A Guide To Crystal Red Shrimp

[Jaseon]

I do the water change with remineralised RO to a TDS of 130 but I top up with 'pure' RO.
I'm still in the mode of checking the TDS daily and it's stable at 150, the GH stays at 6 and the KH is negligible.

What makes the TDS jump to 150?

 

[Wookii]

I top up with pure RO too - topping up with remineralised water should definitely cause a rising TDS otherwise.

 

[The_storm]

Probably the addition of ferts.

 

[Kelvin12]

My TDS readings are lower GH are similar but KH are 0. Temperatures are pretty high at this time of the year and I am dropping in large ice cubes to try to keep them down in bigger tanks but so far the CRS and PRL are staying reasonable.

 

[erwin123]

I'm starting my cardinia journey with regular bee shrimp first (i.e. the 'normal' black striped version) as they are supposedly less sensitive than CRS (and cost a lot less, at least the low grade ones I got). When I measured the TDS of the water they came with, it was 162.

 

[Kelvin12]

Seems a little high but I haven't had experience with B's myself but can't see them being all that much different to CRS.

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm starting my cardinia journey with regular bee shrimp first (i.e. the 'normal' black striped version) as they are supposedly less sensitive than CRS (and cost a lot less, at least the low grade ones I got). When I measured the TDS of the water they came with, it was 162.

Hi @erwin123 Congrats! The breeder I will get mine from is in the 150-160 ppm range. So 162 seems fine. Of course, your tank needs to be in the same range as well. Drip acclimate for sure - but I am sure you did that.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[The_storm]

After 6 months of trying to get the CRS to breed, they now won't stop. I've put the issue down to a heater that fluctuated wildly.
Since replacing it with an Eheim thermocontrol, the temperature has remained between 21 and 21.5. The tank has new shrimplets once a week for the last 3 weeks. Stability is the key, via effective monitoring of all the relevant parameters.

 

[Wookii]

After 6 months of trying to get the CRS to breed, they now won't stop. I've put the issue down to a heater that fluctuated wildly.
Since replacing it with an Eheim thermocontrol, the temperature has remained between 21 and 21.5. The tank has new shrimplets once a week for the last 3 weeks. Stability is the key, via effective monitoring of all the relevant parameters.

You’re doing better than me then - my CBS still haven’t bred. Not sure where I’m going wrong on this one. What do you feed yours CRS?

 

[The_storm]

Hi. They took ages and I couldn't see the wood for the trees but I got the parameters right and kept it, without messing and chasing.
I feed them a variety of foods, including some home made.
They get bacter ae and a nettle/dry bloodworm/fish food/algae wafer dust I've milled down, as well as dehydrated nettle (fresh blanched when in season) a mixture of dried leaves and snowflake. I vary this but freed them tiny amounts.
Best advice? Run a daily log of pH/TDS and temperature, do this several times a day to ensure your parameters are constant.

 

[Dobert]

They get bacter ae and a nettle/dry bloodworm/fish food/algae wafer dust I've milled down, as well as dehydrated nettle (fresh blanched when in season) a mixture of dried leaves and snowflake.

sounds like some happy shrimps you have there

 

[The_storm]

They don't suffer for lack of variety!

 

[Kelvin12]

Storm can you post up a photo of stinging nettle. Not sure if its the same one we call stinging nettle here in AU.
Good mix of foods. Amazing how different tanks of the same shrimp won't even look at the same foods.

 

[The_storm]

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)

 

[Kelvin12]

They look different to our unfortunately from what I can see.
Thanks for doing the photo, appreciated.