Crystal Red Shrimo

Hi,

Im hoping to perhaps get a few of these guys tomorrow. I think they look fab but havent kept them before. Anyone have any advise on them?

Gavin

Gavin can I ask what price they are any good quality CRS I have seen cost more than I would be willing to pay I got 2 armored shrimp lately and love them I have had other shrimp and the armored shrimp are the best I have seen so far here’s a pic



LB

I Love CRS, they are one of the nicest shrimp. They are small, about 1 inch but what they lack in size they make up in colour. Good quality CRS red and white, the more white the better the quality and the higher the price. They are graded according the the amount of white. They are a hobby on to themselves in the Far East where they are bred for specific patterns and sell for huge money. Typically here you will find CRS that are 80/90% red with 3 or 4 whte stripes. There should be good contrast between the red and white. They are not shy at all and will bred freely if kept in the right conditions. They are VERY sensitive to poor water conditions and will die very quickly if water quality deteriorates. They do not like high temps and should be kept at or below 76. Above 76 their colours will fade and above 80 you risk losing them altogether.

Derek has some from young shrimplets that were in plants I gave him, they grew and bred for him, but lately they had been losing colour and were almost transparent, we could not work out why until we realised the temp was around 80. I wiped out all my CRS with eSHa that I was using to treat a Betta in the same tank. There is copper in eSHa and like all inverts they have partically no tolerance for copper. Derek gave me a few shrimps to re-start my group and I put them in a tank at 72 (after acclimatising them over 12 hours) and within 48 hours there colour back back to normal.

Good luck with them. You won't be dissapointed, but make sure that there are no rough fish in the tank with them or they will hide and of course make sure there are no fish that might be partial to prawn cocktail!

Daragh

Hope to get them this evening. Have moved around the tanks in order accomadate them,they shouldnt be prawn cocktail for any of the other fish. My two woodland shrimp might not be too impressed with them but tough luck!! Im sure they will be fine! I must get a piece of bogwood also for the tank,will be taking out an ornament that my poor hong kong pleco's love playing on
Hope they will like the bogwood also.

Gavin

Fishowner wrote:

Hope to get them this evening. Have moved around the tanks in order accomadate them,they shouldnt be prawn cocktail for any of the other fish. My two woodland shrimp might not be too impressed with them but tough luck!! Im sure they will be fine! I must get a piece of bogwood also for the tank,will be taking out an ornament that my poor hong kong pleco's love playing on
Hope they will like the bogwood also.

Gavin

The woodland shrimp you mention, are they fan feeders? Sounds like Bamboo shrimp or Africian Shrimp, either will be totally harmless to the CRS. The CRS don't particularly need bogwood but they do crawl all over it and everything else eating microscopic particles of algae and other bits and bobs. The Hong Kong plec will be equally happy or even happier with a smooth stone to sit on.

Let's know if you get them and maybe a photo ...

Daragh

Im presently acclimatising them. Will probably be another hour before I put them into the main tank.
I have a breeder net in the tank at present with some new guppy fry so Im going to put 2 of the CRS shrimp in there and put the other 2 in the main tank as Im cautious about my molly who may take a swipe at them but Id imagine they will be fine, but Im going to put 2 of them into the breeder net for the first few hours in case I see the other fish going for them!
Im also in two minds about setting up another tank of a smaller size just for the shrimp. I saw it in the shop and I must admit I thought it looked fab. So much so that I think Im tempted to do likewise myself!

Yes Darragh, its the Asian filter shrimp,that I presently have 2 of in the tank.
The hong kong plecos, well they have a lovely few pieces of rock to roam around and scuttle in and out of so they are well catered for!!! Im couldnt get my hand on some driftwood that is suitable for the tank so instead I got myself a plant for the ornament,Ive shoved the plant down the ornament so they will have some protection,there is also a coconut shell in the tank which can provide shelter,but the tank is fairly open plan in terms of few hiding places really. The plant I got is "Hemianthus" - callitrichoides "Cuba".
The CRS are fairly small to be honest,I would imagine only about a month old or so. I think Ive 2 male and 2 females.


