Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

As I mentioned days ago, recently I've been reading a translated book (from Japanese into Chinese) on CRS. I would like to share with all my shrimp friends here about the points the Japanese hobbyists wrote:

(1) A CRS lover told the readers how he lost a total of 800 CRS overnight and he hopes that we shrimp lovers won't make the same mistake. The story is that :

He found that the water grass was too much and grew too fast inside his CRS tank. He didn't want to trim the grass bit by bit. Then he conveniently cut much of the grass in one go so that he didn't need to do it so often. God knows all his 800 CRS died overnight.

(2) Another CRS lover tried to test the influence of temperature on CRS. He tried to keep them outdoor (shaded, no directly sunlight) when the water temperature was 30 degrees Celsius. Then he added a strong air pump and a strong filter. He said the strong filtration plus air could make his CRS overcome the 30 degrees Celsius. He said they even produced outdoor when the temerature was sohigh, but they couldn't produce as many as those he kept indoor (lower temperature).

One more point :

Most of the CRS lovers in the book said that they changed 1/10 to 1/5 of water each time, whilst one said he never did it. He just let the water evaporate and add water. All his CRS have been doing very well.

I find that all these Japanese CRS lovers have explored their own best ways to keep CRS. The front page reads, "You need to think from the point of view of your CRS. They can't speak or tell you when they want fresh water. However, once you understand them, you can make your CRS understand you in a similar way. They're able to adapt to the way convenient to their owners."

beckypyyeung wrote:One more point :

Most of the CRS lovers in the book said that they changed 1/10 to 1/5 of water each time, whilst one said he never did it. He just let the water evaporate and add water. All his CRS have been doing very well.

yes but at wich frequence ? daily, weekly ?

(2) Another CRS lover tried to test the influence of temperature on CRS. He tried to keep them outdoor (shaded, no directly sunlight) when the water temperature was 30 degrees Celsius. Then he added a strong air pump and a strong filter. He said the strong filtration plus air could make his CRS overcome the 30 degrees Celsius.

Do you know if the air pump was for a sponge filter or was it used to attach airstones for aeration?

Thanks.

(1) Water change 1/10 to 1/5 : That CRS lover said 'weekly'.

(2) The CRS lover didn't mention what air pump he used. About his filter, I think he used 'external' filters. In the same article, he mentioned how he lost hundreds of CRS in one week.

He said his CRS produced a lot and he finally got several hundred in the same tank. He didn't clean the external filter for four months. Then he washed it. But unfortunately the filter became too "clean" after the wash. Then all the CRS died one by one and all of them were gone in just one week. Then he taught us not to make the filter "too clean" and he then used two external filters for one tank. When he washed, he just washed one filter each time so as to maintain the stability of the tank conditions.

Thanks for the info, Becky! Many of the experiences that the japanese hobbyists and breeders made mirror some of the experiences I have made with CRS and other shrimp. Sudden changes in their environment are definitely a no-no if you don't want sudden deaths. Once shrimp die, they die en masse.

Hi Mustafa,

Thank you for your "thanks"

I've been reading that book recently and I haven't finished yet. I wish to share precious Japanese experience with my world-wide shrimp friends here. The book is not like a textbook or a professional guide, but the information is real and practical. They're so honest that they tell us how successful their CRS keeping is and at the same time how they failed like a disaster. Shrimps are quite different from my tetra or goldfish. Shrimps are really sensitive. I think all shrimp friends gather here in the forum so as to keep their shrimps happy and healthy. At the very beginning I joined this forum to ask questions when I was new to this
hobby. Now I'm so glad that I can contribute information here


Becky

Found the following two websites in the book. I can't read those Japanese words, but there are photos.

http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~ebi-505

http://crs.dreamygreen.com/



Enjoy !

"He found that the water grass was too much and grew too fast inside his CRS tank. He didn't want to trim the grass bit by bit. Then he conveniently cut much of the grass in one go so that he didn't need to do it so often. God knows all his 800 CRS died overnight."

I am not exactly sure why cutting much of the grass in one go would killed 800 CRS overnight. Is that all he had in the tank? Can someone explain to me possible reasons?

His explanations:

"Insufficiency in oxygen can be fatal to CRS. It was in the summer. I cut away most of the water grass in one go. Then I lost 800 CRS overnight. They couldn't withstand the high temperature in the summer. The higher the temperature is, the lesser oxygen is in the water. Metabolism can enhance CRS's energy. Therefore, they need a lot of oxygen, particularly in the summer. Pump more air into the tank in the summer ......"

I think a more probable explanation would be that plants compete with bacteria when it comes to consumption of nitrogen compounds (ammonia, nitrate etc.). When you have tons of plants, then you don't have all that many bacteria doing the job. When take away all the plants overnight, then you don't have enough bacteria to get the job done until the bacteria multiply.

I guess both explanation make sense and could be the reasons...thanks!

Something more to share with my shrimp friends here:

A Japanese hobbyist reminds the readers not to clean or rub the inside of the tank. If we want to see our shrimps clearly, just clean/ rub the front pane of glass, never the sides, never the back.

I agree with not cleaning the glass except for the front. This preserves the biofilm of micro-organisms which are very beneficial in our shrimp tanks.

I just scrubbed the brown algae off of the front of my tank so I could see through it. While doing this I had a feeling the shrimp would need the algae/biofilm so I stopped after scrubbing the front. I will not be touching the sides or back then!

Thanks.