potential shrimp tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
ok jsut got home and took some pics of my shrimps... camera not the best and its tough cuz they are so small. they are already doing good work at getting the algae off my anubias. :)

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the guy at local fish store said they were zebras and red cherries? i dunno
 
very nice, looking good. the red ones are cherries, the black and white striped ones are more often called bees or bumblebees than zebras from what I've seen, if you're reading around and dont see anything about zebras.

the cherries are supposed to prefer harder water and the bees, softer. But they're pretty adaptable so I'm sure you'll be fine so long as you arent at either extreme, my bees are in harder water and do okay.

If some of them die I wouldnt get down on yourself about it, those are clearly adults and in my experience you can have everything pretty much just right and still sometimes lose some new adults. Just like fish and people, the older they get the less happy they are to adapt to new surroundings, or maybe they are just older shrimp, they dont live for a very long time. I'm hoping for the best for you, but if you have some bad luck, mustafa ucozler at pet shrimp sells only small juviniles, and I've always had better luck getting them to adapt. You have to be patient for them to come into breeding age, but no deaths and having them in your tank for the entirity of their breeding lifespan and knowing they arent coming in pregnant with some hybrid eggs is nice.

I think a cherry is a cherry is a cherry, but when your bees fly into breeding the ones with well defined bands and more white than black are considered preferable from what I understand, as are ones with more opaque coloration.
 
thanx for the info... i think my water is alittle on the hard side. kh 4 degrees and gh 10 degrees. anyone know where there parameters fall? i guess if the bees dont make it then ill just have to stick with cherries. the cherries were out polishing off my algae on my anubias all night so so far there looking good.
 
I dont think it will kill your bees, they may not breed quite was readily as they would in softer more acidic or neutral water but they should still be fine, they breed and grow more slowly than the cherries anyway. You may lose some because of age or lack of ability to adjust or whatever, but in general your water doesnt preclude you from keeping them. Bees dont live quite as long as cherries on the average and they take longer to grow up so getting full grown adult bees the odds are you're getting shrimp that are already about halfway through their lives. They will reproduce before they are full grown, so when yours have babies, dont worry it doesnt take THAT long for another generation, it does take longer than cherries though.
 
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