# The Thrill of Shrimp Keeping



## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

"why not fish?"
"are they for eating?"
one guy said.."Forest Gump!" "huh?" I replied..and he said " yeah..your breeding shrimps (to eat) cause of that oil spill down in Mexico right? they used that region for shrimping"..

we've heard them all....

I'm curious as to how every shrimp enthusiast came to be, cause my friends all look confused when I told them all I have in my tank are Crystal Red Shrimps..

I started with a 6 gallon Fluval Edge with a betta and 2 red guppies 3 frogs and 5 CRS...

I started watching my CRS interact with the betta and how it would stand right up to the fish until the last second them dart away....
so they do have personalities! Fish are fun to watch and they are cute when you hand feed them....but shrimp keeping I find is more Dynamic..Kinda like those addictive games like the SIMS..You start off with a small batch and due to your care and diligence you can grow a colony of over 200 CRS from just 20..unlike some fish the adults don't eat the young! and you can keep 200 shrimps in a 10 gallon tank...

with all other pets when they breed the offspring become a hassle and you need to give them away or sell them...
with shrimps they can breeding is encouraged..nothing has a owner more happy then seeing a pregnant female with eggs pop up over night.. you feel a sense of achievement when your colony jumps from 10 to 30 to 60...
...plus they are so much fun to watch..

when I looked them up online this link was what got me hooked...

http://www.planetinverts.com/Crystal Red Shrimp.html

The next day I popped my beta in a bowl and returned everything to Big Al's....and picked up 20 CRS...

When I went to Korea this past April I fell in love! They have an alley way with 20 LFS all packed together. My gf brought me to this one store ran by a lady and her husband (owned that store for over 30 years) She gave me tons of tips to caring for them and sold me 5 of the most beautiful and vivid colored CRS I've ever seen. Overall her advise was...keep your water parameter stable...keep the temp as close to 22 degrees as possible...other then that they are very hardy shrimps..oh and avoid ferts! just using co2 is good enough with proper lighting...

I'm very curious to hear everyone's experience with how they moved into shrimp keeping...especially the crystal reds.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

It's difficult to explain why I decided to start up a shrimp tank. I guess that it started off a few years ago when I had fish, I remember that the SuperPet at Orion Gate was still a SuperPet and not a PetSmart. I had feeders, a few neon tetras, and crayfish. When I first brought the crayfish home (I remember how they used to sell them in the corner by the Feeder Fish section at Big Al's Mississauga) it became pregnant shortly after and died about a week after. Then I bought 2 more crayfish and noticed that they had these transparent shrimp, I didn't know they were ghost shrimp at the time, and wanted some but decided against it as they might bother the crayfish and would be difficult to remove when I did a water change. I don't know how those crayfish survived for so long, I never knew about a cycle, I would do gravel vacs on this ugly rainbow-coloured gravel and clean the filter media with tap water whenever I did water changes which wasn't very often. After everything died, I quit for a few years and decided to go back into aquaria recently.
So it was the night school started again for me after the Christmas break, for some odd reason I couldn't sleep and began thinking about crayfish again. I decided that night that I wanted either one of two things, either a crayfish or some shrimp. I knew absolutely nothing about the behaviour of crayfish and shrimp I remember that I wanted to put shrimp and crayfish together. 
My list for the first shrimp I'd get:
1. Crystal Reds - Because they look awesome
2. Tiger Shrimp - Because they don't look horrible and because they remind me of tiger prawns
3. Red Cherries - Because they are considered the easiest shrimp to keep alive and breed

The reason I give people when they ask, is because it's the same reason people have fish. But shrimp are much more interesting, they stay at the bottom and sometimes swim around when they are excited, they hide and scavenge for food, and they molt. Best of all, once you have a colony up and running, you don't need to remove any dead shrimp, as they're scavengers and will eat dead shrimp. I remember the first time I saw my Red Cherries fight, one was eating an algae wafer and got frightened and retreated back, another larger shrimp started to eat the algae wafer and then the smaller one got ontop of the bigger one and tried to pull it off.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Btw, those are nice crystal reds, I've never actually seen a CRS with a V-band, they always have tiger tooths.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Joeee said:


> Btw, those are nice crystal reds, I've never actually seen a CRS with a V-band, they always have tiger tooths.


Thanks  brought it back from Korea..I also brought back a Double no entry Hino...but due to my lack of knowledge at the time...he died from bad water changes and No3 poisoning..
He was a beaut.
great color too..I give them tons of beta carotene for red and Mosura mineral plus to enhance the white. Oh and blood worms as a treat..


