Shrimps update

New tank update: sign of healthy environment ready to breed? Didn't expect this female shrimp could be so "impatient" while my tank is still cycling. Nevertheless, it look safe because many of the fire red in there are showing darker red tone as compared to those still living in the old tank.


There is always enough space and I thought why not include a couple of yellow shrimps too. Frankly, I was planning to turn my new tank into a yellow/ Fire Yellow shrimp only tank.

Reflection of 2009

Have not been updating my blog for a while. Here is the reflection of what has happened to my
mutli-recial shrimps tank in 2009.

Survival 2009:
Sakura - more babies
CRS - getting stronger and bigger but no sign of pregnancy
CBS - ---- diito
Snowball - produced babies
Long nose (1 piece left out of 5 pieces) - died of hunger
Black Tiger - only one piece left
Blue - given away after their surprise mass reproduction.
Yamoto - not a single casualty

Unsuccessful
Green Shrimp (bought 4 pieces )- gone missings, or probably eaten up
Yellow Shrimp (bought 3 pieces) - -- ditto ---

Orange shrimp - died
Cherries - died
Red Tiger - died

Yellow Shrimp

When there is a dream, there is a mission that sparks the process to achieve that dream. I have done that. My final color of shrimp - yellow - has swam into my community shrimp tank. Years ago, I thought such dream will never be possible due to the complexity of care and tank setup needed to have shrimps as pet. The success of my first cherry shrimp has dispersed the myth of the difficulty & challenge faced. Thereafter, it led to my crave to try keeping other types of dwarf shrimps while monitoring their behaviour and mortality rate. When I noticed they are easy going with my pocket, I added new color or variety and waited to see how they were doing in my tank. The final verdict, all shrimps are happy with cool and clean tank and a lush "forest" to live in, regardless of your tank sizes.

Mr Brown

In a bag of blue shrimps, I saw a single brownie in there. It is the odd one in the sea of blue.

Malayan Blue Shrimps

I was shopping for fissiden on a normal lazy afternoon which soon turned out to be a great surprise. I saw BLUE SHRIMPS!!!! To add to my joy, a bag of blue was sold for rediculously low price. Cheaper than many of my other shrimps. It was the last bag which I picked up in the afternoon. They are no ordinary minted or pale blue, it has deep ocean or indicolite color away from light, aquamarine body under bright light. One or two pieces almost resemble those very expensive blue tiger. Again pictures speak louder than words for what I've got today....enjoy!

Green Shrimp

This is one beautful shrimp I've never thought I will own because they seem quite rare in most LFS. Surprisingly they aren't really expensive to keep too. Like any other shrimps in my community tank, these greeny are quite easy to keep and resemble the color of my Java Moss. So don't strain your eyes too much searching for them among the "jungle", I have done my very best to capture them closer - for pleasure viewing again.

An Invisible Shrimp

I thought I was seeing "things". On closer look, it was a perfect shrimp shadow perched on rock. The shell looks perfectly unspoilt from head to tail with the exception of a split neck which allows the Amano to come out anew.

Long Nose Shrimp

My quest for shrimps continue...and there are always surprises in the land of the wild. This shrimp doesn't lie to make their nose longer, and they are not as danagerous as a real dart.

Their long needle-like red nose is what I find unique in the shrimp kingdom and they have the tendency to drift vertically most of the time. Thus, this new acquisition added another talking-piece to my shrimp tank.

Crystal Black Shrimp

I have always wanted to get this type of shrimp but lfs like to wholesale them in big bag of 10 pcs which is quite costly. Besides, I do not want so many pcs of the same type in my community tank. Today I stumbled at a shop selling them per pcs and I bought 3 to become new immigrants in my tank.

Bumble Bees

Another of my low quality collectible - the Bumble Bee. They ain’t physically attractive to many shrimp expertise but beauty lies in the eyes of its beholder who seems less discriminative in this shrimp world, especially if it doesn’t hurt the pocket too much….hehe

Feeding Time

I think I have accidentally created a MELTING POT in my tank!!!!

Orange Shrimp

An orange a day keeps certain illness away. I mean by watching them might just boost up ones immunity simply by relaxing and enjoying what nature has offered.

Crystal Red Shrimp

This is a lower grade Crystal Red Shrimp. I bought this “C” graded CRS because C = hardy…so I was told. Anyway, what I find attractive is their loud dual color (red/white) which stood out prominently, among other single-colored shrimps, though they are relatively smaller in size or when they are hidden inside the dark driftwood. Don’t you think they also look like those dual color Christmas candy cane. Here comes my Christmas yearning again.

Tiger on the loose!!!

I am letting my tiger out, to control the herd of other shrimps. I fell in love with this shrimp due to their distinguished body stripe – which comes in red, dark brown or black. They are hardy creature and, apparently, hungry most of the time. Don’t worry, they are not those carnivorous tiger from night SAFARI, rather a harmless vegetarians that mingled well with everyone in there.

Snowball

Rolling out 3 snowballs out of 5 in my tank. They are like snow flakes, flying in my tank and landing on the greens, which bring out the Christmas mood I look forward to every year

Sakura Shrimps

Sakura and Cherry shrimps belong to the same family. Unlike Cherry with sparse body coloring, Sakura has a more dense red color from its head to the tail. I feel like forming haiku out of these sweet little red creatures - Sakura clustered in the wood, blossomed under the winter chill...

My Cherry Shrimps

Having a conducive setup with mosses, nana plant, soil and a cooling water temperature. I decided to have my first shrimp - the cherry - known to be hardy shrimp, suitable for my low tech aquarium setup.

Amano Shrimps

Than I added Yamoto or Amano Shrimps into my tank to help clean up algae and other left over foods deposited at the base of my tank....Unfortunately the Amano was attacked by unfriendly wild betta and resulted in one casualty before I decided to give away my imbellis to protect my shrimp's safety.....

The many things I like about Amano are their nice bluish tinted body color which is difficult to find among many dwarf shrimp varieties (which will be added to my community tank later). Sometime it changes to slightly darkbrown and red color while occassionally appears a little greenish too. Generally speaking, it is a very hardy shrimp when kept at a difficult water temperature between 29 - 30C. They molted quite regularly after busy cleaning themselves and also helping to brush others! That goes to show they are very friendly and supportive among their own kind.