# Gordon's 20 gallon long Sakura Tank



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)




----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

I've got baby crystal shrimp hanging out in my tank! Booya.


----------



## swissian (Aug 30, 2010)

Very nice! I'm sure your shrimp enjoy all that moss!


----------



## twizzle (Jun 15, 2010)

Well Done Gordon, Nice!!


----------



## R33 GTR (Mar 13, 2009)

gordon can you Pm if you have some sakura to sell


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

R33 GTR I do, but unsure if they would make it safe to you down in Puerto Rico.
Hit me back, I have babies from the adults in my tank.

-Gordon


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Cleaned the glass. Weird that the flash makes them look orange. Females have saddles again, only a matter of time before they berry :^)


----------



## swissian (Aug 30, 2010)

You sakura shrimp are beautiful! You make me want to get some! I hope that they have lots of babies for you.

By the way, do you have some flourite mixed into the azoo substrate or does it look like that?


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Yeah, flourite is at the bottom of my tank. I didn't remove any of the old substrate in my tank. In the future I will gradually increase the height of azoo in the tank, for now everything is stable and kosher in the tank.

The shrimplets do seem to color up faster then standard cherry shrimp.
Going to add some manzanita to the tank, have to tie back the oodles of christmas moss.

-Gordon


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

The young Sakura are coloring up nice.
I have three crystal shrimp currently berried, all with full bellies.
They might be my first births in 2011!
Posting new photos tonight.
-Gordon


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

How much light? CO2? If so, how many BPS? Ferts? Do you have FTS? Nice shrimp!

David


----------



## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Nice looking bunch. Cant wait to see al the moss tied up and starting to grow out. Get us a full tank shot before and after  I just spent 4 hours with my girlfriend tying up manzanita for my new scape with Trident java fern,Taiwan moss, your nana petites, and mini pelli. It can be fun yet tedious at the same time. Especially if some of it falls off a few days later  Ive gone the easy route on my big tank and converted it to a crypt collection. Your tank looks nice with the RCS and CRSakura. I might steal the look in my own once it settles in.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Fitness. I think I'm running about 1.5 watts in the tank. There is no co2, but I do run an airline 24/7

No ferts have been added to the tank.

I'm posting a full tank shot tonight. Kinda hard to do it because its in a tight space but I'll do my best, no wide angle camera either just a point and shoot.

I finally tied together a few pieces of manzanita wood into a showpiece that will replace the Malaysian driftwood that is currently in the tank. Going to keep the maylasian due to the fact its got an awesome piece of riccia thats formed the past 2 months.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Manzanita wood for my tank.









Full tank shot
Fissidens bottom left corner, some crypts in the back. Huge mass of x-mas moss in the middle of the tank soon to be attached to wood. Maylasian driftwood to the right, moss/riccia mass.










Baby Sakura are growing up and showing nice color!


----------



## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

Keep them pictures coming! Looking great so far, that's a ton of moss you have


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Its going to be tied down to the wood tonight! Kinda hoping it looks good in my tank.

-Gordon


----------



## jeepn4x4 (Jan 27, 2008)

Tank looks really good. I am loving the shrimp factory you have going on. If you decide to sell some Sakura Shrimp I would be interested.


----------



## snausage (Mar 8, 2010)

Nice tank. You should do a thread on proper selective breeding of sakuras. Yours look excellent.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

I bought them looking this way, I'm not going to selectively breed them really, though I will be taking out any of them that don't color up. I hear that the adults throw good ones or bad ones.

At feeding time I did a rough count and I got up to about 80 shrimps. In February I should start to see saddles on every one of them that is tiny. As long as there are no power outages in New York, I should have 5-10 packages of 20 shrimp available to the forum in the spring. I'm not about to be counting my shrimp before they hatch.

I guarantee you there other lines of these shrimp with even better coloring then what I have. I've seen photos online and I'm like holy crap they're solid blood red. On a scale of 1-10, I'd probably give the ones I have an 8. I have two males that have amazing coloring but I'm not picky.