Gavin

Gesh Im a bag of nerves after their initial introduction!! They are so small that they are impossible to spot,so Im there wondering have they been eaten,where are they,oh no! Then eventually I see them in various parts of the tank! I dont think they will get eaten,a few fish have taken a few nips at them but dont pursue them,doubt they would fit them into their mouths anyhow. I must release the other 2 from the breeding net now and let them take their chances.
Lovely little shrimp I must say,always moving and actually do quite a bit of swimming also! Saw a fab thing earlier,but battery died on camera so couldnt capture it. There was a piece of plant leave on the surface that one of CRS went onto,the weight of the CRS on the leave made it begin to sink ever so slowly,the CRS was crawling back and forth on it as it drifted really slowly down to the bottom before the CRS jumped onto something else! Great shrimp,but they would have your nerves done worrying about them!!!! I'll just have to take a chance and let nature take its course

Hopefully they will survive.
Gavin

Although I may have shown as online, I have been out all night, I hope the shrimp were in the net when you went back. They climb out of breeding nets very easily, as I can testify - luckily in my case it was into the tank, I would have told you that if I had seen your post earlier.

What size are they, if they are a month old they would only be about 1/2 inch. Remember that they don't grow very big!

What other fish apart from the molly are they with?

Once they settle in you will see them more, but don't worry if they appear missing for a day or two at a time. A separate tank would be ideal, I don't know much about plants but I know that "cuba" is ideal for them and they look fantastic sitting on it. Remember that they are fussy about water quality a mature tank would be better especially if there are babies as they live of the bits and pieces around the tank that would not be there with a new set up. A gentle squeeze of a filter sponge would help feed the babies and help "age" a new tank. (I am not talking about cycling though an old sponge can do that too, I am referring to their food supply).

Cameras were very cleverly designed to be out of sight or out of batteries when anything interesting happens, at least mine is. Shrimp are great to photograph because unlike most fish they do sit still for a few seconds at a time

Even without eggs a female is noticeably deeper in body from half way along to the tail, ideally you need to compare one shrimp with another and once there is a difference you can tell which is male and which is female. When carrying eggs they are fairly easily seen under the females tail. They have about 15-20 at a time. They don't lay the eggs the fully developed shrimplets hatch for the eggs directly.

Good luck with them.

Daragh

They are all in the main tank now. Although Im trying to find two of them at present! I have 2 males and 2 females so perhaps they will breed. The tank is well cycled,its running over a year now or so. Never have any casualities with it so tank should be good for them.
Other inhabitants of the tank are
Neons, Cardinals, Molly,molly fry,guppy fry,female guppy,(all smallish side to be honest),cherry barbs,hong kong plecs,bronze corys and wood shrimp.

I removed the german blue ram as he would be polishing the CRS off by now Id imagine!
They are about 1/2 inch alright at present,again dont expect them to grow much more but I gather they are only a month or so old at present so they are at a smaller stage if you like. What age before they breed,also what are the chances my 2 and 2 will breed. Cost of the wee buggers preventing me getting 10 of them! lol.

Gavin

Grade C I would imagine.Pics are poor but my camera is even worse!

Gavin

Ps: Still cant find the other 2 shrimp!

Lovely photos, but they are not CRS. They are either Red Cherry Shrimp! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but on the bright side they are still lovely and they are probably a little hardier than CRS and are not so sensitive to high temps.

Regarding their tank mates, the only one I would worry about is the Cherry barb. I have never kept them but they might be able to take or damage a young shrimp. When they breed and they will the litle shrimplets are only like a sliver of glass so they may be at risk from several of the fish, though a few are bound to survive. The females acan breed from 2 to 3 months of age and then have eggs every 4-6 weeks. Sexing cherries is a little easier, the females have more red than males, the males can sometimes be almost colourless.

Daragh

Yes,indeed i was researching them abit earlier and I was thinking these guys dont actually have much white on them at all. Disapointed now that I dont have the CRS but at least these guys are still nice. The pink colour line through the body on the top of them gave me reason to doubt actually so I had it sussed after the pictures and was feeling rather sheepish then about posting all this stuff about my "crystal red shrimp"!! Oh well
Nonethless,I guess they are still nice shrimp. I found the other two earlier also!!!

Gavin