I'm new and I just got 15 RCS

[Beast1961]

Hi everyone and glad to meet you all, I've been reading all of your threads and decided to ask some questions of my own but first here's a little about my situation.
I've kept fish all my life and have been reading (here and other sites) about freshwater shrimp keeping and decided to set up a 20 high with a small power filter with sponge prefilter, just enough to circulate the water. I have a softball sized of fluffed java moss and will be adding some driftwood with java ferns attached. I got my order of RCS last thursday and they seem to be doing pretty good...no erratic behavior. They are all between 3/16" and 3/8 and almost clear and hard to see let alone count to check mortality rate.

QUESTIONS:
1-How quick do they grow and start to turn red, also at what size can you start to sex them?

2-Lots of you say just to use playsand but I also like the way black sand looks with shrimp...is it just a cosmetic thing or does it change the water quality...also, do you add crushed coral to the sand...what about a piece of coral instead of crushed for looks?

3-I started a new 10 gallon tank today with just a HOB filter and no substrate. I used 5 gallon of used water from vacuuming my 55 gallon tank plus 5 from the tap. How long til this tank cycles and should I vac the crap off the bottom? (I'm putting a couple of 1" baby mollies in there to help it along)

4-I've read Blackbeards bad luck trying to cycle a brackish tank but still I'd like to establish one and keep it going for a possible fry tank for other shrimp projects in the future. The subject was brought up of another member in the area that could give him a starter batch...is that possible for me too? Also any info on the cycling of a brackish tank.

5-Are air stones needed and if so should I just get a sponge filter?

I am currently building a 6'X12' room in my basement strictly for shrimp, both raising and display. The temp stays a constant 68 to 70 degrees. I will be making 2X4 and ply wood shelving to store about 8-12 tanks and using mildew resistant sheetrock all around. Should I use a small space heater to heat the whole room or indvidual heaters if any? Will standard shop lights with gro-lux bulbs do for "low light plants"? Do I need an exhaust fan...We run a dehumidifier down stairs. It stays dry down there but gets damp when we get a rainy stretch but the dehumidifier takes care of it.

OOOOOPS....Sorry such a long list, just trying to be thorough. All the questions don't have to be answered by one person but there's no such thing as too much knowledge.

Thanks,
Rick

[pixl8r]

Hi Beast1961.

1 Some of your questions, in particular about RCS's has been answered (rate of maturity & color). Just search using red cherry or RCS.

2 Black sand is cosmetic, higher contrasting colors look more dramatic.

3 With out a substrate, the tank will take longer to cycle due to the decreased surface area to nurture the required bacteria. You would have to test ammonia, nitrate & nitrite to verify that the tank is cycling and cycled.

4 Brackish tanks cycle the same as fresh water and salt water. You can speed the process along using a cycling agent and adding some fish food.

5 Some shrimp do thrive with more aeration. Adding an air stone to a shrimp tank will only be beneficial

Personally I would heat each tank, that way it's easier to modify to meet the needs of any given species of invertebrate. Many shrimp keepers also end up with crayfish.

As for the rest of your questions... I don't know.

Good luck!

[Mustafa]

I changed the title from all capital letters (which is considered shouting on the internet and a big "no no") to just normal script. I'll let others chime in on the questions, but I would recommend doing a few more searches (and re-reading the articles to get a few more ideas), too. We really don't want to repeat things over and over in the forum (see rules)...unless of course there is a variation to the question that warrants further inquiry.

Good luck with your shrimp!

[badflash]

QUESTIONS:
1-How quick do they grow and start to turn red, also at what size can you start to sex them?

That is an open ended question. When they get to about 1/2" they normally start to color up. The females will be redder than the males. If they don't like your water, such as high nitrates & phosphate, they may never color up.

2-Lots of you say just to use playsand but I also like the way black sand looks with shrimp...is it just a cosmetic thing or does it change the water quality...also, do you add crushed coral to the sand...what about a piece of coral instead of crushed for looks?

