Painted Fire Red Shrimp Project #1

[nicholasliao]

Hello All,

My first project in breeding Fire Reds. Hopefully I'll be able to get them into a Painted breed. This thread will serve to educate first-timers and hopefully for me to learn more about this hobby.

Project Setup #1



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream

Unedited shots



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream

Edited photos with Instagram filter.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9511133...in/photostream

An Update:

I have removed the Rilli Red from the tank as they will interbreed.

The first batch of juveniles are out. I will take more pictures and update as soon as I can capture them with my Samsung Note 2.

I do apologize for the poor picture quality as it does no justice to my shrimps.

I can't seem to be able to upload the pictures. So I've posted the links below them instead. Apologies.

[Regis]

Good luck with your project! Will camp for future updates.

[darrentyl]

Very nice and sexy fire red.

[soonhong]

Very nice fire red and neat setup. Thanks for sharing.

[xuan87]

Nice tank bro! I initially wanted to set up a painted fire red tank, and started off with 30 low grades fire red shrimps to gain more experience and breeder instinct. Now decided to switch to the goal of a PRL tank instead haha. However, I may want to keep a small population of painted fire red with my PRL in the future. I will be following your thread with great interest lol.

[nicholasliao]

Good luck with your project! Will camp for future updates.

Very nice and sexy fire red.

Very nice fire red and neat setup. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys! Will hopefully have more to share!

[nicholasliao]

Nice tank bro! I initially wanted to set up a painted fire red tank, and started off with 30 low grades fire red shrimps to gain more experience and breeder instinct. Now decided to switch to the goal of a PRL tank instead haha. However, I may want to keep a small population of painted fire red with my PRL in the future. I will be following your thread with great interest lol.

Thanks xuan! I bought 5 low grade CRS and have been keeping them with my tank. Unfortunately, 2 died and I'm left only with 3 who are still surviving. I'm beginning to get losses from my fire red's as their dying off slowly one by one. I have no idea why.

Ammonia is at 0 PH fluctuates at about 6.6 - 7.

Everything seems to be good. Might be due to weak shrimps. Will be heading down to NKS, Mr Neo to get more.

Will update the juveniles if I'm able to get them on my phone.

[emptysoulz]

Hi bro, nice and neat setup/shrimps.

I just started out on shrimp keeping too but my tank not as nice haha.
I notice you were hanging the shrimp bags in the water in the first to acclimate them, you may want to consider drip acclimation which may help ease the shrimps in better.

Is that an ANS 3000?
Sent from my RM-821_apac_singapore_293 using Board Express

[xuan87]

Thanks xuan! I bought 5 low grade CRS and have been keeping them with my tank. Unfortunately, 2 died and I'm left only with 3 who are still surviving. I'm beginning to get losses from my fire red's as their dying off slowly one by one. I have no idea why.

Ammonia is at 0 PH fluctuates at about 6.6 - 7.

Everything seems to be good. Might be due to weak shrimps. Will be heading down to NKS, Mr Neo to get more.

Will update the juveniles if I'm able to get them on my phone.

Right now, I have about 25 fire red, and 5 CRS in my tank with about 10 fire red shrimplets. I had 4 fire red deaths, 3 of which are within an hour of introduction. No CRS deaths yet. So I guess my tank's water parameters are more or less stable.

Instead of checking for ammonia, I advise you to check for nitrate instead. In a properly cycled tank, your ammonia and nitirite levels will remain very low as bacteria will quickly convert them as they form. However, nitrate cannot be removed by bacteria (only plants, water changes, and nitrate removal pads can remove them, to my knowledge), and it can build up fairly quickly. I suspect high nitrate levels may be the cause of deaths for your shrimps.

If you're looking to get more painted fire reds, it may be a good idea to get them from different sources, in order to widen your shrimps' gene pools. Their offsprings may be more hardy then.

[chansl]

Thanks xuan! I bought 5 low grade CRS and have been keeping them with my tank. Unfortunately, 2 died and I'm left only with 3 who are still surviving. I'm beginning to get losses from my fire red's as their dying off slowly one by one. I have no idea why.

Ammonia is at 0 PH fluctuates at about 6.6 - 7.

Everything seems to be good. Might be due to weak shrimps. Will be heading down to NKS, Mr Neo to get more.

Will update the juveniles if I'm able to get them on my phone.

n
Sorry to hear about your loss

I do agree that when i purchase shrimps from LFS, they tend to be very weak. On the other hand, when i purchase shrimps from breeder, they last longer. Just bought like 10 Fire Yellow from a breeder and none died, instead one got pregnant the next day .. haha .. Get from breeder, i think is better..

[nicholasliao]

Hi bro, nice and neat setup/shrimps.

I just started out on shrimp keeping too but my tank not as nice haha.
I notice you were hanging the shrimp bags in the water in the first to acclimate them, you may want to consider drip acclimation which may help ease the shrimps in better.

Is that an ANS 3000?
Sent from my RM-821_apac_singapore_293 using Board Express

Hi Bro! Thanks for the compliments! I don't usually try drip acclimation. I usually sock them in for about 15 mins before I let them all out. I don't have deaths at the start only about a week later. I know about drip acclimation as there's a sticky about it. But i'm not really too sure how it works. I will read it later. Thanks for the tip!

