# Pregnant crystal red shrimp: babies hatched!



## ming (Dec 6, 2003)

Congrats! 
I'll be waiting for the babies in the mail 
Wish they were available here roud:


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

Very nice Sha!


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## amber2461 (Sep 26, 2004)

Congratulations !


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## fishwife (Apr 11, 2004)

Hey, Shalu! Where did you find crystal reds? Was it someplace local, or did you order them online?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I bought them on aquabid.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Found a second pregant female last night, woohoo! I think a third is on its way.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

Awesome, Sha. Looks like a pretty good ratio that you have there in regards to the surviving adults.


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## GTApuffgal (Feb 7, 2005)

What's the gestation period in these little girls? Ready for baby pics here!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

GTApuffgal said:


> What's the gestation period in these little girls? Ready for baby pics here!


No idea. I have been staring at the eggs under their bellies every evening. Will post a pic at first sighting of the babies.


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

shalu said:


> No idea. I have been staring at the eggs under their bellies every evening. Will post a pic at first sighting of the babies.


I'd imagine it's 2-4 weeks.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

darn, I was hoping sooner than that :icon_bigg


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

*trade/sell?*

Can I call first dibs?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

It will be quite a while. I want to have a LOT of them in my tank


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

It took my Cherrys about 10 months to reach critical mass where I can now dump 50-60 out of my cannister filters every month. Hope you have the same success with your Crystal Reds!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I sure hope so, Bill. But it takes at least twice as long for the crystal reds to mature compared to the cherries.


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Well, just remember me when that time comes and you're able to spread the wealth.


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## amber2461 (Sep 26, 2004)

Yes, me too, me too, me too ... :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

bharada said:


> Well, just remember me when that time comes and you're able to spread the wealth.


Sure. Maybe I will charge a few bucks from SFBAAPS members and donate it to SFBAAPS :icon_bigg 

I found a third pregrant crystal red tonight. Actually one moment there is still the egg sack around head area, ten minutes later, I saw eggs under the belly, it was like a magician's trick :icon_bigg I always wondered how it transfers eggs, this is as close to finding out as I got, but I still missed the process. :icon_frow 

oh, also noticed a pregnant BUMBLE BEE!

now the tank is infested by baby cherries. they are like cockroaches, everywhere. arkkkkh! I lowered the hardness of the tank with RO water change, thinking soft water might increase hatch rate(mainly in anticipation of crystal reds), much like breeding many fish. This could have resulted this fast explosion of cherry population.


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Just so long as you don't try to pass off the baby Cherries as Crystal Reds! :icon_lol:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

bharada said:


> Just so long as you don't try to pass off the baby Cherries as Crystal Reds! :icon_lol:


That would be hard to do, the baby crystal reds have the same red/white markings as adults, so nobody can be fooled :icon_bigg Still waiting for the first batch to hatch.


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## whitepine (Apr 13, 2004)

Any news of your crystal red babies?

Cheers, Whitepine


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

If you bring them to the SFBAAPS meetings, I'm sure that there are plenty of members willing to take them off your hands. :wink:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Still waiting for the babies to hatch. 
The good news is, all three pregnant females are still full of eggs. So I expect the hatch rate to be pretty high. Probably my using RO for water change helped.
The bad news is, all three pregnant females are still full of eggs. It has been a long wait. I read that the length of pregnancy is about 3 weeks. The first pregnant female has reached the 3 week mark, so the babies are due any time now :icon_bigg but I can't tell them apart, which is which, so I have to check on all of them every night.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

See any changes in the forms of the eggs (as in seeing eyes instead of yolk sacks)?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

yeah, there are black parts in the eggs, but it has been like that for a while.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

still waiting, all three still carrying the eggs last night :icon_frow They better give birth to super sized babies.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Finally, the long wait is over. The first batch of babies are hatched after 30-31 days. I found couple of them, hopefully more are hiding in the extremely dense vegetation.

Here is a new born on glass, less than 24 hours old:









blow up:









As you can see, they are born with color


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Well it's about time! Congrats!


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## joan (Apr 25, 2005)

Awwww! Congrats! :icon_bigg


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

Is it just me or are crystal reds insanely expensive? I have seen them on Aquabid for obscene prices, but I wasn't entirely sure if those were even real auctions. What do they go for each?
-Aphyosemion


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

There are very few sources in the US. I got it from aquabid, almost $10 each including shipping. In asia, they are sold depending on "grades". Those with clear red/white coloration are more expensive. A near perfect specimen can cost over $100, few in the US are willing to pay THAT much.

