smmcgill Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Has anyone had success breeding red cherry shrimps in plain old Calgary tap water (heated and dechlorinated, of course)? I'm not trying to "breed" them in the sense of breeding and culling and selling; just wondering if my saddled females will ever HAVE EGGS, ALREADY!!! I WANT BABIES! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Yes!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Indeed you can. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=38536 in this tank: http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=41944 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Don't even need heat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Not yet... but soon! I only have a handful of shrimp in my holding tank (I think they're all males). I'm hoping to buy some more in the new year though for my new planted tank. So hopefully I'll be able to have little shrimplets too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smmcgill Posted December 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Hmm. Maybe I need to play some Kenny G for them? Candlelight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smmcgill Posted December 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Indeed you can. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=38536 in this tank: http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=41944 Nice tank! Is it still up and running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 (edited) Indeed you can. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=38536 in this tank: http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=41944 Nice tank! Is it still up and running? It is just morphed greatly. I'll snap a new shot this evening! Took a new shot this evening. I'm sure it will just disappoint however as it is a grow-out tank than being scaped. Edited December 19, 2014 by ckmullin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smmcgill Posted December 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 So, if the issue isn't straight-up Calgary water, maybe I'm having a water-quality issue. Out of curiosity, I tested the water in this tank today. Haven't done that for a while because it's a low tech planted tank with soil substrate and sand cap, after the initial few weeks, it was pretty stable. HOWEVER, today, it was not ideal: no ammonia, but around 0.3 mg/L nitrite, and 20-50 mg/L nitrate (that's as precise as my test kit is, and I couldn't really tell exactly which. Closer to 20.). Weird. I also found a dead shrimpy stuck in a plant. I had seen it there previously, but thought it was hiding. Oops, wonder how long it was dead? It was all soft and limp, so I think awhile. Is that why my shrimpies aren't getting bizzay, perhaps? Because the water sucks? And, does the water suck in part due to the dead carcass? Could one rotting dude contribute that much N? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbyist Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 I have a tank with hundreds of cherry shrimp in Calgary water and have had no problems whatsoever. I do a daily waterchange of 8 litres, not using water conditioners of any sort. If the temp is maintained at 80 degrees they will breed more freely than at lower temps. Half of my tank is in Java Moss, the other in crypts. It's 23 gallons in size. They do take a while to settle in so patience is a key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smmcgill Posted December 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I have a tank with hundreds of cherry shrimp in Calgary water and have had no problems whatsoever. I do a daily waterchange of 8 litres, not using water conditioners of any sort. If the temp is maintained at 80 degrees they will breed more freely than at lower temps. Half of my tank is in Java Moss, the other in crypts. It's 23 gallons in size. They do take a while to settle in so patience is a key. Interesting! Not even dechlorinator? Patience... Hmph. Would you share a pic of your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbyist Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I'm not sure that a picture would do you much good. There is a definite haze on the glass and because there are baby shrimp sitting all over it, I have been reluctant to wipe it down. The tank is nothing spectacular but it is healthy. Because the first treated water is not delivered to the first house for three days the chlorine is long out of the water by then. You often smell a strong chlorine odour on opening the tap but that is because the chlorine is out of the water. For many years I have done moderate water changes in tanks housing delicate fish with no problems. The story changes when chloramine is added to the treatement procedure after heavy storms or during spring run off. I don't do any changes at those times. Also, if the rivers become very turbid, the City will precipitate same by adding Alum in large amounts to prevent their intake filters from being hopelessly plugged. This dramatically lowers the ph of the water. Back in the 80's there was about a 50 % fish kill after a big rainstorm. Some fishkeepers. mainly breeders, told me that they had measured the ph of water coming out of the tap at 5.0 with meters. Edmonton and Calgary are different stories. Last time I checked, Edmonton treated their water with liquid chlorine whereas Calgary utilized chlorine gas. If I was living in Edmonton I would not do the things I do here without undertaking a full review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smmcgill Posted December 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Hobbyist, I was just curious to see what the moss/crypt setup looked like. I have some java and flame mosses tied to some rocks, and was curious how you'd fill half a tank with the stuff. Thanks for the really detailed reply, I sure appreciate it. As a newb, I have been relying so much on what people say (for better or worse), as I learn and experience things for myself. So, when things like "use dechlorinator!" are said by almost everyone, a different opinion caught my attention. Thanks for explaining. Is this (off-gassing the chlorine) why some people "age" their water? One more question, if you don't mind: why the small water changes daily? To avoid disrupting the water parameters too much with fewer big changes? That's my guess, but I'm interested to see if I'm on the right trac . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbyist Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 My tank set up for the shrimp is so horrifically complicated that it would take a new entry to the hobby up to 2 minutes to duplicate. I secured a baseball amount of Java Moss in the gravel in one end of the tank and stuck a couple of crypts in the other end. Done. I feed the shrimp in the crypt end as I can see the bottom and tell how the feeding is going. The Java Moss is very dense now and measures 15" long by 12" wide. I constantly read scientific research articles and many of them relate directly to our hobby. One large water chemical co. intensively studied the process of water aging. Their conclusion? Once chlorine was out of the water save for a light build up of fungal cells nothing changed. Water is a chemical compound and does not change its properties over time. They even made the statement that it was a total waste of time for aquarists to adopt the procedure. I had already decided that that was the case and hadn'd done it since the early 70's. Another study by a different group determined that small daily water changes were more beneficial than larger weekly ones. When fish are placed in an aquarium their immune systems start deteroriating. They found that with the influx of daily tap water the added stimulis helped them. Tropical streams around the world provide a change of water 400 times a day so a small daily change isn't much. Freshwater fish have to constantly urinate owing to the osmotic migration of water into their body or they drown. The study noted that if your aquarium is moderately or heavily stocked, by the end of a week the fish aren't swimming in water anymore but liquid sewage. The water may be crystal clear but it is biologically filthy. And again, adding water directly from the tap introduced very small amounts of chlorine which was diluted by the rest of the water, didn't harm the fish but had the beneficial effect of lowering the bacteria count. The amount of money I have saved by not using declor. would now buy me the CPR. All my comments apply only to Calgary water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince0 Posted December 25, 2014 Report Share Posted December 25, 2014 I just read through your post and I am amazed. I suspected many of the points you wrote, including small quantities of chloramine during storms or big melts. I also do not use conditioner and haven't for about 5 years. Thank you very much for confirming some of my suspicions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.