hardness query

[fishgeek]

Hi i'm new to this forum
I was after your opinions on water parameter best for trying to breed shrimp, namely amano and cherry

I have had several attempts at progressing beyond the egg stage with amano shrimp and have just read somewhere amongst the information here, that the change to salinity should not be done until after hatching, 1 mistake i had been making, and that salinty should be approx S.G of 1.030-1.035 , i had been using approx 1.020

so a few things to proceed withthere

basically i am most interested in whether hardness of the water is extremely important or of unknown importance

I have seen a lot of 'my shrimp bred in' statements and was wondering whether the variety of soft acidic to hard alkaline is because these parameters are not so important or because we are not measuring all variable accurately

I have an interst in apistogramma and so have r/o water on tap
i live in london and so also have liquid rock from the tap
because of my tap water and my main fish interest i have the ability to have varied water and was wondering what your suggestions would be for both these shrimp to be succesful

At present both are kept in water of 6.0-6.5pH 10Gh and 4-6 Kh , these are from either a hannah meter or esha test strips
obviously nitrates are kept to a minimum for all the animals in my tanks

just as an aside i have read some discus on shrimp leaving tanks, in one centralised apisto system i have 600 litres of soft water, it recieves too much light and so has algal issue's
on introducing 30 or so amano's many were found accross the room dry on the floor during the first 2 weeks of being placed in the tanks

this has me questioning whether they like soft waters, though i have had 2 others vacate tanks in water was harder?

andrew

[Mustafa]

Gotta run out the door, but a short reply for now. Different shrimp species do have different hardness and ph requirements. Amanos and Red Cherry Shrimp prefer harder water in the alkaline area whereas others prefer soft, acidic water that your Apistogramma would feel comfortable in. I am going to update the species descrpitions with water parameter information soon.

[fishgeek]

cheers , so basically what i have got should go in my tap water and you'll be ale to suggest other species that maybe i can use as cleaners in my apisto tanks

i would not trust my fish with smaller shrimp, i feed them lots of live food, so probably only use shrimp in empty tanks to mop up algae or in grow out tanks with small fry

[Shady]

Andrew,

Your water sounds good for freshwater inverts. It has plenty of minerals for them, but a low enough pH to keep any unforseen NH3 or heavy metals from being a huge problem. From your pH and KH though, it sounds like you are using CO2 or a buffer? That's a low pH with such hard water.

I keep my Amano's and RCS in a pH of 6.8 (CO2 regulated), KH of 4, GH of 5 and they are thriving...great color and that "luminescence" in their antennae and exoskeleton that I've seen in healthy Amano's in Takashi's books.

[Mustafa]

cheers , so basically what i have got should go in my tap water and you'll be ale to suggest other species that maybe i can use as cleaners in my apisto tanks

i would not trust my fish with smaller shrimp, i feed them lots of live food, so probably only use shrimp in empty tanks to mop up algae or in grow out tanks with small fry

Species that will thrive in soft, acidic water are Sri Lanka Dwarf Shrimp, Bee Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, Crystal Red Shrimp and Tiger Shrimp just a name a few. For example I know for sure that the Sri Lanka dwarfs are found at PH levels as low as 5.5 or lower in their natural habitats. They will survive at slightly alkaline levels, too, but breeding is a totally different matter.

And yes, I would not put them in with your fish if you want your shrimp populations to grow.

[Mustafa]

I keep my Amano's and RCS in a pH of 6.8 (CO2 regulated), KH of 4, GH of 5 and they are thriving...

The Red Cherry Shrimp, will live at lower PH levels but they will be a lot less productive (i.e. many of the young die right after hatching).

[hardcyder]

I have been using Nutrafin Turtle Block conditioner for my snails and shrimp. Ive seen both grazing on it. It has a built in buffer so I dont worry about it affecting my ph much as the calcium disolves. What do you guys think of the turtle block?