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Cherry shrimps are easy to breed and look quite nice. The lower grade ones will be used as feeders


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Is there a way to make red cherries darker without black substrate?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Well, red cherries can only get to a certain redness depending on genes and grade level. The potential of an A class shrimp is obviously higher than a B grade. Potential colour is the limit of how vivid the red can be but you can only reach that full potential by providing a good varied diet, a tank environment that feels like "home" to make them feel safe and happy and reduce stress. If all those factors are covered, they should get as red as they possibly can. Black substrate is a must if you want to bring out the full colour, they get darker if the substrate is darker. Pure black substrate is the best and sand can't reach that shade of black imo.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> Well, red cherries can only get to a certain redness depending on genes and grade level. The potential of an A class shrimp is obviously higher than a B grade. Potential colour is the limit of how vivid the red can be but you can only reach that full potential by providing a good varied diet, a tank environment that feels like "home" to make them feel safe and happy and reduce stress. If all those factors are covered, they should get as red as they possibly can. Black substrate is a must if you want to bring out the full colour, they get darker if the substrate is darker. Pure black substrate is the best and sand can't reach that shade of black imo.


I've never actually seen pure black gravel before, all of it has the glossy shiny thing on it. I wonder if there are any implications to the shiny glossy thing.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

CrystalMethShrimp said:


> When I went to Korea this past April I fell in love! They have an alley way with 20 LFS all packed together. My gf brought me to this one store ran by a lady and her husband (owned that store for over 30 years) She gave me tons of tips to caring for them and sold me 5 of the most beautiful and vivid colored CRS I've ever seen. Overall her advise was...keep your water parameter stable...keep the temp as close to 22 degrees as possible...other then that they are very hardy shrimps..oh and avoid ferts! just using co2 is good enough with proper lighting...


What else did she tell you? I'd hate to unintetionally kill one of my low quality CRS because of something silly.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I do not trust anything that has a shiny glossy coating over it lol. Most likely chemicals therefore I don't put them in my tank. My gravel is jet black and does not have a shiny coating over it the look of it reminds me of black coal, it's completely black with a natural matte look like that in most rocks. You can come by and look at it to see if you're interested.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Joeee said:


> What else did she tell you? I'd hate to unintetionally kill one of my low quality CRS because of something silly.


Hey Joeee,
Um, CRS are tougher.
The Key is to maintain your water parameters.
0 ammonia
0 no2
5ppm or less no3..
if your in Toronto our pH is 7.4 so it is fine..they prefer 6.5 but mine are happy regardless.
and keep the temp as close 22 degrees as possible. That is key. (make sure your pump motor isn't too warm when you touch it...if it is then you need to clean it)

anything over 28 they will die. At 26 I saw my berried female fanning her eggs..bad sign..

Keep plenty of plants and surfaces for biofilm to grow on as that's what they eat. plus places to hide...

15% water change weekly. Though b/c it's summer and warm in the house..
I do a 10% change every night with cold water to pump it from 26 to 24...

Oh and b/c we had a warm winter they're using chloramine instead of chlorine this summer....10X more toxic..Make sure you use water conditioner in new water and let it sit for 10 minutes before using.

Avoid the following...
-rapid changes in water temperature.
-Do not keep them with any fish as they might eat the shrimp babies.
-DO NOT overfeed (most common mistake)
feed 1 grain of seasalt sized food per shrimp every other day.
-Avoid pH swings..7.4 pH is fine as long as the temp is low...22 the magic number!


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

That is a beautiful setup in your avatar picture. Is it yours? Care to upload the full sized pic with a guide to how to do it? It's truly amazing


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> That is a beautiful setup in your avatar picture. Is it yours? Care to upload the full sized pic with a guide to how to do it? It's truly amazing


I wish it was mine =D


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I just want to know how to make that tree, I started a thread so that if anyone finds out a method to do it, hopefully they share it with the rest of us.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

So nobody else has an affection for shrimps? bump it.


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## Abner (Apr 7, 2009)

i do i do!!me me me..lol yeah i spent the past 45 minutes loking at this one shrimp, pretty fascinating. Don't know if i want to venture into sulawesi yet but i definitely am gonna do some research about making my tank best suited for my crs.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

My thrill in shrimp keeping is feeding them to my fish lol. Setting up a cherry shrimp tank with a betta in it. Good idea? Bad Idea? What do you guys think? I want the population to be stable, enough surviving young to replace the dying older ones. Doubt the betta can eat all of them, can they eat a full sized adult cherry shrimp?


