do cherrys eat their babys?Rtessy said:IME ghost shrimp are hardier than cherries and can tolerate a pretty wide range of stuff. Two main issues with them: the first is they're mainly feeder shrimp, which means they're poorly kept and about 1/3-2/3 will probably die within the first week you get them just because of the bad conditions they were in. The second problem is that ghost shrimp will eat their babies. Most people who breed them get around this by placing a berried female in a smaller container (once eyes can be seen in the eggs) with lots of mosses or something and then moving the female back after she releases the eggs. Most raise the young in a separate container until they're too big to eat. Good luck!
'phantom said:do cherrys eat their babys?
Just need to say that usually CRS stands for Crystal Red Shrimp, not Red Cherry Shrimp. CRS are caridina whereas red cherry shrimp are neocaridina. To my knowledge crystal red shrimp are much more sensitive than cherry shrimp and I think they require water that is softer and with a lower pH.Rtessy said:CRS don't eat their babies either but are much much more sensitive, and amanos don't, but it's quite difficult to breed amanos.
You're totally right, I really should be more specific. Sorry, I keep both and it's too much of a mouthful going around and saying all the words that I just abbreviate when I talk about them IRL.Kyleena696 said:Just need to say that usually CRS stands for Crystal Red Shrimp, not Red Cherry Shrimp. CRS are caridina whereas red cherry shrimp are neocaridina. To my knowledge crystal red shrimp are much more sensitive than cherry shrimp and I think they require water that is softer and with a lower pH.
EDIT:: my bad. I didn't notice the either in your original post. You should still give the full name before an acronym though, as not everyone will know what species you mean.
Don't apologize I just wanted to clear it up in case any newcomers seen it and thought CRS were the same as RCS. Didn't want anyone putting crystals in an environment meant for cherries and getting upset when their shrimp died because they thought they were the same.Rtessy said:You're totally right, I really should be more specific. Sorry, I keep both and it's too much of a mouthful going around and saying all the words that I just abbreviate when I talk about them IRL.
But definitely for breeding purposes cherries are the easiest.
Actually, you can get around the extra 6-8 weeks after cycling the tank (make sure it is fully cycled!) by adding bacterial supplements that increase biofilm. And, there really shouldn't be ANY deaths when adding in cherries, if you experience even a 10% death rate when you add them, there's something wrong. Either you didn't take long enough to acclimate them, something is very wrong with your water, or they were sick to begin with, which would most likely be a bacterial infection. Unless you meant ghost shrimp, but I already addressed their massive death rates after adding them.tjander said:@OP. I think this post got out of hand, your original post was about ghost shrimp. From my experience ghost shrimp are a pain to breed, removal of the larva into a green water solution, then back to the back tank. For .40 cents a shrimp go buy them in bulk. As pointed out earlier most will die very soon. They are not really meant to be a part of a tank but rather a food source.
Now, I think what others are saying if RCS Red Cherry Shrimp are better. But I will caution you that they are the easiest and also the hardest to keep.
Do your homework read what has worked and what has not. Don’t believe anyone who says ya just toss them in a new tank and they act like guppies and start to breed.
You have to go very slow, 6 to 8 weeks after you tank is cycled. Add some shrimp expect 50 to 60% deaths hopefully some will have fry and those will start your colony.
Good luck
I would think if you added just a bit of SeaChem alkalinity buffer to your tap water it would stabilize right away. You'd end up with slightly higher ph, but would be more stable in the long run.Rtessy said:Just wanted to say, I do have to let my water sit because my pH swings like crazy after 24 hours. Out of the tap it's 7.2, but after I let it sit for 12-24 hours it drops to 6.6.
Thanks for the suggestion! I appreciate the advice, but I'm kinda wary of trying new things. I go by more of a if it broke, why fix it, kind of a deal. Also, I keep some mischlings as well, and they need the lower pH.TexasGuppy said:I would think if you added just a bit of SeaChem alkalinity buffer to your tap water it would stabilize right away. You'd end up with slightly higher ph, but would be more stable in the long run.
Do you mean the blue cherries?? If so, I know quite a few cheaper online retailers, anywhere from $4-8 each for high grade blue dreams and velvets if you want that info. Same for blue bolts, a few places sell them online for $10-12. I'd love to see how they go for you, I have a few, and I actually keep them on tapwater (same for the mischlings also) but I'm blessed with tap with a TDS of 30-40Mick Frost said:Most shrimp do better with very low GH/KH and in softer water. That's not to say they don't do very well in other conditions, but if you're going to be finicky about the water in a Shrimp-only tank well...
Personally, I have RCS and Ghosts in various tanks ranging from 150-310 ppm KH, its more about the acclimation than anything.
When I can finally get Blue Sakura, however, they will be in strait remineralized RO water with a drip fill setup. ($25 ea for A grade, heh)
Blue Sakura are Caridina, and I unfortunately live in Canada (no x-border livestock).Rtessy said:Do you mean the blue cherries?? If so, I know quite a few cheaper online retailers, anywhere from $4-8 each for high grade blue dreams and velvets if you want that info. Same for blue bolts, a few places sell them online for $10-12. I'd love to see how they go for you, I have a few, and I actually keep them on tapwater (same for the mischlings also) but I'm blessed with tap with a TDS of 30-40
I'm sorry if I came off as trying to counter your experience, I really didn't mean to. I just know this OP posts a lot of threads about very quick breeding options, so I thought they would prefer a faster alternative. I definitely agree with you, it's much more likely to go well if the tank has been established for several weeks.tjander said:@Rtessy, in years of Cherry Shrimp keeping I am only expressing my experience. Happy you have had better results. I disagree with comments on rushing the setup, short cuts IMO are the reason things fail. But again this is just my opinion based on my experience.
Oh, that's interesting, I've never come across a Sakura grade for Caridina. You still might want to check out aquabid.com, I know there are several Canadian sellers who ship high quality blue Caridina, I know there are blue auras and some others, but I don't quite remember the rest... they come up every now and then.Mick Frost said:Blue Sakura are Caridina, and I unfortunately live in Canada (no x-border livestock).
