Some info to share for CRS hobbyist....

[newlife]

Selective Breeding --- Nakajima Breeding Technique

How to* selective breeding?
How to get offspring at your desirable characteristics and color trait?

The solutions may vary depending on what you have,, and what you are going to put into the project.

The very first factor that affect the breeding project would be the size of your tank. Let's take the example of a 60cm tank. First of all, we need to start from the pairing shrimps. If you put it favored 3 ~ 4 males, and then relatively more females. In this case, the male will pick whichever female it likes to mate. It is like a short cut to success. If the number of males is not enough,*it will decrease the*rate of successful mating. On the*other hand, if the number of male is excess,*ready to mate female, being weak after molting, will be chased by one, and ,another, and another males. Ultimately, Exhaustion. So, you need more plants,,more hidden places...

After successful mating, let berried female stays in the same tank for 3~4 days, and then move it carefully and slowly to the tank rich of moss and micro-organisms (of course, you have to prepare this tank ahead).* In this way, you have clear idea of what pairs make the offsprings. Make it easier for future selection. And it could prevent the trouble from males.

The first day eggs are hatched, you should start to feed baby shrimp food that's rich in protein.*New born shrimplets are difficult to seen for the first week. There are several choice of special design baby shrimp food. There are not great different between them. When shrimplets start to color up, if you find that the number of shrimplets decreases, well, there are lots of reasons. One of the most important one is that babies are highly sensitive to temperature change that's greater than ±2～3℃. Some hobbies may use heater and a chiller at the same time to keep temperature within desirable range, minimize the temperature change ( which could be really costly).

After food and temp control, another question is water change. Never ever change lots of water. A idea rate of water change could be 1/100 once a week. For the 60 cm tank, that would be 500cc water change once a week. When adding new water, make sure that things like chrome, etc are filtered out, and new water temp should be close the the tank, and you can mix some minerals to new water before add it to the tank. use drip acclimation system to slowly add in new water. For the water loss that's due to evaporation, you should add in new water in other way, like the distilled water.

Info credit: http://crystalredshrimp-yoyo.blogspo...-breeding.html

[newlife]

Breeding "High Grade" Crystal Red Shrimp --- Substrate System


Breeding higher grade crystal red shrimp could be different from grade A/S. It has higher requirement on water quality, and needs more attention to small details. Two most important criteria: nitrification system and stability of whole environment. A well set-up tank is essential for future successfully breeding.*

One point of a well set-up tank is substrate system.*


Most crystal red shrimp breeders highly recommend ADA Substrate System -- - Aqua Soil - Amazonia. It works great to maintain good pH lever for crystal red shrimp. There are two generations of ADA soil. Hobbies reflect that the first generation seems to be more effective and stable than the second. It is also said that the release time of the product will affect its function. It seems to be true, but I can't prove it.*

I have used three kinds of substrate so far, aqua soil amazonia, aqua soil africana, and flora base. All of them work well.*

The soil may be composed of some relative large coarse soil and some small fine part. Here is what I do to filter out coarse soil. it is good to have around 2 inches of coarse soil on the bottom, and another 1 inches of fine part on the top.

Shrimps love to dig around when searching for food. This is what would happen if there is big gap on the top of the substrate:*

Little shrimp baby kept digging deeply ~~
"Help, who can get me out??

Info Credit: http://crystalredshrimp-yoyo.blogspo...ed-shrimp.html

[newlife]

Breeding Crystal Red Shrimp

10 gallon tanks are highly recommended. Filters are required. Pro Hobbyists like to use canister filter as compared to other filter system. This is due to the fact that canister filter can provide the best biological filter system. A good filter system will maintain a balance in the Nitrogen Cycle


Gravel

There are many kinds of gravel you can use, however I recommend to use ADA Aqua Soil.

Water Quality

Crystal Red Shrimps are very sensitive to water quality. The present of ammonia is not allowable. This is also one of the major reasons that cause the death of crystal red shrimp.

Survival conditions:
pH 5.0~8.0 KH 1~6 Temperature 15~28 Celsius Degree/ 59~82 Fahrenheit Degree

Reproduction condition:
pH 6.2~6.8 KH 1~2 Temperature 24~26 Celsius Degree/75~78 Fahrenheit Degree

When the temperature is 25 Celsius Degree/77 Fahrenheit Degree, it is the best environment for egg hatching.
Change less than a quarter of water every time you do the water change.


Food

Shirakura or any other dedicated food for shrimp
Frozen blood worm
Boiled Spinach

Crystal red shrimps are constantly busy searching for food. If they do not eat, it may indicate some changes of water quality. Be careful!!

Water Plant and Sunk Wood
Sunk wood and densely plants provide shelter for baby shrimps from being attack. They also protect female shrimps after the ecdysis.

[newlife]

Nitrate NO3
Introduction to Nitrate

Ammonia produced by shrimp as a waste product is oxidized by aerobic bacteria in the biological filter: first to Nitrite(NO2) and further to Nitrate(NO3). In nature a complete nitrogen cycle exists, where plants utilize Nitrate as a food source, thus maintaining the very low Nitrate level. In the aquarium we create a one way system rather than a nutrient cycle. The plant growth is mostly insufficient to use up all the Nitrate introduced by the left food and waste. Nitrate will slowly accumulate, so that unnaturally high concentration are reached. Shrimp reacts distressfully to high Nitrate levels and will eventually die. High Nitrate levels could also cause the development of blue-green algae and hair algae. Nitrate level should be tested regularly.

To prevent the build up of high levels of Nitrate:

Keep the shrimp/fish density low.
Stimulate plant growth.
Remove debritus, dead plants and other dirt.

[newlife]

!! No Substrate System !!

This tank is simply equipped, with two biological filters: one regular Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter, the other one is DIY plus. The DIY one is easy to made:
1. place the regular Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter in a quart container;
2. fill the rest space in the quart with ADA soil;
It works better to lower the pH level.

We clean the bottom every two days for most of time. When necessary, we may do more. Suck out waste and the left-over food. No problem with sludge and mug. And no problem with planaria or round worm, since there's no place to hide.

The bottom is like a mirror, pretty but not easy for crs to walk around now. But it will get better after moss grows over the bottom.

Info Credit: http://crystalredshrimp-yoyo.blogspo...te-system.html

[chansl]

Wow .. Thank for your great information !! I think my shrimp tank has high nitrate which explain why they do not feed on my food. From your information, Hair Algae shows the presence of nitrate which i am facing it too .. But my question is

1) If i am using ADA powder , how do i remove the dirt or left over as any little movement will create a stir up of the powder
2) Not feeding food could it meant that the tank itself has plenty of natural food ? I had only 11 crs in a 2 feet tank with a huge drift wood and many christmas moss ?

Thank you =)

[cheetf]

Did you get permission from the owner of the blog to post this here?

[newlife]

Did you get permission from the owner of the blog to post this here?

Hee...nope....
Will seek now..,

[Navanod]

Bro, that's an interesting blog. However, it may be better to simply provide the direct links to the pages rather than copy and paste all the texts and pictures.
This would avoid any direct copyright infringements.

Aside from the somewhat lack of proof reading, I find some of his methods, "experimental"...

[paladin]

Bro newlife, the first post states to add minerals into the new water, during the water preparation phase. Do you know of any good minerals to recommend?

[cheetf]

Hee...nope....
Will seek now..,

So did you manage to get the permission?

[newlife]

So did you manage to get the permission?

Yah bro....
By email...