Just happy everything is going the way it is :^)

-Gordon


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Little update.
I've been prepping my 33 gallon tank to start transferring young adult shrimp. All tetras/rasbora/rams are being removed to make room for my shrimp extravaganza. 

I now have 4 berried red crystal shrimps in my tank. I think two of them are going to pop soon since they've been carrying for at least 3+ weeks. All four are carrying at least 30-40 eggs

I've been able to count at least 70-80 Sakura fry during feeding time.
Photo will follow from tonights feeding.


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

We want pics...we want pics!


----------



## chris.rivera3 (Apr 15, 2008)

same here! we want pictures!


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

This is the second feeding of the day last night.
Tonight I'll have a photo of the first feeding. I usually get about 120+ shrimps out at that moment.

Some of the baby Sakura seem more solid in colors then others at this point.
I might* be able to tell which ones are female and male at this point in time due to that but I'm not 100% sure.

Hopefully I'll have the other fish out by Monday, shrimp will slowly be added to my 33 gallon tank 5-10 at a time. I'm thinking about getting some of that poret? foam to cover the intake area around my canister filter. Would prevent me from having to clean a sponge filter every week and a half.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

I have 5-6 pregnant crystals at the moment between the two tanks I setup.

I decided not to put all my eggs in one basket this time around.

Shrimps are getting bigger, I see a bunch of molts and they're going crazy over this new food I got, Azoo Max Growth. The females should be dropping any day now, I'll consider my colony established then.

-Gordon


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

The first grouping of baby Saukra are already showing saddles, looks like my colony will continue to grow pretty good. A number of my Sakura females are berried up again in the tank. I should have some fry available to the forum in Feb/March.

I've been pulling the young ones out and am rehoming them into my 33 gallon tank, and new finnex setup. For some reason in the 33 gallon, they seemed to explode in size. Dunno why but uber coolness.

-Gordon


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

Very nice. I always wondered how everyone keeps a nice balance of a beautiful densely planted tank while breeding shrimp and trying to catch said shrimpt without destroying the tank. The same goes with culling CRS or the like. Do most people have minimally planted tanks or just a lot of patience?


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Whats left growing in my tank is a boatload of x-mas moss and riccia, along with fissidens and mini pellia. Makes it super easy to fish out young shrimps and do trims.

By "trim" l mean I pull out a few chunks of moss and its good to go.

I still have stems in my other tanks, its just easier for me to have to cut stems in three tanks then 5.

I won't be culling any of the shrimp, I will be offering juvie shrimp to keep the colony smaller though.

I suspect I have about 200+ Sakura grade now.
No more space in the 20 gallon tank for future fry so off to the grow out they go!


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

A tank update. I have about 50-60+ baby red crystal shrimp (Estimated)
When I come back from work, I can count 30+ on the glass picking off the biofilm, so I figure there has gotta be twice the amount throughout the tank.

I've purchased a couple more SS grade shrimps from Singapore to add to the genetics.

So far so good with the colony. I'll be moving the next grouping of shrimplets to their new home, a 33 gallon tank. By spring I think I'll be neck deep in shrimps.

-Gordon

My Sakura females are berried up again (3rd group of shrimplets)


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

The first group of babies produced in my tank are now preggo!

7 more crystal shrimps are berried.

Booya


----------



## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Very cool. Sounds like you've got the colony well established.


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

Pics?


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Will post some at feeding time tonight.


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

Right on!


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

One of my reclusive SS grades.










A few baby crystals, imagine this but all over the tank :^)









Mainly a group of Sakura gorging on some food.









Reluctant photo op of ss grade crystal shrimp, baby crystals all over the place.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

90% of the babies are grade A, looks like 10% grade S. Either way, all are alive and bootyful.


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

I like the single species tanks better...they have more visual pop in repetitive numbers. That being said, WOW! That SSS is amazing!


