CRS breeding questions

1482 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Bananariot, Aug 19, 2012

Dany08fa

Discussion Starter · Aug 18, 2012

Fluval Edge 6gal with Fluval Shrimp Stratum and DHG carpet. Tanks a little over a month old.

Temp- 74f-78f (summer heat)
Ph- 6.5
Ammonia- 0
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- >10
weekly 50% WC

i do use the fluval 88 co2 kit, but release very little co2 (1 bubble every 4-7sec) to be on the safe side, yet give my plants a boost. dose light on flourish as well.

I've done a lot of research and have an idea on some of my own questions, but more info is always better!

roud:

I have 5 low grade CRS at the moment that i bought from my LFS. I've had them about 2-3 weeks so far and they are all about ------ long. All the shrimps look to be healthy and active. I've happen to spot a couple molts as well. Im almost certain i wont have a problem keeping CRS healthy and alive, but breeding that where i could use help. The other night i believe i might have seen breeding behavior but i am not certain because i have no experience. I saw 4/5 shrimps swimming around like crazy and would mount on each other while swimming around if they crossed paths. I could not spot my last shrimp because i believe that the ones swimming were males and the one hiding was the female? although i am not sure....

Questions:

1) I do not test for gh, kh, TDM. do you guys think i can expect to have my CRS breed with my current water parameters? Success rate for breeding without testing for gh, kh, TDM?

2) I'm not certain but i think 4 out of my 5 shrimps are males and have only 1 female. Thats a horrible ratio so should i buy more or 1 female is all i need? but at the same time i'm not too sure about sexing either...

3) Are my ------ long shrimp even mature enough to breed?

4) How long til i can expect to see a berried female? and if i dont see one how long should i wait til i know something is preventing breeding from happening?

5) I have 4 celestial pearl danios (galaxy rasbora) will this effect breeding? will they eat shrimplets? i have yet to see them harass my shrimps.

Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated!

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somewhatshocked

· #2 · Aug 18, 2012

1. Without knowing your parameters - even a rough estimate - it's tough to say.

2. All it takes is one male and one female. Give it time and you'll have more babies than you know what to do with if parameters are acceptable.

3. Depending upon the resolution of your screen when you typed those hyphens out, potentially.

4. Depends on their age, water conditions, etc. Test your parameters to get the answer to the second part of the question.

5. Shrimp - especially babies - can become CPD snacks. Rule of thumb: If it can fit in the mouth of the fish, it can be tasty snack.

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acitydweller

· #3 · Aug 18, 2012

1. gh, kh, TDM need to be within parameters inorder to determine whether they are stressed. If they aren't within specific parameters, seeing no breeding is likely an indication, random deaths or not surviving in the long run are others. e.g. TDS needs to be increased beyond 100 as shrimp wont like 0 tds water from r/o at all.

2. All you really need is one male and one female... sort of how these things work. If you are only keeping them as pets, what you have should be fine. If you are looking to build a massive colony, then add several more females. Hobbyists usually wait a few clutches before adding more shrimp for genetic diversity. If you purchase all your shrimp from the same source all at once, you are likely getting all the brothers and sisters to inbreed. quality over quantity.

3. Not likely at that size if im reading it correctly. Consider waiting a few weeks until the saddle appears on the female.

4. Berrying occurs after coitus, usually after a fresh molt.

5. Difficult to say as the environment, feeding habits, plant density and other tank inhabitants and tank size are all factors. I have cpds in a planted tank with 3 juvie cherries and no casualties. newborns however appear to look like brine shrimp so they will likely not survive with fish present... this is no different when fish frye are in the tank. babies in practice ought to be separated from the community...

Unless the tank is being heavily dosed with ferts or overstocked, consider extending the WC schedule to every 3 weeks to once a month. Stable conditions are important, but secondary to having the right water parameters. Get a gk/kh test kit and tds tester if you dont have one already.

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smokaah

· #4 · Aug 18, 2012

I am new to shrimp, since about March. I have had some success with my CRS and RCS. I have new CRS recently born and another berried female. In my opinion if you are serious about shrimp I would move the fish out.

The shrimp act differently when there are no predators. When I had mine with Cardinal tetras they always hid. Now, all alone they are everywhere and I had my first shrimp born, where as I had 0 born with fish.

I would buy some shrimp from member: msjinkzd, she got me some nice CRS for a good price and she sexed them for me. 3 and 3.

As for the water testing, if your tank is established you should be all set. I would keep up with the water changes every week, especially with a smaller tank. My tank is a 30 gallon and I change 20-25% per week.

I also run pressurized CO2. I have some surface agitation so I crank it up a bit.

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Dany08fa

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 18, 2012

thanks so much for the info! i'm gonna test for kh, gh and tdm when i get a kit. all my lfs do not have these or id already have one. so i'll probably have to order one online. my shrimp are all between 3/4"-1". less than 1.25' for sure.

if all my parameters end up in check for breeding then i guess thats when patients comes in.

i want to play with my livestock as well but i dont think anything in my edge is coming out alive. Catching anything in a fluval edge is extremly difficult if not close to impossible with a hardscape like mine. my only chance would be to make a trap of some kind to get my cpd out. catching shrimps i can maybe make happen when i feed them.

are newborn shrimp hardy? i could maybe catch shimplets and put them in my 2.5 rcs tank until they are big enough not to be a potential meal? this would be more realistic that catching my csp or maybe catch a berried female and move it?

i change about 50% of my water weekly but it is not all at once. I fill a five gallon bucket of water and use seachem prime and let it sit for at least a day. I do small wc daily, or every other day to keep my temps down (summer heat is killing me), keep water quality in check, and because my tank is still not "fully mature" i tought better not take a chance. i'll slow down on water changes when the heat goes down. I just take a pitcher of water out and slowly add a fresh pitcher of water in.

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pejerrey

· #6 · Aug 18, 2012

I agree with aciditydweller an somewhatshocked.

Most important to know in a mature tank is GH, ph, KH, TDS.
In a newer tank is nitrate compounds too.

My take about water changes,

I think is better to do very small changes daily or every other day if needed to bring the TDS down. But let the TDS tell when to do that.

If you know what is the TDS of your "clean" prepared water(plus GH booster and others) before you do a water change, then you shouldn't let it go above 30-50tds of unknown stuff.

Example, clean prepared water is 130-140 TDS, then if your tank water is reaching 180-200 TDS you should start doing water changes.

This is just less messing around and just my way. I have one tank I need to do weekly wc and other I haven't done any in more than 5-6 months. TDS meter is my best friend. (and I only use deionized water Zero TDS)

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Dany08fa

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 19, 2012

so i still could only count 4 shimps so i looked for my female today. She was hiding under my sponge prefilter with a fresh molt right beside her.

I can only assume that what i saw last night was breeding behavior due to the female molting and releasing her pheromones. Looks like this is a good sign and start!!