With your system you can use any substrate you want. Several pieces of coral would be better and will provide nice hiding spots. The idea for crushed coral is to provide hardness and buffering.

3-I started a new 10 gallon tank today with just a HOB filter and no substrate. I used 5 gallon of used water from vacuuming my 55 gallon tank plus 5 from the tap. How long til this tank cycles and should I vac the crap off the bottom? (I'm putting a couple of 1" baby mollies in there to help it along)

Is this a brackish tank? Did you use a water conditioner for the tap water, and if so what? If you use the filter goop from a wooorking tank, and it is in your new filter, the cycle is pretty much instant. If you are going from fresh to salt you may have some issues, but a few tsp/gallon won't affect the cycle. 1/2 sea water is best to get the filter from an established tank. Mollies are good to get the cycle going for brackish or salt. I'd leave any gook where it is for at least a week. The shrimp may enjoy it.

4-I've read Blackbeards bad luck trying to cycle a brackish tank but still I'd like to establish one and keep it going for a possible fry tank for other shrimp projects in the future. The subject was brought up of another member in the area that could give him a starter batch...is that possible for me too? Also any info on the cycling of a brackish tank.

See above. MTS snails are a better choice to keep a brackish or salt cycled. Mollies would need to be pulled out before you put fry in, and that can be a pain. They can go directly into 50% sea water, and from there after a few days, into full sea water.

5-Are air stones needed and if so should I just get a sponge filter?

If your filter system disturbs the surface you do not need an airtone.

I am currently building a 6'X12' room in my basement strictly for shrimp, both raising and display. The temp stays a constant 68 to 70 degrees. I will be making 2X4 and ply wood shelving to store about 8-12 tanks and using mildew resistant sheetrock all around. Should I use a small space heater to heat the whole room or indvidual heaters if any? Will standard shop lights with gro-lux bulbs do for "low light plants"? Do I need an exhaust fan...We run a dehumidifier down stairs. It stays dry down there but gets damp when we get a rainy stretch but the dehumidifier takes care of it.
Rick

Most tanks won't need any heat if you keep that sort of temp. Once you put in tanks an exhaust fan is a better idea than a dehumidifier and costs a load less to run. A circulating fan is a good idea too.

[Beast1961]

Thanks for all the answeres...Yes I do use a conditioner on all my water changes and I use it in my rinse bucket to dip my leaves and anything else I introduce into my tanks...It's from Aqueon and is called "Water Conditioner", "Nuteralizes clorine and cloramine in tap water and helps restore fishes natural slime coat".

I have an old tank filled 1/2 full with water I got from the Errie canal which is basicly a stagnic pond now that is full of duckweed and I think is fox tail plants. This tank is full of 1/2 conditioned water and 1/2 Erie Canal water. I am soaking my leaves for the shrimp in here to grow the microorganisms on them and to "condition" the duckweed and fox tails for introducing them into my shrimp tanks....Is this a good idea or do I risk my shrimp to deasise or other factors I don't know about? I also have some base rock that I use in my 55 and some sponges soaking and growing alge on them for a display tank I'll make up later. I inttend to quarentine everything in freshly conditioned water be for putting them in the tanks,

Guess what!!!! My baby RCS molted for the 1st time...Went down stairs today and found 3 skins hanging in the java moss....Great...There growing...There's a couple in there I nicknamed GODZILLA cuss there so much bigger than the rest..I think I have about 11 to 15 of the original 20..By the way these where purchased from a Ebay seller from Jamestown, North Dakota if anyone is interested in the gene pool swap that Mustafa my begin. I know I am!!

Okay now....I bout 3 RCS from my LFS on thursday and put them in my 10 gallon that I told you I started with the gravel vacuumings...There doing great also. It looks like to me I ended up getting 2 males and a female....I'm including some photos of my tanks and the adults I just bout...can you sex them and tell me?

