A Guide To Crystal Red Shrimp

[MichaelJ]

G'DAY michaelJ, thank you for the reply I was worried the post might have been a bit old to get a reply. The re-mineralizer is AZoo Gh plus gh and is according to the add, and its supposed to be new.

Hi @Kelvin12 According to the product page for AZoo GH Plus 5ml adds 1 GH per 100 L. So if your conditioning 50 L for say a GH of 6 - assuming its all RO water - you should add 15 ml. or basically 3 of the inner 5 ml caps. This will require 6 drops using the API GH Test before the water in the test-tube turns green (remember to shake the tube with the cap on a couple of times between each drop).

Your KH will still be zero. In order to raise the KH you need to add a conditioner for that. You can use a bit of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which is cheap and readily available of Amazon - a quarter of a teaspoon (1 gram) will add about 1 KH to 50 L. (it will also add about 1 GH - so you could lower the GH Plus dosage to 12.5 ML or two and a half inner cap if you want to remain at 6 GH...).

When you do weekly 50% water changes (25L), again, assuming all RO water, you just use half the amounts or a bit more to compensate for precipitation and uptake etc.

Unfortunately there is no guaranteed analysis on the GH Plus product, it only states its a water soluble mineral complex, so its hard to say what your resulting TDS will be, but a cautionary guess, based on the KH + GH + some minerals, is about 130 ppm. which should be perfect for Crystal Red Shrimps and still leaves a bit of headroom for additional fertilizer for your plants - not much though. Which, btw. is the reason I have not plunged into Crystal Red's yet... I would have to go lean on fertilizer and use 100% RO water... to meet the lower TDS requirements vs. Neo's... Instead of my current 40% Tap water / 60% RO water mix and lots of Macro fertilizer for my densely planted tanks.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Kelvin12]

OK thank you once again. At a guess I would say my API GH test solution is crook as it just goes straight to green and despite the number of drops I add and nothing changes it stays the initial green colour from the start. I have shaken the guts out of the bottle and thumped it against the table to make sure nothing is setelled in the bottom and its mixed but no change. I have read various posts about faulty API GH tests so it looks this might be the problem. Its expiry date is 2 months out of date while the KH solution still have another year plus to run. Not a great quality control over the product.
You are exactly right with the quantity of AZoo and my water is 100% RO.
I only have 2 small plants of Java fern in this tank the rest will be various moss. If the JF looks like its failing I will remove it. I have been told CRS will not tolerate any nitrates so this tank won't be fertalized at all.
My other tanks are all heavily planted and fertalized along the lines of the PPS recomendations and have Co2 injection. They are my dwarf reds and are in plague proportions. They have bred like rabbits. So really looking forward to having a go at CRS.

 

[MichaelJ]

OK thank you once again. At a guess I would say my API GH test solution is crook as it just goes straight to green and despite the number of drops I add and nothing changes it stays the initial green colour from the start. I have shaken the guts out of the bottle and thumped it against the table to make sure nothing is setelled in the bottom and its mixed but no change. I have read various posts about faulty API GH tests so it looks this might be the problem. Its expiry date is 2 months out of date while the KH solution still have another year plus to run. Not a great quality control over the product.

Hi @Kelvin12 Yep, sounds like the GH solution is bad. I've never experienced that myself, but have heard of others where it wouldn't react correctly.

I have been told CRS will not tolerate any nitrates so this tank won't be fertalized at all.

I am not entirely sure that CRS won't tolerate any Nitrate at all - I think people with CRS are just trying to keep it on the low side of 5-10ppm or so - plenty of people are keeping CRS in heavily planted high tech tanks and that probably wouldn't work well if they would only be relying on the NO3 they get from nitrification.

So really looking forward to having a go at CRS.

Sounds great - best of luck with the CRS's.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I have been told CRS will not tolerate any nitrates so this tank won't be fertalized at all.

It isn't true. I know what they mean, but whoever has told you that just doesn't fully understand nitrification. <"Plant growth is the easiest way to maintain water quality"> and <"plants need nitrogen (N)">.

The "no nitrates" comment comes about because if you have an unplanted tank nitrate (NO3-) is the <"smoking gun"> of previous ammonia (TAN NH3/NH4+) and nitrite (NO2-) and it can only be depleted by <"water changes, ion exchange or anaerobic denitrification">. As soon <"as you have plants"> it all changes and they do the <"heavy lifting for you">, depleting all forms of fixed nitrogen (and all the other thirteen <"essential nutrients for plant growth"> as well).

I've not kept CRS, but if I did I'd use <"nutrient depletion"> and the <"Duckweed Index">. If you like it is an <"Orchid Growing approach">.