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

I really love shrimp! till just this year I thought shrimp were only in saltwater tanks... I had never seen cherry shrimp before until I found this forum and saw lots of photos of shrimp tanks. So I got a couple Amano shrimps to start with in My 15 gallon- theyre very cool and alllways doing something, and they have grown quite big! Not that pretty of a color to look at, but really interesting creatures. Then I got some cherry shrimp, gosh theyre cute! really nice red colors, and much smaller so I spend alot of time just trying to find them in the tank  I just added a few more cherry shrimp this week too. I even have a pregnant cherry shrimp too so its fun to watch her each day to see what happens  
I just started up another new tank too, a 5.5 gallon which I wasnt sure what I wanted to put in it... but now Ive decided its going to be an all shrimp tank because I really think shrimp are awesome  so I moved most of My shrimps that I could find over to that tank today, and a few plants just to start with... and I plan on venturing into the world of mosses too, I want to try a carpeted look in this tank for the shrimps


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> My thrill in shrimp keeping is feeding them to my fish lol. Setting up a cherry shrimp tank with a betta in it. Good idea? Bad Idea? What do you guys think? I want the population to be stable, enough surviving young to replace the dying older ones. Doubt the betta can eat all of them, can they eat a full sized adult cherry shrimp?


Mine did. Bit the tail right of a 1.5 inch beauty...
The reason you don't want to keep your betta with your cherries is that your betta will start eating them and their young. If the shrimps feel threaten they won't breed. Also your betta won't stop eating live food until he is dead or sick.

I'd advise you to keep them separate but I know where your coming from. As soon as you see your betta attack a shrimp you'll realize you rather have 2 tanks.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

GuppyLove said:


> I really love shrimp! till just this year I thought shrimp were only in saltwater tanks... I had never seen cherry shrimp before until I found this forum and saw lots of photos of shrimp tanks. So I got a couple Amano shrimps to start with in My 15 gallon- theyre very cool and alllways doing something, and they have grown quite big! Not that pretty of a color to look at, but really interesting creatures. Then I got some cherry shrimp, gosh theyre cute! really nice red colors, and much smaller so I spend alot of time just trying to find them in the tank  I just added a few more cherry shrimp this week too. I even have a pregnant cherry shrimp too so its fun to watch her each day to see what happens
> I just started up another new tank too, a 5.5 gallon which I wasnt sure what I wanted to put in it... but now Ive decided its going to be an all shrimp tank because I really think shrimp are awesome  so I moved most of My shrimps that I could find over to that tank today, and a few plants just to start with... and I plan on venturing into the world of mosses too, I want to try a carpeted look in this tank for the shrimps


Use HC "cuba"and avoid riccia..


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

RCS make some of the best feeders I've ever worked with. I'm keeping them in a bucket on the deck. lol


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Darkside said:


> RCS make some of the best feeders I've ever worked with. I'm keeping them in a bucket on the deck. lol


nice...what do you feed them to?


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Livebearers, cichlids, rainbow fish... pretty much everything I have gets some every now and again.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

well next time I suggest you put a few in a small tank and just observe them for awhile. 
You'd be surprised how entertaining these little guys can be. 
as a bonus they breed easily in large numbers and you'll have a constant supply of food for your fish.

Here's an easy step by step link on how to breed that a 5 year old should be able to follow. Perfect for me =D

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug, Cherry Red Shrimp.htm


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

I have some in a 4 gallon that's densely planted with java moss and some hair grass. Shrimps are interesting enough, but I don't know that I'd give them their own larger setup.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I would like to ask a question in regards to water changes on a shrimp tank. How do you do a water change with out accidentally throwing the babies out with the water change?


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

TBemba said:


> I would like to ask a question in regards to water changes on a shrimp tank. How do you do a water change with out accidentally throwing the babies out with the water change?


Examine the area where the water comes out or you could add like a mesh-net thingy so after you can distinguish between shrimp and poo.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Joeee said:


> Examine the area where the water comes out or you could add like a mesh-net thingy so after you can distinguish between shrimp and poo.


I run all the water thru a fish net but some of those shrimplets are tiny. I am not to worried about my cherry shrimp. but if i was trying to breed $30 a piece shrimp i sure would want to make sure i didn't potentially flush $90 worth of shrimp.


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