Same with rare plants in asia. Who is willing to pay $250 for a rare sword plant in the US?


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

Oh, at least $10 is reasonable. I would say that $100 is obscene. I think I saw them being sold by an asian seller for like $100, that is why I was thinking it was not a real auction.
-Aphyosemion


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

do shrimp cross-breed if in the same tank? Menaing, would a crystal breed with an Amano given the chance?


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## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

I emailed that guy on aquabid about the $120 auction for 6 of them. He said it was no mistake and that he regularly sells the high grade crystal red shrimp for $50.00 a shrimp to Japan ! Eeep!

Nice pics shalu. What are their names?


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Spar said:


> do shrimp cross-breed if in the same tank? Menaing, would a crystal breed with an Amano given the chance?


Amanos and Crystal Reds won't cross breed. But I believe Crystal Reds/Tiger/and either Bee or Bumblebee do cross breed.


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## joan (Apr 25, 2005)

From what I understand, the Crystal Red is a variation of the Bumblebee, so I would expect they'd crossbreed quite readily if that is the case.


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

Nice shots, Sha! Congrats.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

joan said:


> From what I understand, the Crystal Red is a variation of the Bumblebee, so I would expect they'd crossbreed quite readily if that is the case.


nahhh, they are selectively bred from "bee" shrimp, not bumble bee.



grandmasterofpool said:


> Nice pics shalu. What are their names?


I give you the honor of naming them :icon_bigg although there is no way for me to tell one shrimplet from another at this stage.


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## joan (Apr 25, 2005)

shalu said:


> nahhh, they are selectively bred from "bee" shrimp, not bumble bee.


 D'oh! :icon_redf 

Well, I knew I read there was some sort of connection. This is what I get when I stay up late searching for info on shrimp for my tank. :wink: Actually, I think I might have read both, but it was at people's personal sites and you've always got to take those things with a grain of salt.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

here are couple better pics of the babies

















Isn't it cute?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Congradulations! Any chance i could buy some off you when you are ready to give some away?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

sure  but it will be quite some time.


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## PinkRasbora (Jan 22, 2005)

AWWW!!! They are so cute. Did only one mom hatch? are there more babies on the way? They are so tiny!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Two females have given birth so far. I am not seeing as many shrimplets as I expected, maybe some are hiding really well in the dense plants, or something happened to them.

A third female is due this weekend, I will try to put it in a net breeder so I will know exactly what happens.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

shalu said:


> sure  but it will be quite some time.


Cool, I'm in no hurry. Just let me know when your ready. roud:


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

Nice shalu, Is this in your large tank that houses the discus? Do you have a problem with discus eating your prize crystals?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

they are in the 10 gallon tank


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I bought a breeder box and was able to observe the birth of shrimplets up close, it was really cool. In the mean time, found out what happened to some of my missing shrimplets


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## Jessica H Yang (Mar 29, 2016)

So I have a 29 gallon tank with cherry red shrimp, red crystal shrimps and neon tetras.... had this setup for at least 6months
the cherry red shrimp have berried and I've seen little ones everywhere so I'm satisfied with that
BUT the red crystal shrimps have berried but I have never seen any little babies anywhere.... 

I am sure the neon tetras are eating some of the babies but there is no way that they are ONLY eating the red crystal shrimplets....

What am I doing wrong?

29 gallon planted tank
plenty of hiding spaces in logs, moss and plants
temp stays around 65-70 degrees 
plenty of food... 

any advice?


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Jessica H Yang said:


> any advice?


Check you water parameters (pH, GH, KH, TDS, temperature) to see if it's suitable for the crystals. Crystals are more sensitive then Red Cherries so they need to be kept in the correct water params. Sounds like they are doing ok since you see berried females, but maybe the eggs are being dropped out of being stressed from incorrect water params? Or the young shrimplets are more sensitive to the incorrect water that the adult shrimp can tolerate?

Dwarf Shrimp Water Parameters ? DiscoBee
Your water temperature is a bit on the cold side.

Neocaridinas (red cherries) do breed a lot faster than Caridinas (crystals), so it's possible both species have shrimplets being eaten, but since the Neos produce more offspring, some of them survive more often. Caridinas also grow slower than Neos, so the crystals stay at dangerously small (small enough for fish to eat) size longer. Just another reason why Neos babies may survive, while Caridinas have less survival chances.

Increasing ground cover (dense plants) can keep the babies hidden for better chances of surviving until they are big enough not to be eaten.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I believe it is 30 days- congrats!!!


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