade properly though, only move shrimp on when i run out of space and at the moment i'm still trying to build my crs so have none for sale. I do plan to install a rack of tanks very soon though where i will be trying to improve my own stock and bring on some of the higher grades. If I ever get overrun i will no doubt sell some on, but thats gonna be a good few months down the line and will only be at the point when i feel as though i understand what i'm doing 110%. 

My current crs tank is a mix of crs, cbs, snow whites and goldens. All really nice shrimp A-SS grade [all from Shrimp King stock.......RIP!] but just playing at the moment. I want to breed out the goldens but keep the others.

All good stuff shrimping........but cheap it ain't!


----------



## basil (17 Jan 2012)

Dincho said:
			
		

> Quetzalcoatl said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hey come on...this is supposed to be a friendly forum not a lets pick on Crewski / Basil site! Is it a football thing....or are you just jealous of our tap water param's gh 4, ph 6.5 etc


----------



## Antipofish (17 Jan 2012)

basil said:
			
		

> Dincho said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I ain't picky.... send some of those parameters down this way will you ?


----------



## Quetzalcoatl (17 Jan 2012)

> Is it a football thing....or are you just jealous of our tap water param's gh 4, ph 6.5 etc



Are you for real? Crewe Alexander FC. It most DEFINITELY is not a football thing dude?    Your`re not a "Gresty Road Casual" are you?  

I will keep a close eye on the for sale threads, if you do decide to sell any. I won`t be ready for a few months myself, would be ideal if I could source some so close to home.
Do CRS breed well by the way?

P.s I had heard the storys of the illegally poached carp around this way! Tut tut tut....


----------



## Dincho (19 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> > Do CRS breed well by the way?



If water parameters are within range and stable.

My 'love' of Crewe stems from a teacher i had at school, he was a Crewe fan and always gave us a random quiz on the football club   With water like that though i'm starting to like it


----------



## Quetzalcoatl (20 Jan 2012)

> My 'love' of Crewe stems from a teacher i had at school, he was a Crewe fan and always gave us a random quiz on the football club


Jesus, I bet that was fun!     Joking aside, for all their failings they have churned out some good talent over the years? Although I bet you knew that already having the history of Crewe Alex thrust upon you in school. The teachers name wasn`t Dario was it?  



> With water like that though i'm starting to like it


It must be a cheshire thing, blessed with Gh 4, Ph 6.4 here in the Congo too, only 12 miles from Crewski. 

I had RCS breed like crazy in my current tank. I`ll be honest, I had no idea about the care, and required conditions of keeping shrimp when I brought them. I was a newbie, and was still trying to get my head around growing healthy plants. Are Crystals, and Cherrys a completely diffent scenario?


----------



## Dincho (21 Jan 2012)

Quetzalcoatl said:
			
		

> > Are Crystals, and Cherrys a completely diffent scenario?



Massively! Cherries are really hardy, almost impossible to kill. Crystals are extremely sensitive and water conditions need to be spot on and remain stable. CRS (crystals) are a colour morph of wild bee shrimp, which are black and white. A Japanese breeder found a red colour morph in his tank of wild bee shrimp and used this single red "crystal" to produce the shrimp we see today. Because this single shrimp was inbred so much to create a stable red strain they are very sensitive.

If you are looking at getting into CRS then i suggest practising on cherries. Get your water parameters to match what crystals would need and try to keep them stable. Cherries can survive in most conditions so they won't be affected while you practice with water parameters. Don't set up a shrimp tank like you would for fish, its massively different and a mistake most people make when they first start, me included.

Sorry to waffle, my morning coffee just kicked in


----------



## basil (21 Jan 2012)

[/quote]Cherries are really hardy, almost impossible to kill. Crystals are extremely sensitive[/quote]

I learnt this the hard way. I got confident with Cherries, Snowballs and Malayian.........infact became over confident, neglected my water change regime and lost about 30 crs over the space of a few weeks. 

Got down to just 2 crs. By chance they happened to be male and female and thankfully they got breeding once i got my act together. I now have a healthy breeding population again.

They are indeed super sensitive, so take time in researching and maturing any tanks you may have planned for crs. I invested in a HMA filter and use water filtered through this regimentally when doing a water change.


----------

