[TinyToes]

There are posts everywhere with people keeping Chili Raspora and CRS (or shrimp in general) together. Does anyone have a lot of experience with this? Have you been successful long term? What were your water parameters? Did your Chili Raspora keep vibrant colors and remain active?

I have a healthy, heavily planted (low tech, various anubias, ferns, moss, etc.) 10 gallon with driftwood with a sandy bottom. The tank is mature at over 2 years old now. Currently I have been keeping Chili Raspora (Boraras brigittae) with a shoal of 11 for the past several months.

My water likes to move towards soft/acidic (I assume because of the wood even though it was boiled/soaked for a month and has now been in my tank for 2 years) and I test frequently. I have noticed the Chili Raspora LOVE acidic water. They would love it if I left it around 4 or even 3 (eek!!). The more acidic, the more active and colorful they are. I have been trying to keep it around 6 - 5.5. Even when I change the water PH very slowly, they seem to hate it and have less color and hide towards the back. Will they adjust?? Can I keep shrimp? Temp is at 79F.

I recently got 3 red shrimp (they were labeled Bloody Mary Sakura Shrimp but there was also a label for Cherry Shrimp) and I am not 100% on identifying them yet. I acclimatized them very, very slowly and so far they are doing great and are eating and active. I would love to get more shrimp but am waiting to see if I can find a happy medium for the fish/plants/fish/1 nerite.

Hopefully someone out there has long term experience with this! I would really appreciate some advice.
Thanks!!!

 

[Couesfanatic]

CRS work better with the Chili Rasbora since they have more similar water needs. I have a 5.5 gallon running with 10 chilis and anywhere from 20-100 CRS. I'm not sure if the cherries would work in that ph but CRS would like it.

 

[tamsin]

You'll need to watch they don't have trouble moulting. If your ph is dropping it's probably because your KH is very low. Do you know your GH? Make sure you feed the shrimp a good quality food with lots of calcium. Have a read up on moulting issues.

 

[TinyToes]

Reply

Hello!


I re-tested this morning:

PH: 5 (trying to get it to 5.5 or 6 without stressing the fish...Like I said, my Chilis HATE higher PH)

Temp: 78

KH: very very light yellow at 1 solid yellow at 2

GH: very very slight green at 2 solid green at 3

Ammonia: 0


- small amounts of Flourish Excel daily

- very small amounts of Flourish Advance 1-2x a week

- I have Flourish excel but only use that every week or two (not noticing a difference when I use it or not... do you use it for your plants??)

- I have on hand: Lake Cichlid Salts (buffer salts/calcium/magnesium) and use this to bring the PH up

I dissolve it in a cup of tank water and slowly drip it in over a period of 30-60 min. Even with this though my fish
seem to get pissed when I go to 5.5-6 PH. As soon as the tank goes back to 5-4 they brighten up. ???
Also, why is my PH changing and how to I keep it more constant. I assume KH/GH but am not sure how to change
things without freaking out my system/fish. Is my wood leaking that much? Advice?

- I also have Seachem Equilibrium (I'm still a newbie and am finding my feet with all the water chemistry so I have only been putting a teeny tiny bit in... like a pinch of salt...)


So far the shrimp I have are active and doing ok... I guess we will see what happens when the begin to molt. That is good to know about the CRS. Once I get my tank stable perhaps I will attempt CRS (they are pricey little buggers!).

Thanks for your feedback and patience as I am learning!

Bump:

 

[natemcnutty]

Hello!

I re-tested this morning:

PH: 5 (trying to get it to 5.5 or 6 without stressing the fish...Like I said, my Chilis HATE higher PH)

Temp: 78

KH: very very light yellow at 1 solid yellow at 2

GH: very very slight green at 2 solid green at 3

First things first, that temp is way too high for neocaridina or caridina. Bring that down to 74-75 max for neos and 72-73 max for caridinas if you want the best chance of keeping them long term.

Second, that low pH will not work for neocaridinas, but caridinas will be ok adjusting to that, but you will need a long acclimation and try to buy from a breeder with similar parameters if possible.

Third, KH will always go back to 0 over time in a buffered substrate. The soil buffers carbonates but doesn't really prevent acids from further reducing pH. Water changes to remove acids/tannins will slowly raise pH.

Finally, that GH will not be suitable for any shrimp. For caridinas, get it up to at least 4-5 dGH where the majority of the GH is made up of calcium.

 

[tamsin]

I would swap from the Cichlid salt to the Equilibrium - both raise the GH of the water but use different formulas and the Cichlid version is aiming for a higher Ph. You might find you chilis prefer the equilibrium and it's also designed for planted tanks.

It may well be what the chili's are objecting to is the TDS (total dissolved solids) rather than the ph. Cichlids come from water with a lot of it so I imagine the salt for them adds a lot, where as chilis don't.

For the cherries I would aim to bring the GH up to 6, but obviously only slowly. So you could just do small water changes every day mixing up the fresh water to the right level. That would gradually raise the tank over time. There is a calculator on the seachem site for how much to use: Seachem - Equilibrium

Have you tested the KH in your tap water (or whatever you use for changes) that would tell you if you have a low kh to start or it's being used up in the tank. If it's the later then increasing water changes would help stabilise it.

 

[TinyToes]

Uncle!

Thanks for that input Tamsin. I was wondering what was irritating my Boraras... that very well could be it. I will switch to the Equilibrium as needed. I have tested my tap water in the past and nothing shot any red flags up but I should test again over a course of a couple of days and see what happens.

Despite what I am reading online and what I was told at the LFS I am wondering if it is not just better to keep this aquarium as a species only tank for my Boraras. It is sounding better and better to just go back to black water and let the tank do its natural thing for/with the current inhabitants.
I may just bring these little shrimp back and wait until I set up another bigger planted community tank and look for more compatible tank mates if I am craving variety.

 

[tamsin]

People do keep them at high ph/gh but if you have very soft water (which they like) then keeping the species only or with similar parameter fish makes life easier.

Have you got room for a separate shrimp tank?

 

[kashif314]

I have experience with chili rasboras and its the most safest choice. Still I am sure they will go after a baby shrimp. They will NEVER bother an adult shrimp and baby shrimp have more survival chance with them. My chili rasboras werr fine in low temperature to 72 to 74. Shrimps don't like temperature above 74. Also please note neocaridinas can adapt to any pH if drip acclimated. But your GH should be 5 to 6 for good molting. That's therr only requirement. Other than that they are very hardy. You can yse shrimp remineralizer or Seachem Equilibrium to increase your GH. Also always test GH with liquid test kits and not stripes. I still always say to keep shrimps without any tank mates to have a nice big colony but if you want them with a fish then no better option than chili rasboras.

By the way your ph is ideal for Taiwan Bee Shrimps. You just need to check your TDS. If you can keep it to 125-180 and GH to 5 or 6 you can have those gorgeous shrimps. Do consider them of you like shrimps. I am saying because of your ph ideal for them.