RCS Stocking Density Extreme

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:21 pm

I desided to down size my RCS Tank.
I first started , sorting out the best colored Females. To start breeding for Super Reds. I had 20 Females and 5 males to put in my 125 gal.

I then sent out at least 60 nicely colored Shrimp, to 3 friends.

Then I sorted out the next 20, best clored females and 5 males. To go into a 40gal breeder.

After all of this, I figured I had another 200 in the 30gal breeder, that I started them in, just over 1 year ago.

I had to move this tank to make room for more tanks.

So, I started taking all of the remaning Shrimp out.
After I was done, I had collected 417 Shrimp. And out of these , 79 were Females carring eggs.

All of these Shrimp were at least 3/8 of a inch in size.
There were very few, smaller than that. Which I did not count.

That showed me, that very few of the Shrimplets that hatched out , had enough to eat and never made it to Adult Hood.

I will never do that again. A 30gal breeder with 527 Shrimp. I believe that is to Many Shrimp in 30 gallons of water.

50% of the tank was filled with Java Moss, 2 large Sponge filters, and at least a 10% water change per day.

I looked back at my records. In addition to the 527 that I still had in my tank.
I sold or gave away a another 600 Shrimp.

I started with just 24. A little over 1 Year ago.

John

John

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:29 pm

Wow, that is a lot of shrimp and 50% of the tank was java moss! I guess this is the only way you could have done an accurate count of your shrimp. Best wishes with your new set up. Who knows, pretty soon you may have a tank full of Super Reds

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:35 pm

Neoshrimp

I netted every Shrimp out.
That was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

And yes, I took out the Java Moss first.

The LPS are going to love me, Rock bottom pricing for large volume buyng.

I just need to make room for more species.

John

wendyjo · Post by **wendyjo** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:11 pm

I am gonna be in the same situation - I only have a 2.5g tank and started with 5 shrimp a few weeks ago and now I have about 20 or so babies that I can see and a bunch of ity bitty things flitting around that are probably newly hatched and 2 of the adult females are pregnant again. They breed faster than rabbits.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:26 pm

I found with having to much java moss it was really had to keep the tank bottom clean and waste tends to build up.

I removed most if not all the java moss I could find and put black gravel in the tank.

I have three very large java fern's in there.

I can at least see the shrimp now.

TKD

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:50 pm

After I removed the Java Moss. I found most of the Shrimp feeding in the brown on the ground. It must have alot of micro-organisms on it.
I would only feed the tank every other day.
With only a small pinch of powdered flake food, or what ever I was feeding the other tanks.

I was using that tank just for breeding. It did not matter to me, if I could the them all of the time.
Until it was time, to catch a few out.

Speaking of seeng them, I was just looking at the tank.
I missed about 15 Adults. And now I can see several 1/8 inch and smaller Shrimp.
I hope some of those little ones are Crayfish, I had a trio of Wild Type Mexican Dwarfs in the same tank.

I quess I will have to wait to move the tank. So the lttle ones can grow Up.

wendyjo
I will agree, they do breed like rabbits, Or as I like to say.
They breed like Convict Cichlids.

If you have another tank, Pull out the females and put them in that Tank.
With no Males. that will help with the over crowding.

John

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:07 pm

John,

I noticed the same thing happening in my 15 gallon that had become very overgrown with java moss. I stopped seeing very many babies and I reached a point where all of the shrimp were adults or nearly adults. I had been telling myself that the babies were just hiding deep in the moss, but when I removed all the moss they were nowhere to be found.

Since removing the moss, the babies are living longer. I think the moss was out-competing the micro-organisms the shrimp depend on.

I'll be clearing out a couple of my RCS tanks to make room for dwarf crays.

"Breed like Convicts Cichlids!"

It was only last week that I finally sold off the last of my convict babies! Never again!

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:18 pm

YuccaPatrol
I would get rid of my Java Moss, If it did not help support my habbit.
The LPS can not seem to get in any healthy Moss.

That tank is the only one that has Java Moss in it.

One thing I forgot to mention.
I have never vaccumed out that tank

I only do, at least 10% water changes per day.

My Amano's will not breed in there.
But I have never had any problem with the CRS.

John

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:20 pm

I'm keeping my Java Moss thinned. When I do my water changes I pull it all out so I can see what is going on in the tank. I only put back what I need, the rest goes on ebay.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:24 pm

Speaking of seeng them, I was just looking at the tank.
I missed about 15 Adults. And now I can see several 1/8 inch and smaller Shrimp.
I hope some of those little ones are Crayfish, I had a trio of Wild Type Mexican Dwarfs in the same tank.

Hey Newjohn, that tank is like a grab bag of fun and surprises

!

I only put back what I need, the rest goes on ebay.

badflash, that is a good way of contolling moss growth

blinster · Post by **blinster** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:20 am

is all that plant necessary for a high density cherry population? The point about java moss outcompeting the algae/microorganism makes sense and I was wondering if some plants + daily water changes would suffice for the high bioload.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:23 am

blinster, I have slowly thinned out the plants in my main shrimp tank after the updates posted on this forum regarding plants outcompeting the microorganisms. I have since had a couple more batches of hatched babies. It seems that I can see more babies and they are more active/healthy than before

. Whether this is due to the plant thinning and more frequent water changes I will let you know as I continue the process. I still have a baseball sized clump of java moss and a couple of floating plants in the tank as far as plants go

.

paintworx · Post by **paintworx** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:41 pm

I have found that when I want to thin out the floating plants and java moss, it is awful hard to pull it out without also pulling up shrimp that are hanging onto it. Please tell me a good way to manage that - or is everyone doing what I do, and put the moss and floaters in a bucket of water, swish and swish, and then inspect the water to see how many shrimp I have caught?

Sheryl

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:00 pm

Yes, swish swish swish is my method too!

A couple good shakes while still inside the tank seems to remove almost all of them, but I'm still careful and check the bucket for any stragglers.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:56 pm

Ditto, as long as the shrimp cling to the moss and floating plants "Swish Method" will be needed

I swish in the tank and then swish in the bucket just to be safe