And finally, I don't intend to start my brackish tank just yet...I was just getting some info for when I do. I hope some of you are subscribed to this thread as I am a newbie and will be posting more questions in the future.
Bye for now
Rick

Hey...how do I upload my images to I can show Ya'll my shrimp tanks??

[badflash]

I would get a conditioner without the slime-coat stuff. That is why Prime and Amquel+ is recommended. The slime-coat is for fish and who knows what it does to inverts long term. Just a heads up.

To post pics subscribe to photobucket.com and upload the pictures. Edit them so that they are not more than 800 pixels wide first. You can then just paste the img format link into your post.

[Beast1961]

Here are my shrimp and tanks...
LFS RCS Tank...


Ghost shrimp in pond water tank..


Ebay baby RCS..


Female?..1


Female?..2


Female?..3


Males?..1


males?..2


Male and Female?


Any advice on which is a male or a female??

Also any comments on the duckweed and foxtail tank?

[Suzie Q]

I am no expert (I have had mine for over 4 months, and still no babies), the females are the ones with the orange behind the heads...to me, all the shrimp in the pictures look like females (my first batch of 4 were all girls...I got a second batch of 10, and only 3 ended up being males). Then I bought 4 more, and requested 2 adult female, and 2 adult males. Good Luck!

[Beast1961]

Thank you Suzie. I wasn't sure what the saddle of the females looked like for sure but you might have solved that now...But some seem to be a translucent red more than the bright red of the one I thought was the female.

Another question...do shrimp have to copulate (have sex) every time they get berries or do they store the sperm in there bodies for future broods of fry?

In my baby tank I just noticed some very small worm like organisms on my tanks walls, Some are white and some brown...There all less than a quarter inch in leanht and as thin as a human hair...Are they dangerous..What cam I treat them with??
Thanks

[The Fisherman]

Don't forget - if the abdominal area extends below the shrimps pleopods, it's a female. The enlarged abdominal cavity is so they can store eggs.

Have you read the articles/FAQ? A lot of your answers will be there.

And yes, a bright patch behind the head is a saddle, and means the shrimp is female as well.

The worms are most likely harmless. Once and a while I see little worms like that in my tanks. I don't know for sure what they are, but they never multiplied to plague proportions and didn't cause any problems. Others may have to chime in here.

-John

[The Fisherman]

Ah - just took a look at you're pictures.

It's a little hard to tell, but to me they all look like females. They all seem to either have a extended abdominal area that is visible, or a visible saddle.

-John

[badflash]

All the ones I see are females. That is the problem with most commercial suppliers. They just want the red, so you get nothing but girls. Order from someone that sells tank bred juveniles that are too little to sex.

[apistomaster]

I am in complete agreement with badflash's recommendation to use Prime vs slime containing water conditioners.

I don't believe the slime has any important benefit even for fish nor does it harm them. There is one instance where the slime containing water conditioners have some uses. They are helpful when trying to establish new biological filters. The artificial slime simulates a biofilm that enhances the ability of the nitrifying bacteria to attach to the biological stubstrate(s). This is information obtained from professional aquaculture sources. The difference is only a few days but sometimes that matters in commercial aquaculture.

[Beast1961]

Well I guess the verdict is in...Guilty of have an all female RCS tank...lol

Ok...Now that we know that...Can I add all my baby RCS to the the adult RCS tank without the females killing the babies..There all between 3/16th and a 1/2 inck long..Both my tanks are at 74 degrees with slightly hard water-150-250GH...nitrAtes-20...nitrItes-0-.5...KH-180 and PH at 7.8. I have plenty of java moss in it as I added more and lots of clumps of green hair algae the LFS picked off the bottoms of there tanks and gave me.

I'd still like to hear some feedback on if it's ok to use the duckweed and foxtails I got from the Erie canal in my shrimp tank with or without bathing it in some medications.

Talk to you soon,
Rick

[Terran]

Adult Red Cherry Shrimp will not baby shrimp.....

I believe they just arent equipped for that sort of behavior....