Nitrate (NO3-) isn't toxic at low levels, we don't know what "low" means in terms of Crystal Red Shrimp (Caridina cantonensis), but whatever it is a planted tank is the <"easiest way of keep levels low">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Kelvin12]

So much confusing and conflicting information out there guess its going to a case of careful and slow experimenting. I do actually have 2 juvenile CB's in a reasonably heavy fertilized tank for a month or so now and they seem to happy enough so maybe I'll experiment a bit.
Thanks again for the input here.
Dirk

 

[erwin123]

My 12G softwater

New light! chihiros wrgbii 45 running at 60:60:35 rgb in order. /forum/attachments/img_7416-jpg.171780/?hash=224e667fc31fb359479a577cbb47d3fe

www.ukaps.org

Maybe you can check with plantnoobdude. Early on, he put CRS into his softwater planted tank with EI dosing.

But in the latest photos, the CRS are gone

​

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

So much confusing and conflicting information out there guess its going to a case of careful and slow experimenting.

That is <"one of the issues"> with the WWW, but <"the coffee (not the froth)"> is that growing plants are the major factor in retaining and <"improving water quality">.Have a look at @Wookii 's <"post to see what I mean"> about plants and water quality.

cheers Darrel

 

[The_storm]

Great thread.
I'm fairly new to CRS and have yet to have any success with breeding them.
I have a 45L aquarium with a HOB filter containing biohome media. The tank is scraped using tropica soil, dragon stone, azaelia root and is heavily planted. I use RO, remineralised to a TDS of 130 with salty shrimp gh+.
I have mineral stones from amazon in the water as well as alder cones and catapa leaves. I lightly dose ferts (twice a week) as well as glutaraldehyde. I dose 1 pump of each from the provided bottle, the recommended is one pump per 5l.
As well as non breeding CRS I have a mix of Neocaridina, which are breeding prolifically. I also have a few amanos.
My problem is my pH. Its 5.7, which I'm guessing is the reason why the CRS aren't breeding.
Any advice and suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Wookii]

Great thread.
I'm fairly new to CRS and have yet to have any success with breeding them.
I have a 45L aquarium with a HOB filter containing biohome media. The tank is scraped using tropica soil, dragon stone, azaelia root and is heavily planted. I use RO, remineralised to a TDS of 130 with salty shrimp gh+.
I have mineral stones from amazon in the water as well as alder cones and catapa leaves. I lightly dose ferts (twice a week) as well as glutaraldehyde. I dose 1 pump of each from the provided bottle, the recommended is one pump per 5l.
As well as non breeding CRS I have a mix of Neocaridina, which are breeding prolifically. I also have a few amanos.
My problem is my pH. Its 5.7, which I'm guessing is the reason why the CRS aren't breeding.
Any advice and suggestions gratefully received.

If you are only adding Salty Shrimp GH+, I assuming you are running on RO water and therefore on zero carbonates (zero KH)? If so, I believe it is very difficult to accurately measure pH (@dw1305 might confirm).

I can't imagine pH 5.7 would be an issue for Caridina anyway, but if you wanted to try buffer it upwards a little, you can do so by adding some carbonate - potassium carbonate (K2CO3) or potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) are the best options, as your plants will utilise the potassium also. You don't need a lot, as you probably want to keep your KH below 1 anyway. For your 45 litre tank you'd need to add 1.62 grams of KHCO3 or 1.08 grams of K2CO3 per 1dKH change.

How long have you had the CRS in the tank? Bear in mind that they have after a successful moult and breeding, it can take 4-6 weeks for the babies to appear. Also how many mature adults do you have in there of each gender - I can't see many in your FTS?

If you are serious about breeding the CRS, you may also want to take out the Amano's - they can be quite predatory and may well take freshly hatched baby shrimp. I'd also discontinue the glute - though it's only anecdotal, I noticed fewer babies when I used to dose it (though admittedly that was with Neo's).

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I assuming you are running on zero carbonates (zero KH)? If so, I believe it is very difficult to accurately measure pH (@dw1305 might confirm).

Sort of yes and no. As you lose carbonate buffering the pH of the water becomes much less stable and you can see much <"bigger diurnal (diel) pH oscillations"> in <"vegetated waters">.

In terms of accuracy of pH measurement it isn't dKH that matters, it depends on <"the ionic strength"> of the dilute solution ("tank water").

cheers Darrel

 

[Wookii]

Hi all,

Sort of yes and no. As you lose carbonate buffering the pH of the water becomes much less stable and you can see much <"bigger diurnal (diel) pH oscillations"> in <"vegetated waters">.

In terms of accuracy of pH measurement it isn't dKH that matters, it depends on <"the ionic strength"> of the dilute solution ("tank water").

