yum

This is a bit of a read. Hope you don't get bored. It's Friday and I have a lot on my mind so I'm rambling a bit.

So, I started keeping RCS in my 20 gallon El Natural tank some time ago (2 years?) and they adapted well and started breeding without any intervention on my part. I barely change the water and usually top off from my brita water pitcher. Tank mates ranged from red flame guppies, ottos, pygmy cories, snails, etc. Nothing aggressive or that could harm the shrimp.

Then I noticed as time went by the shrimp went from a deep brick red, to a more orange and lighter and ligher shade. I thought perhaps it's b/c I have very low lighting (less than 2 watts per gallon) or that it was light brown substrate (Schultz aquasoil). None of the spawn ever became as large or as red as the original "big mama." Around the same time I noticed my pond snails and MTS seemed to be dying early with thin shells. So that got me thinking that something was missing from my water that was necessary for good shell growth. So I started adding "Snail milk" to the water every so often and also dropped in common egg shells. Nothing seemed to bring back the color or size. But they seem happy and active and still breeding, albeit small and not so intensely red.

On a lark, I tossed in a dozen shrimps into my dad's 55 gallon along with a couple assorted plants a few months ago (mainly 2 swords, bacopa, guppy grass, potted in soil capped with gravel). His tank is not really well cared for, it's got a HOB penguin filter, assorted color gravel, plastic plants and packed to the gills with assorted mollies. Let's just say less than ideal conditions. So, I thought the plants would improve the water quality and provide some shelter for the shrimp. Aside from the general lack of water changes, I was really thinking the shrimp would be quickly gobbled up by his 2 clown loaches. I'd visit every once in a while and peek into the tank to see how things are going. The shrimp were usually hiding and surprisingly not eaten yet.

Fast forward about 4 months and KABLAM! Cherry shrimp population explosion in my dad's tank. I'm talking plague proportions. Every inch of the tank covered in super red giants! I'm completely at a loss for an explanation. He doesn't take any special care of his tank, borderline neglectful at times. He is not careful with his water changes, doesn't monitor a thing and feeds basic flake food to the entire general populace. I think that once the guppy grass started to fill in a bit, the shrimp had a place to feel comfortable and safe. Then the first population boom happened. He's since cleaned out a lot of the big mops of the guppy grass and then the second population boom happened. Oddly enough one of the remaining mops of guppy grass is centered around the intake of the HOB filter. LOL. The lighting in his tank is much brighter than mine but he rarely turns the lights on. He only turns it on when he gets home for a few hours at night whereas I have mine on a timer from 7am-9pm. During the day it gets a bit of ambient sunlight but that's it. Another strange thing is that the fish in his tank seem to be dying off, the mollies have stopped spawning and one of the mollies and a rasbora have an odd growth on their head. It would be a fair assumption to say that when the fish dye, they aren't scooped out immediately (if ever) and the shrimp make a feast of it. Could that possibly be it? Ha ha! He's raised a horde of carnivorous cherry shrimp! I thought for sure the clown loaches would feast on the shrimp but these shrimp are fearless. I have no idea what the shrimp eat since he doesn't feed them anything specifically for them and you know what greedy eaters mollies are.

So this past week, I scooped about a dozen of his monsters and put them into my tank. These were easily double the size of my adult shrimp and the colors just off the charts. It's been about 5 days and I think that the "dad shrimp" are starting to lose their intense red color. I included a bunch of egg carrying females from my dad's tank and I'm very curious to see how they turn out.

What's the deal? Everything in this scenario seems to contradict what the experienced shrimp keepers have stated. Any ideas on how to bring the color and size back in my tank? I live in Chicago and he's a few miles from me in the 'burbs so water should be about the same. He does have a large conche shell in his tank. Could that be the source of his powers?

On a side note, I set up a small half gallon el natural with a couple shrimp in there and the single female became more red than my dad's batch. I'm talking blood red and extremely dense but not very large. This small tank has top soil, capped with black gravel, some bacopa, guppy grass, moss balls. I also rarely change the water and just top off.

Speculation: could the larger tank size explain dad's larger shrimp? Could my shrimp simply be dying young like my snails?

James He

EI requires weekly 50% water change, am I right?

My experiece the shrimp doesn't like bright light. I cut back lighting and shrimp started to carry eggs and I stopped dosing any fertilizer.

Sugar Cone

As for the coloration, could it be food? Maybe your dad's fish food has the right stuff in it. Like, if salmon and flamingos didnt eat all the carotene they do they wouldnt be pink. Maybe its similar with shrimp?

ObiQuiet

Interesting! I'm curious to know the answer also. So, *bump*.

Dryn

I would also like to know the answer. I am betting that it has more to do with the tank size and possibly diet (protein is good) than anything. Can you post a better water analysis?

yum

Mini update: the "dad" batch of shrimp have definitely lost a significant amount of their color. Since adding them I have increased the amount of food I put in the tank, supplementing the crushed flake with hikari mini wafters and algae discs. They're eating well and I think that some of the berried females I brought in have dropped. It won't be long before I start to see juveniles of significant size to judge color but seeing the adults lose their color so quickly in my tank doesn't give me much hope of a new generation of red shrimp.

In answer to some of the questions/comments: El Natural doesn't promote water changes.

Don't think it's the food that is causing my dad's shrimp to be so much brighter since he does not take special care to feed them. It's plain old Tetra Min. I don't think there is much extra food that falls down for the shrimp. Really not sure what they're scavenging to eat in his tank. Algae? My best guess is either the rocks or a large/old conch shell he's had in there forever.

Maybe it is the light... my small cylinder near the window doesn't get much direct light and the single female in there is really red. I think my next experiment will be to cut my lighting time in half and see what happens!

James He

I believe food is key fact as well as micro elements in your tap water.
If you don't do water change very offen. you may loss some key micro elements over time which will effect shrimp body color.

I didn't understand this part:
Is it RO/DI water from this pitcher?

My guess:
snail with thin sell means lack of Ca.

One more question, what's your tank water's PH value?

James

NatalieT

Things like this: http://www.brita.com/products/water-pitchers/
You put water in the top of the pitcher, and it runs through a filter into the bottom section, then you pour it into a glass when you want a drink. Basically, it makes tap water taste better. I don't know what kind of filter is actually inside it.

I know from experience that it doesn't remove all that much stuff from the water.

James He

I read the manual, it includes active carbon and ion exchange resin in the filter.

So it is a water softener. remove the Calcium and Magnesium from the tap water, add a little bit Sodium into the water.

I will suggest to top off by using RO or DI water.
Add GH booster to control the stable GH level.

Regards
James

Gordonrichards

Hmmmm. Weak snail shells... bad diet.

Purchase hikari crab cuisine.
Feed to shrimps and snails.

They need a variable diet