# baby crystal



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i saw a shrimp in my tank yesturday that was like under a cm in size, almost no colour..


are crystals really faint in colour when born? if so that means my mothers are starting to drop 

cause i found a baby and all i have are crystals so im hoping he didnt just sneak into my tank lol


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

yup, very faint and their whites don't even really come in fully until they're juveniles-adults.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

sweet i already put some food in for the babies,
so it will take a month or two before i see their true colour?
im pretty exctied i have 5-10 berried shrimp for s-sss i wanna see my batch of babies!!

he was tiny and colourless i was looking at my mosses and i saw him.. i guess that means no more trimmings oof mosses ;p gotta keep my shrimplets in there


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

Yeah... stable everything for a while. Even maybe hold off on your scheduled w/c if you do it weekly, if you can't handle the nitrates then maybe stick with the baby food only for a bit.

I'd give it a month to get the full whites, maybe even less. I don't know if it's just a visual illusion of them being so small initally, but when they got bigger I always think their whites grew bigger.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

why dont do a water change? and do you think theyll be fine without baby food?

ive bred shrimp before just never crystals


and never a 75 gallon shrimp tank untill now either


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

By the time you can see them, they should be coloured already. It's actually the opposite, they look amazing when small and lose their white as they grow older. If all you have are S-SS you shouldn't get any transparent ones. If it really was a CRS, then that can only mean that it's gene got polluted by a recent S+cull stock cross. It will take years of selective breeding to shake that off.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

Zebrapl3co said:


> By the time you can see them, they should be coloured already. It's actually the opposite, they look amazing when small and lose their white as they grow older. If all you have are S-SS you shouldn't get any transparent ones. .


That has been my experience


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

You should tell that to my CRS, my newborn CRS always have faded reds and whites (day 1) and yes they are extremely hard to see but I've found them. A week later their reds come out, then 1-2 weeks after that their whites come out somewhat. It might be different with SS-SSS, but my S - S+ are that way. I mean they are still unmistakeably CRS... but just not as obvious when they first come out.

75 gallon... err you might be fine then. I thought you had maybe a 10-20 gal. I wouldn't do any major water changes then, baby shrimp need water stability. The babies won't be fine without biofilm, if you lack it they'll die. I use mosura bioplus, seems to keep them alive or that's what I'm thanking anyways.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

The babies won't be fine without biofilm, if you lack it they'll die. I use mosura bioplus, seems to keep them alive or that's what I'm thanking anyways.[/QUOTE]

whats biofilm????
i have some baby food for shrimp but no biofilm

and he looked like a clear brownish it was tiny i only saw one on a mossmatt in the back of my tank.

i have a few shittier shrimp it may have mixed with but lots of nice ones. i even have berried sss but they could have mixed with anthing


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

biofilm is basically just micro fauna and flora that grows in a tank over time and that's what the babies and to some extent, adults eat. Babies especially though. Mosura bioplus helps encourage this to grow faster and provides a source of food in the meantime.

Biofilm takes a while to establish in any tank and after setting up 10 tanks and adding shrimp right away to some, even with an established filter, I didn't get any babies lasting. I'm a firm believer that a tank should be setup for a few months with something such as snails or some fish you can take out to get it "shrimp ready". Adding lots of moss from an established tank will help, but when you see shrimp out walking on the substrate all day long and appear to be eating nothing, that's biofilm they are eating. Keeping your lights on 24/7 for a few days at the start helps get a nice algae layer going on the glass as well and this encourages more biofilm growth. All of my tanks have 3 walls that are half green.

This is a pic from Igor's site, take a look at the green walls.


----------



## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

That's a beautiful thick layer.
How do you keep green hair algae at bay?? It seems in one of my tanks the hair algae is growing wild and assumably taking in all the nutrients.



getochkn said:


> biofilm is basically just micro fauna and flora that grows in a tank over time and that's what the babies and to some extent, adults eat. Babies especially though. Mosura bioplus helps encourage this to grow faster and provides a source of food in the meantime.
> 
> Biofilm takes a while to establish in any tank and after setting up 10 tanks and adding shrimp right away to some, even with an established filter, I didn't get any babies lasting. I'm a firm believer that a tank should be setup for a few months with something such as snails or some fish you can take out to get it "shrimp ready". Adding lots of moss from an established tank will help, but when you see shrimp out walking on the substrate all day long and appear to be eating nothing, that's biofilm they are eating. Keeping your lights on 24/7 for a few days at the start helps get a nice algae layer going on the glass as well and this encourages more biofilm growth. All of my tanks have 3 walls that are half green.
> 
> This is a pic from Igor's site, take a look at the green walls.


----------



## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

From the pic posted above, are the roots of the frogbits supposed to be that "fuzzy"? or is that hair algae?


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

where can i buy the biofilm? i may have some on my walla but def not coverd green.

if i took some off of someones wall and dropped it in my tank would it speed it up aswell? i have some baby foods ill have to feed, and the main problem is i wont know how many babies there are.

i have 30 shrimp roughly and a few pregnant ones, the tanks been going on for a while so hopfully the biofilm is starting to grow but ill buy the doser and start its fasttrack

thanks for the info my little shrimpies appreciate it


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

That's Igor's tank, not mine. Yes, the frogbit roots get a bit fuzzy, especially when they get proper light and nitrates to eat. I don't think that is hair algae Crystal, just algae film. All of my tanks have gotten it over time just by leaving the lights on 12hrs a day, small wc's and time.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

do you have any plants coverd in the film you could trade me ? 

or do you reccommend just buying the film nute and start dosing?


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

How old is your tank? If it's older than 2 months there's probably some biofilm, I'd use a bit of mosura bioplus (or any other bioplus type product) to help develop more biofilm. Not something I'd freak out about though.

If your tank is a week old then yea, be careful.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

lol not a week it was running for a year wit fish then i came home from school in dec and restarted it changed the substrate, still used same water and filter pretty quick flawless cycle so id say month and a half of a nice cycle


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

and ps where can i get bioplus? will big als have it? or do i have to go on a little mission to find it


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

It doesn't have to be mosura bioplus, I'm sure other have suggestions of similar products. I got mine from igor on here, he's near high park.

month and a half should provide some biofilm.


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i guess ill try to find igor lol but i was looking at my tank yesturday looking to see if i have biofilm and i think i have some!

on my side and back wall i have tiny green specs if you look closely you see some shrimp picking at it, there isnt a solid layer, but im sure it will slowly grow..

. And I guess autocats slowly eat my biofilm?


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

Biofilm isn't just the green algae, it grows on rocks, drifwood, moss, the substrate, tank walls, everywhere. If your tank has been setup for 2-3 months, it should start to have biofilm going in it. Mosura bioplus helps speed this alongand gives the babies a source of food as well. If you only have a few shrimp, it's probably not needed, just a well setup tank. If you have a tank with 1000 shrimp in it, you really need to supplement some food for the babies. Yous should probably be fine but some bioplus won't hurt. I know Igor sells bioplus, as does franks aquarium depending if you are closer to Toronto or Markham. Igor ships as well.


----------

