Going through your threads, it seems like you don't have a tank FULLY prepared yet. I wouldn't recommend getting shrimp until it is. In addition, I would also say you should really start with neo shrimp for experience, but hey maybe you'll prove me wrong (hoping you do if you go for CRS/CBS straightout!:fish
Ghost shrimp are very different than CRS. They have different ranges for pH, temp, KH, GH, TDS, etc.. For example ghost shrimp can be kept in water that CRS cannot be kept in.
Hopefully you already know what parameters you'll be keeping them in, but I'm just doing this as a forewarning.
All good advise above. In my experience, slow down planning everything out and do everything the "right" way the first time....ie spend the extra money to get the proper substrate, proper minerals, etc This is one of those times where spending more money in the beginning saves tons of money in shrimp death loses.
Good Luck and PM if you need any tips.
I believe you can take care of them. If you get low grade, they are not that demanding provided you have a cycled tank and use re-mineralized RO water.
Check Aquabid for A-S+ grades. Comes out like $3 a pop if you buy at least 10. That's where I got mine.
You can get both CRS and CBS, babies come out either red or black. The thing is though, since black is the dominate gene, you will have more and more blacks over time. Your call.
They are called Crystal Golden or Golden Bee and sometimes interchanged with the term snow whites which should be mostly solid white. There are varying degrees of Golden bee from "skeleton" which has transparent spots to the solid Snow White.
Yes, it is typically understood that lower grade shrimp are easier to care for because they are not as "inbred" as higher grade shrimp are for their better color/etc.
Some of the questions you are asking make me worry that you have a bit more research to do before taking on CRS
I'd be the first person to admit that I need to do more research... That's why I'm asking questions... I'm being diligent and I'm not gonna rush into anything
I used to get RO water from store for drinking and shrimp tanks. After like 9 months I got a RO system. Man life is so much easier not having to move 5 gallon bottles up to the third floor everytime.
yes there is. distilled still has all the minerals in it where aw ro is pure and has no minerals or any thing in it. distilled will have a TDS where as ro does not.
as for black being dominate i dont really think its that way any more. when i had both i got way more red than black. was kinda bummed i liked the cbs better. also mixing the 2 you will end up the black not being as dark. i had some end up more brown and white than black. crs and cbs have been crossed so much that i think red has taken over since that is what most people want.
i had good luck with fluval shrimp stratum, i think its kinda hit or miss though as some have not had luck with it buffering. crs need low ph in the 6's low gh and kh. with ro you will need a remineralizer and a full set of test. im working on a TB tank now and it does cost a fair bit to set up but over all it will be the best way to go gettin ro unit and all the tests and reminerizer. ro will make the substrate last longer.
it could be done but will make the soil wear out faster and break down sooner where you would have to buy more and start all over . it is also possible to get different parameters with each jug of water. ro you will get the same ever time by remineralizing
distilled is the same as ro, just a different way of removing the mimerals i believe. i bought distilled for the first month when i moved waiting for the movers to bring my ro unit. All of the distilled i have ever bought has been 0 tds.
And most people dont usually use ro water, they use di(deionized) water. With most water ro will leave you with some tds, my old water would be like 6-7tds. The di filter is after the ro unit and brings the water to 0 tds. I think most people just say ro because it is easier than typing rodi.
i know mine is RO as i got a 4 stage RO unit. most units i think are a combo of the 2, at least when you get more expensive units that you have to plum inline any way. when i tried distilled water i always got diff parameters from different jugs even with buying at the same time. maybe i was just unlucky
In theory.... Distilled = 0tds made by distilling the water by hot water evaporation. What is evaporated is the distilled water. DI or deionized is water that has everything removed using ion exchange resin. It should have a tds of 0 also. RO is reverse osmosis water. Basically water shoved through a membrane. Some other molecules make it through as well, that's why it has a tds of 5 - 15 or even 25. Hope that helps....
Adding my two cents RO/DI units may be a little over kill. RO units are cost effective and sufficient for all fish/ shrimp, birds, orchids and human purposes. Having a finished product with 5, 10 or even 25 tds who would not be happy. DI water is for chemists and pharmacists. DI units add initial costs and maintenance costs. Also the $15-$25 tds pens are only so accurate. Consistent reading are important to shrimp whether tds, ph, kh, temp...not precise readings.
You do not need to go up three flights of steps to see the value of RO water. Lugging five gallon jugs gets old quick and life gets in the way. Needing to top off a few tanks and realize your short water is a pain. Nothing is as convenient as having it in your own house.
Yep, lower grades are generally a lot easier. Higher grades are usually the result of a lot of inbreeding, so they are more delicate. I know yoyo dreamer sells 10 for 30 bucks usually on aquabid. I got mine from her store. They were my first shrimp, but I knew I had the right water and setup. Having experience with breeding fish that required specific parameters (f0 new world dwarf cichlids) helped.
Make sure you have ro or real good tap (under 50 ppm tds I would say) and add in any minerals needed. Make sure you have a decent substrate. Above all, make sure your filtration system can keep the water very clean and well aerated. I use a canister with a sponge prefilter and a spraybar return. It is a bit of overkill, but didn't want to take chances. Many people use just a sponge filter with excellent results.
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