New here and in shrimp

[zapisto]

Hi there ,

just join this community
i am from canada (montreal) and starl fall in love with shrimp
i am breeding dwarf cichlids and start have real interrest in theese little beauty.

i have two tank of cherry shrimp and was able to breed them recently , i start my study on shrimp and get more and more interesting
only dark side , the difficulty to found them here in montreal.

my setup in both tank is quite simple :

5g bare bottom tanks
corner filter
java moss
the temp is around 24 to 25 degree celcius
KH 2
GH 3~4
PH around 6.8 to 7.0 (hard to maintain at this level because my tap is around 6.6)
R/O remineralize (Electro right)

in my first tanks i have baby shrimp about month old and baby abour week old , female with eggs
in my second tank i only have female with eggs for now
the two tanks are side by side

i feed my shrimp twice a week with spiruline tablet or flake or frozen blood worms

i make water change once a week (10 to 15%)

please let me know what i can do better or change.

i will probably have a lot of question , so be gentle with a newbie

now my next project is found more species and that a very hard one

thanks for all

[badflash]

Welcome to the forum!

What is a corner filter?

Add more R/O right to get your pH up a little higher. Cherries like harder basic water. Sounds like your tap water would be good for Bumblebee shrimp. Add calcium like some (not a lot) coral to stabilize the pH. Be sure to remove chlorine & chloramine.

I've never given bloodworms to my shrimp. I stick to mostly vegetable based and algae based foods. If you are getting babies you are doing fine!

[BlueEL]

I would try to raise the kh value abit to prevent any PH swings. Just curious, which LFS did you buy the cherries? and how much do they cost?
Usually I go visit Montral once a while, I might go check it out.

[zapisto]

Welcome to the forum!

thanks

What is a corner filter?

a pic is better than 1000 words

Add more R/O right to get your pH up a little higher. Cherries like harder basic water. Sounds like your tap water would be good for Bumblebee shrimp.

probably but my problem is to find Bumblebee shrimp in my area.
i hope mustafa will have some soon so i can order.

Add calcium like some (not a lot) coral to stabilize the pH. Be sure to remove chlorine & chloramine.

well
i was planning add some crush coral on the filter or in the bottom of the tank but was not sure , so i decide to wait and ask before.
what is the best way ?

and about "chlorine & chloramine" i am using RO water so no chlore and chloramine

I've never given bloodworms to my shrimp. I stick to mostly vegetable based and algae based foods. If you are getting babies you are doing fine!

for 20 shrimp i put about 6 or 7 blood worm and all get eat in 5 minutes
that's just a candy
what is the grow rate of this shrimp ?
and what is the incubation for the eggs ?

i am trying to figure out out to sex the shrimp , i must doing something wrong , because beside the color i cannot see any diference

I would try to raise the kh value abit to prevent any PH swings. Just curious, which LFS did you buy the cherries? and how much do they cost?
Usually I go visit Montral once a while, I might go check it out.

i dont know if it is possible here give shop name but i get my shrimp from a friend not a shop , but i know a shop who sell them and i know they are tank breed 100% in montreal

[badflash]

and about "chlorine & chloramine" i am using RO water so no chlore and chloramine

Here is what I do with R/O water. I mix up a gallon of "concentrate" 1/2 teaspoon of R/O right, 7 grams of Seachem Acid Buffer, and 14 grams of Seachem Alkaline Buffer. I then add one cup of this to every gallon of R/O water. This will make 10-12 gallons.

I add ~1/8 cup of ground coral to my filter, but I use a power filter. In your case, that bubbler filter probably isn't the best choice. I would get an under gravel bubbler type filter, cover it with plastic screening, and cover the screening with 1/2" of white play sand. You can sprinkle some of the coral on the bottom or add large peices of coral to decorate the tank. Make sure your sand is quartz based sand and not marble. Too much coral or marble will make the pH uncontrollable on the high side.

what is the grow rate of this shrimp ?
and what is the incubation for the eggs ?

