[Praxx42]

Are doing pretty well! I usually see 2-3 at any given time, the rest are hiding in the pelia field. I know they are growing because I see the molts on a fairly regular basis. I haven't seen any larvae yet, but it's still early in the game.

Just thought I'd let you know.

=Praxx

 

[John P.]

Crystal Reds don't have a larval stage from what I know.

 

[Praxx42]

So they go from egg to ...?

 

[shalu]

So they go from egg to ...?

miniature adult look likes.

 

[Praxx42]

Really! Hmn... that almost sounds like live-bearing snails. Cool. I guess I know what to look for now.

 

[shalu]

I currently have three pregnant crystal reds. The first one is pregnant for 25 days now, so the babies are due anytime. The wait is killing me.

From what I know, the babies actually look more attractive than most adults, because most of babies have well defined red/white banding. With adults, a lot of white area might mature into red color, losing the clear definition of banding. This is also happening to some of my crystal reds. Only a small portion of the adults can keep the white bands, and those can be very expensive on asian markets when purchased as adults.

 

[Praxx42]

I think Nikolay got a great deal then, 'cause these lil' guys have severely delineated red and white bands. I hope they kick off some babies soon, because I am ready to see this all go down.

 

[niko]

Aha!

I wanted to call you today to ask you how are they doing and especially if you think there is male among yours.

Mine have grown a lot, but an attempt to move 3 of them to a bare bottom, sponge filter only tank ended in a disaster - I think 2 of them are dead. They spent 2 days in that tank and from the moment I put them in lost all color and just sat on a wisteria bush hiding. The tank had about 4 ppm NO3 and everything else 0, a clean tank that I setup a week before putting the shrimp in using a lot of mulm and water from another tank.

Today after a 20% wc all 3 of them started to loose orientation and hit the sides and the bottom so I moved them to my planted tank. One recovered the other 2 are questionable, the smallest one (a possible male) looking/acting worst.

My main worry is that I don't know if I have a male. What do you think about yours?

Shalu, very interesting I didn't know they usually lost the white bands.

--Nikolay

 

[Praxx42]

I'm not sure yet, Niko. I haven't been able to get all that close to them, and I'm wary of removing them from their current environment, mostly because they are doing so well (and because it's darn hard to find them under 2" of pelia! ). I'll keep an eye out... they sure look happy tho. After I put them in that 3 gallon growout tank, they've never changed color or seemed disturbed like I've seen other shrimp become.

 

[niko]

I hope that between 3 of us (D'Wyatt, you, and I) we have at least one male.

It seems that all three shrimp that almost died have recovered even the smallest one which had obviously molted too. They 2 that I saw today were extremely bright and if the shrimp indeed made it I'd consider them pretty hardy animals.

--Nikolay