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrel - so if you have carbonates (zero KH) but still have a TDS of 100-150 ppm, will you be able to get an accurate pH reading?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Would you change or add anything to this guys daphnia system

I see I never answered this one. Yes, that looks a pretty good method if you want to culture a lot of Daphnia.

so if you have carbonates (zero KH) but still have a TDS of 100-150 ppm, will you be able to get an accurate pH reading?

Potentially you could, it will still take the meter a while to equilibriate (that is still a dilute solution in pH measuring terms). The reading will be accurate when you took it, but it would only be snap-shot, and you might find readings taken an hour apart are vastly different, particularly when the plants are photosynthesising etc.

This quote is from Diana Walstad's <"Ecology of the Planted Aquarium">

......Data collected in a freshwater lake (Star Lake, VT) with a very low alkalinity showed a diurnal pH fluctuation beyond the imagination of most hobbyists. Thus, the pH at 10 am was measured at 5.7 (strongly acidic), 9.6 at noon (strongly alkaline), 8.3 at 2 pm (moderately alkaline) and finally, 6.4 at 4 pm (slightly / moderately acidic). Readings were taken at a 0.5M depth. The fluctuation observed was due to the low KH value of the water (something reported for the Amazon river, too) and the presence of large amounts of phytoplankton. .....

cheers Darrel

 

[The_storm]

Thanks for the replies.

I've had CRS in the aquarium for 6 months, maybe about 30, including 10 younger ones I purchased last week, there are a good mix of m/f.

I'll stop using glute but I'm not sure the anecdotal evidence on amano shrimp is correct, as many baby neocaridina in the tank, would caridina young be easier to prey in than neocaridina?
If the consensus is my pH isn't a problem, perhaps I need to look at something else?

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks for the replies.

I've had CRS in the aquarium for 6 months, maybe about 30, including 10 younger ones I purchased last week, there are a good mix of m/f.

I'll stop using glute but I'm not sure the anecdotal evidence on amano shrimp is correct, as many baby neocaridina in the tank, would caridina young be easier to prey in than neocaridina?
If the consensus is my pH isn't a problem, perhaps I need to look at something else?

HI @The_storm Its possible that your on the edge of suboptimal water conditions for the CRS to take off... 5.7 pH is probably a bit low, but shouldn't be a problem in isolation, as pointed out by @Wookii , the ideal pH range is probably around 6.5 pH - You said you target 130 ppm with Salty Shrimp GH+... (I assume thats not all Ca:Mg.. I couldn't find a guaranteed analysis for the product) Whats your GH? Also, I would provide some buffering capacity as well, like 1.0 KH, just to stabilize things a bit. And finally, what's your temperature?

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Wookii]

I assume thats not all Ca:Mg.. I couldn't find a guaranteed analysis for the product

I believe it’s pretty much just calcium chloride and magnesium chloride @MichaelJ

 

[MichaelJ]

I believe it’s pretty much just calcium chloride and magnesium chloride @MichaelJ

Thanks @Wookii OK, if chloride based ( in the customary 3:1 Ca:Mg ratio) at 130 ppm that should land the tank at around 6 GH (with room for a a bit of other minerals), which should be fine as well for the CRS. Would be interesting to know what GH @The_storm is actually measuring.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[The_storm]

I've not measured the GH as I've been assured (rightly or wrongly?) that remineralising RO to a TDS of 130 gave a GH of 6. My temp is 22.
Correction to my earlier post, this is the remineralising salt I'm using .
Really appreciate the advice.

 

[MichaelJ]

I've not measured the GH as I've been assured (rightly or wrongly?) that remineralising RO to a TDS of 130 gave a GH of 6.

Yes, it should give you right around 6 GH... I would check the GH regardless. I saw a note on a different forum where someone was targeting 150 ppm and measured 4 GH... might be a fluke, but you never know. Always good to know where it's at with these "proprietary blends" products, in case there are production slip-ups etc. I know we cant verify everything, but GH is a fairly easy one to measure reliably in my experience.

My temp is 22.

22 C should be fine for CRS.

Correction to my earlier post, this is the remineralising salt I'm using .

That's the one I thought you were using.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[pat1cp]

I'm pretty new to this, but after adding 12 RCS about 5 weeks ago, I've had a bit of a population explosion 🙂 It's very satisfying to have them breeding.

Edit...sorry, I didn't realise this was a dedicated thread for CRS and not RCS.

 

[The_storm]

Would "cutting" the remineralised RO with dechlorinated tap water with a pH of 7.3 and a TDS of 330 (liquid rock area!) solve the problem or would I be adding KH to the aquarium?