Shrimp go from hatchlings to reproductive age in 1-2 months. The eggs take 3 weeks to 5 weeks depending on the temperature. As to sex, the males are smaller when full adult and usually little color. The females will have a yellow saddle on their backs and get redder as they get older. I also find that the males are far more active than the females, especially ones carrying eggs.

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi Zapisto, welcome aboard!

what is the grow rate of this shrimp ?
and what is the incubation for the eggs ?

i am trying to figure out out to sex the shrimp , i must doing something wrong , because beside the color i cannot see any diference

Just a little more fine-tuning of info - the earliest I've heard of Cherries becoming sexually mature is 6-7 weeks, but generally speaking, by about 2.5 - 3 months, you can definitely expect them to start breeding. Cherries can have a surprisingly short incubation period - Tapmxt1 has experienced as short as 16 days. My shortest was 17 days, but 18 days is about average for me in a 78F tank. I understand it can take a little longer in a cooler tank.

As to sexing, here's a side by side again; male in background on left, female on right:


As you've already noticed, males are definitely less colorful. They are slimmer and have a "racy" appearance. The sexes get easier to distinguish as they get older and BTW, they become sexually mature before reaching full adult size and coloration. With the female, note the rounded carapace that hangs down below the tail. It helps accommodate and protect her eggs when she has them. You can see the "yellow saddle" that was mentioned by Badflash, just behind her head, those are her ovaries.

-GB

[zapisto]

wow
thanks GunmetalBlue and badflash for this very instructive answer.
i think i learn more reading your two post than all the reading i have since now

well
i have to try 2 times before have this setup ok and i am kind of worry changing it. i dont have undergravel filter , so i was thinking add some crush coral on the bottom of tank (not a lot ~1/8 cup or less i have 5g tank) or found a peices of coral to add.

i will take my PH again to have a correct mesure , i dont take that too often.

what is the best tank size for shrimp in your opinion ?
and in 5g how many shrimp can safely be in there ?

thanks for all

[badflash]

You would be better with a 10 gallon tank. I think 20 gallon is the best. The problems with smaller tanks is that the water quality can change so fast you don't have time to react, epsecially with poor filtration. If you do regular water changes, like 20% twice a week, and feed very little, you may be OK with a 5 gallon and your little filter.

Water quality is the name of the game with cherries. They are small and don't need to be fed very much, so just a pinch every few days is more than enough. If the water gets cloudy at all, you need to do a big water change and feed less. Snails help. Just little pond snails are fine. Java moss is good too. The shrimp love that.

The better the water, the more shrimp you can have. I have around 15 cherries in a 10 gallon tank with probably 10-15 babies just born and more on the way. Shrimp have a very low bios load, so if you keep the water good you'll be giving them away before they overcrowd (IMHO). Others may differ, but I've got another tank loaded with 6 endlers and their babies. 3 bamboos, 30 Amanos, 4 SAE's, and a bunch of nerite snails and everything is good. I also have good filtration and do regular water changes.

[8x10]

I'm new to shrimp and here too. Currently my new cherry shrimp are in a tank by themselves.

I'd like to add a few neon tetras to this tank after the shrimp have settled in. Will the tetras leave my shrimp alone and be compatible?

[badflash]

The neons won't hurt the adults, but they will eat the babies. Just about any fish that eats live food will end up taking baby shrimp if they get the chance. Best to leave anything but fish like Ottos and Plecos out of a cherry tank.

[zapisto]

i will be really afraid put anything in my shrimp tank
otto will compete with my shrimp for food (same food)
and pleco the are away too big and will broke the feeling and cutiness give by the shrimp (and take care of the sort of pleco you put in)

[badflash]

An Otto won't cause your shrimp to starve, I promise! The idea is to have some garbage collectors to eat left over feed before it spoils the water. I find that ottos and snails fit the bill pretty well.