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leek86

Aquarium Advice Activist
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May 10, 2011
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After much flip flopping deciding what to do with my cycled 64litre tank Ive decided to go with one of my original idea's and turn it into a shrimpitat.

Currently it has 2 cherry shrimp, 2 amano shrimp, 3 otocinclus and a 4 phantom tetra (I know they should be in larger groups but theyre only here temperarily to keep the tank cycled, and will be returned to my parents community tank)

So once I send the phantoms back to thier original community tank, Im going to start moving in shrimp. (The oto's should be ok with the shrimp correct?)
Ive decided to get red cherry shrimp and CRS, since I know these two breeds cannot interbreed and create hybrids.
Our water here is pretty hard so im thinking of buying RO water from a LFS. If I buy RO water do I have to do anything to it (ive heard people say things like "remineralize") and will the RO water affect the plants in the tank?
 
What do you mean by 'pretty hard' water? I would find it a pain to have to get R/o water.

If you do r/o you don't have to use trace if you are only mixing a portion of r/o into your regular tap water, that's the whole idea of using it as it lowers the ph/hardness.
 
Careful with RO water, since RO is so filtered and inturn pure water a lot of the good nutrients found in unfiltered water are removed. I have heard kinda horror stories where someone started using RO water instead of treated tap water and all their stock was wiped, plants included. My water here in Tucson is the hardest I have ever seen, I have no issues with my shrimp and I am planning on breeding RCS also.
 
The hardness really relates to what the pH in your water, so what is that parameter?

I have hard water (GH12) and my pH is lock solid at 7.8 after sitting in a bucket for 2hrs. I keep shrimp in it, along with a lot of other fish including puffers with no problems what so ever. If you use RO, you need to put nutrients back into it from what I've read.

RCS & CRS are great to have together. Here's a link to different shrimp (they're too pricey for me, but good for reference): Alpha Pro Breeders
 
Right I just tested a sample of my tap water using liquid api test kits, when I tested the results with my liquid api kh gh kit, my results were off the chart, taking 13drops for the kh and 19 for the gh, using this which I found online "The API test kit uses German degrees as a measurement, 1dGH being equal to 17.9ppm (I believe, I can't find my leaflet right now) so (27x17.9)+(4x17.9) = your total hardness = 554.9. Compare that to what it says in the book/leaflet as I'm sure it give ppm in there too."
One drop is proportionate to 1dGH, which would give me

KH - 232.7ppm (13x17.9)
GH - 340.1ppm (19x17.9)
Giving me a total hardness of 572.8ppm
PH - 7.2 ish
 
leek86 said:
Right I just tested a sample of my tap water using liquid api test kits, when I tested the results with my liquid api kh gh kit, my results were off the chart, taking 13drops for the kh and 19 for the gh, using this which I found online "The API test kit uses German degrees as a measurement, 1dGH being equal to 17.9ppm (I believe, I can't find my leaflet right now) so (27x17.9)+(4x17.9) = your total hardness = 554.9. Compare that to what it says in the book/leaflet as I'm sure it give ppm in there too."
One drop is proportionate to 1dGH, which would give me

KH - 232.7ppm (13x17.9)
GH - 340.1ppm (19x17.9)
Giving me a total hardness of 572.8ppm
PH - 7.2 ish
Click to expand...

Nice math (y) I was to lazy to go thru it all. I am surprised though because mine is lower (GH/KH), yet my pH is higher (seems backwards to me).

The pH is your tank I'm guessing and that's a really good level IMO. I'd say save yourself the trouble and cost of RO water and stick with what you have.
 
Actually the PH was my tap water, just tested the tank water and its between 7.6 and 7.8
 
leek86 said:
Actually the PH was my tap water, just tested the tank water and its between 7.6 and 7.8
Click to expand...

As long as it's stable in the tank, you're still fine IMO/E. Mine out of the tap is 8.2 (avg) and after sitting cured in a bucket for 2hrs, is stable at 7.8.
 
Ok thats good :) although I am concerned why the ph in my tank is higher than the tap, I thought ph lowered in the nitrification process :S

Picking up 10 cherry shrimp tomorrow, and thought I found a source for some high grade crs but the seller is ademant I use RO water and special minerals etc, so we shall see about the crs

Is 12 a good start for a breeding group of red cherries? Considering my tank size I didnt know if it was too few to start with.
 
Why not start with a lower grade CRS group, it's much cheaper and you'll see how they do in your tank setup. A dozen works, but the more the merrier when it comes to breeding, as long as they are happy you will have tons of RCS in the upcoming months.
 
The reason I opted for the higher grade is because I cant find any low grade CRS in my area and the ones off ebay, want to post them and to be honest I dont like the idea of using our royal mail postal service for live shrimp, they screw up enough with non living packages, also lower grades ive found on ebay arent that much cheaper.
 
I agree with the pH dropping out of the tap and in the tank, but stable is more important than level (within reason of course).

Can't say about the shrimp, since mine are more for fun and cleanup than for breeding right now. That tank is 2 tanks away (yes MTS is a disease, but hey I have AA lol).
 
Oh also whats the best shrimp food, special shrimp pellets? algae wafers? spinach and other veg?
 
Well I got the little guys today 11 new ones so there should be 13 in the tank, bought some shrimp pellets and some spinach as I read somewhere they like that too. Only one problem theyre tiny and I have no idea how to sex them, well a slight idea, something about yellow ovaries, but at thier current size and my eye sight I cant tell. :(
 
I'm going to jump on this thread because I'm trying to get my rcs colony to take off also I have 8 and 4 have green eggs just a few questions how many eggs do the mothers usually have, when do the eggs hatch, how fast does the colony grow, how many can I have in a 55g and should I mix some rcs in every so often so that there isn't a lot of inbreeding (and how many)
 
More the merrier xfactor :)
The gestation period for rcs is about 30days, I think I read before that they have between 15-25eggs, and yes it would most likely be a good idea to take some of your stock out and add fresh genetics in.

Edit: After looking at your profile, I see you have a dwarf gourami, so Id say supply lots of hiding spaces and moss if possible because I know gourami can and will eat you shrimp, the rasbora's and the cichlids too might snack on the shrimplets
 
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