My CBRS

I think you got a great deal Jacki and she is so cute. Maybe someday I will do Crystal Red Shrimp. Good luck with her and the young.
 
I think she's awesome, and I know you are a great shrimp mommie. Hope there are bunches more running around soon.:)
 
Even if it's berried that's still a lot to pay for it. You aren't even guaranteed a certain number of babies will hatch let alone survive. I'd take my chances with 10 juvies rather than 1 berried female.

In a few months these shrimp probably won't even be around. I see silica sand as the subtsrate and it's pretty well known that a soil like ADA Amazonia is practically necessary to get the water where it needs to be for these shrimp to live. I wouldn't be shocked at all if they start to kick the bucket within 2 weeks.

Wow your just a downer.I have these same shrimp on eco complete and mine breed like rabbits.So all this talk about needing magical dirt is just a farse.As long as the water is clean you should be good to go.If your water is hard then just add some peat to filter
 
Even if it's berried that's still a lot to pay for it. You aren't even guaranteed a certain number of babies will hatch let alone survive. I'd take my chances with 10 juvies rather than 1 berried female.

In a few months these shrimp probably won't even be around. I see silica sand as the subtsrate and it's pretty well known that a soil like ADA Amazonia is practically necessary to get the water where it needs to be for these shrimp to live. I wouldn't be shocked at all if they start to kick the bucket within 2 weeks.

Well, instead of being negative why don't you tell me how to get "the water where it needs to be"? I have a layer of flourite on the bottom and then playsand as a top layer. It is lightly planted right now but I am adding more vals and am waiting for some riccia that has been shipped and is in transit. I also have mopani driftwood that leaches tannins into the water, keeping it a light tea color. What damage does the silica sand do and what are the parameters that I should look for? The one thing I am concerned about is that I have some beautiful Texas Holey rock in there too and I am hearing that might not be a good thing because it will raise the hardness of the water.
I also think you misunderstood my earlier post. I bought a total of 10 shrimp, 9 beautiful CRS juvies and one large black, red and white adult because I liked the way she looked.
 
Those shrimp like softer water and more acidic I believe. That's why the ADA soil is recommended. It lowers the PH and softens the water. However, I've read that they can be acclimated very slowly to your water conditions. They're not guaranteed to fail and I really hope you can keep it alive. Congrats on your shrimp! Is that a Ninja shrimp or a Crystal shrimp? I've read that Ninja's require brackish water to raise the fry in because they are a larval shrimp.
 
Well, instead of being negative why don't you tell me how to get "the water where it needs to be"?

I agree. No reason to be negative. We're here to help and bring people up. :) Teamwork guys! :D
 
Those shrimp like softer water and more acidic I believe. That's why the ADA soil is recommended. It lowers the PH and softens the water. However, I've read that they can be acclimated very slowly to your water conditions. They're not guaranteed to fail and I really hope you can keep it alive. Congrats on your shrimp! Is that a Ninja shrimp or a Crystal shrimp? I've read that Ninja's require brackish water to raise the fry in because they are a larval shrimp.


The guy I got them from says she is a Crystal shrimp. I am going to do some studying and figure out how to make the water parameters better. For some reason I thought soft and acidic were opposites.
 
Btw, you can purchase the ADA Amazonia soil here. It's not too pricey and I've heard that if you have an account on Barr Report, you get a 10% discount on your order. However, I can't confirm that because I haven't purchased anything yet. But regardless, they have great prices.
 
Soft and acidic aren't necessarily opposites. I just think it is kind of hard to keep the ph from fluctuating when water is very soft. From what I have read for CRS you really need to keep the Total Dissolved Solids pretty low. I never thought about this until I read about it. Then, I went on ebay and bought a cheap TDS meter for $15. Turns out that in my snail/shrimp tank the TDS was 240, in my MTS tank it was 160, and in my 120 it was 800 (WOW). I crapped my pants on the reading in the 120 and immediately did a 75% water change. After the water change, the loaches and plecos were much more active and I actually got to see them out during the day more often. I'm going to do another large water change on that tank this weekend.

The key to keeping any of these aquarium inhabitants well is a lot of reading, a lot of time, and some trial and error.

Good luck with the CRS. If I had room for another tank, I would have one set up just for CRS. As it is, I'm debating some Yellow Neocardinia for my 10 gallon MTS tank.
 
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