And YES! It's an ANS 3000. It's very noisy though. I'm thinking of getting a new and quieter one. The cooling fan evaporates a lot of my water and it is such a hassle to top it up everyday as I'm afraid the water change is too fast. I don't even do 20 or 30% water change every week. I'm like adding new water everyday.

[nicholasliao]

Right now, I have about 25 fire red, and 5 CRS in my tank with about 10 fire red shrimplets. I had 4 fire red deaths, 3 of which are within an hour of introduction. No CRS deaths yet. So I guess my tank's water parameters are more or less stable.

Instead of checking for ammonia, I advise you to check for nitrate instead. In a properly cycled tank, your ammonia and nitirite levels will remain very low as bacteria will quickly convert them as they form. However, nitrate cannot be removed by bacteria (only plants, water changes, and nitrate removal pads can remove them, to my knowledge), and it can build up fairly quickly. I suspect high nitrate levels may be the cause of deaths for your shrimps.

If you're looking to get more painted fire reds, it may be a good idea to get them from different sources, in order to widen your shrimps' gene pools. Their offsprings may be more hardy then.

Hi Xuan, I don't usually have deaths when I introduce my new shrimps into the tank only about a week later. I'm guessing it might just be the nitrate as well. I'm gonna source for more mini fissidens from jamesneo and place it in the tank and hopefully help alter the nitrate levels.

From what I know, it'll be good to get Fire red's from reputable breeders instead of LFS. I need to build up my contacts so the pool and genes of my red's are nice and strong.

[nicholasliao]

n
Sorry to hear about your loss

I do agree that when i purchase shrimps from LFS, they tend to be very weak. On the other hand, when i purchase shrimps from breeder, they last longer. Just bought like 10 Fire Yellow from a breeder and none died, instead one got pregnant the next day .. haha .. Get from breeder, i think is better..

Yeah true. But I've haven't come across any Painted Fire Red breeder's so far. That would be the reason why I started the thread to get it from breeders rather than LFS. Do let me know if you know anyone! Thanks chansl!

[xuan87]

Hi Xuan, I don't usually have deaths when I introduce my new shrimps into the tank only about a week later. I'm guessing it might just be the nitrate as well. I'm gonna source for more mini fissidens from jamesneo and place it in the tank and hopefully help alter the nitrate levels.

From what I know, it'll be good to get Fire red's from reputable breeders instead of LFS. I need to build up my contacts so the pool and genes of my red's are nice and strong.

Moss removes very little nitrate from the water. They are there more for the shrimps to graze on than to remove nitrate. If you truly want enough plants to remove nitrate, you'll need planted ones (which will require soil and maybe even CO2 diffuser) or an algae scrubber (I've considered it but will probably abandon the idea).

Hi Bro! Thanks for the compliments! I don't usually try drip acclimation. I usually sock them in for about 15 mins before I let them all out. I don't have deaths at the start only about a week later. I know about drip acclimation as there's a sticky about it. But i'm not really too sure how it works. I will read it later. Thanks for the tip!

And YES! It's an ANS 3000. It's very noisy though. I'm thinking of getting a new and quieter one. The cooling fan evaporates a lot of my water and it is such a hassle to top it up everyday as I'm afraid the water change is too fast. I don't even do 20 or 30% water change every week. I'm like adding new water everyday.

Topping up water will not remove any nitrate from the tank because when your water evaporates, the nitrate is still left behind. So you still need to do water changes.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yeah, to help control nitrates, you should add fast growing low-maintenance plants like amazon frogbits or water wisteria/water sprite. They also create alot more surface area for shrimps to graze on too.

[nicholasliao]

Moss removes very little nitrate from the water. They are there more for the shrimps to graze on than to remove nitrate. If you truly want enough plants to remove nitrate, you'll need planted ones (which will require soil and maybe even CO2 diffuser) or an algae scrubber (I've considered it but will probably abandon the idea).



Topping up water will not remove any nitrate from the tank because when your water evaporates, the nitrate is still left behind. So you still need to do water changes.

Oh wow, that would mean altering the water chemistry by a alot. I did add some BB to cycle the tank for about a week before I introduced all my shrimps into the water though.

I'm using a EHEIM 2213 for a small tank. I'm pretty sure it has more than enough filtration to go around. My 2.5ftx1.5x1.5 comm tank is only running on a single 2213.

[nicholasliao]

Yeah, to help control nitrates, you should add fast growing low-maintenance plants like amazon frogbits or water wisteria/water sprite. They also create alot more surface area for shrimps to graze on too.

Hi there! I guess I will look into the plants and do just that. Right now in the tank, there are only mini fissidens, star moss on lava rock and one tall plant that looks like a lily.

[nicholasliao]

Hello all! As I am on leave today, I took a couple more shots of the tank. Just to share:

I apologize for the low quality.

Found a number of them actively grazing today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichola...in/photostream

Best Female that I have. Broad body and solid red. Legs have a couple of white spots though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichola...in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichola...in/photostream

And yes, she's berried.

[qool]

Seems the best fire red in LFS I have seen so far are from GC. Do you have any other source especially for painted fire reds

[nicholasliao]

Seems the best fire red in LFS I have seen so far are from GC. Do you have any other source especially for painted fire reds

I usually try to ferry between the number of LFS. I selectively choose them in their little bags that they come in before I decide to bring them home.