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Yeah, Sakura are being transferred to my 33 gallon tank in groups of 10 every few days. Going to let the crystals populate the 20, then off to the 33 gallon tank they go as well :^)

I don't have any SSS grades, only SS.

Real solid white/red
Hoping to add more of them after my next plant sale

:^)


----------



## fitness2go (Oct 13, 2005)

Makes me want to see some SSS.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

http://www.planetinverts.com/crystal red shrimp grading guide.html

They're a little bit out of my price range, hopefully will be able to afford some in the spring, I'd rather expensive shrimp get shipped when its above freezing. All I need are a couple in my tank to mix up the genetics a bit. Will be selectively breeding a few of them after the next set of shrimplets are born.

-G


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Tons of babies up the wazoo in my Sakura tank. I've transfered over 40 of them to my 33 gallon main tank, and about 15 of them to one of my 4 gallon tanks to help divide the colony into different groups.

As of right now, I must have about 300 baby sakura currently competing for food in the tank, so I'm selling some juvies in the SnS. Most are starting to color out at this point, I have way too many.

My crystal colony is moving along, I have about 70 babies and counting. :^) big smile here.

I'm still transferring the Sakura to my bigger grow outs. I'll still leave a small breeding group of my best stock though (5-10 of them) 

This thread will soon be renamed to 20 gallon long Crystal tank :^)


----------



## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

Sounds like everything has been working out good for you, seeing when you have shrimp coming out the wazoo! lol
Looking forward to see the beginnings of the 20 long crystal tank


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Beginnings of a 20 long crystal tank? Its already begun!
Already had some berried Singapore females, can't find the offspring yet.

Speaking of which, bump for Moe having great shrimp!

-Gordon


----------



## FDNY911 (Dec 6, 2009)

Awesome stuff here bro! Congrats.


----------



## snausage (Mar 8, 2010)

Nice job gordo. That one SS quite spectacular.

I'm glad that I'm not the only member who mixes several different types of substrate!

It's crazy that you're maintaining a healthy tank with a gH of 2 though. I used to get a lot of random deaths when I experimented with a gH of 3. Maybe you just got mad skillz, son?


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

What has helped me is keeping the tank stable, keeping bio load down/only feeding what they eat. :^)

Not to say I didn't have $800.00 worth of shrimp die on me last year.
Sigh.

Now I'm more careful.


----------



## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

ouch! tough way to learn


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

You're telling me :^)


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

lol, I think most people lose about 800 dollars worth of shrimp before they really get a hang on things.... And then continually lose 800 dollars worth of shrimp a year... The only difference is, if you don't give up, you breed 10,000 dollars worth of shrimp a year to replace that 800 dollars worth you lost.

Good work, gordon, keep it up


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Yeah it was pretty sad with all the deaths, but eventually everything clicked and this past year has been going ok. 

My neo colonies still produce more then the Crystals but I never expected the population to get out of hand. I can sell enough each month to pay for the electric which means I'm currently successful but I'm still down a lot of $.

I'm doubtful I'll ever break even though because I keep spending more money then I bring in, but at least I'm having fun setting up and taking care of my tanks. This is becoming my second job. I never stop working!

From now to May I'm planning on collecting 6 additional species of shrimp:
Blue Pearls
Yellows
Blackberry/Blue Berry (unsure if either are dyed or not, I'll find out after I get them)
Snowballs
Wild Bees
Bumble Bees
And hopefully a pair of CPO

My current colonies:
3 Sakura
3 Cherry Shrimp
4 Crystals
1 Oebt

There is a lot of room for improvement in my setup. I wish I had a basement to put all the tanks in. Everything is spread out in my house lol. Sigh.

-Gordon


----------



## nblack4 (Mar 31, 2011)

loving the tank, but the pic sizes are killing my netbook! haha


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Sorry :^) I'll try to crash your computer again in the future. 
I'm going to setup a more organized thread of my shrimp tanks this week.
Not much in terms of development, but I've seen some SS juvies recently! Lots of white which is pretty cool.

-Gordon


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Update. 

Here is a group of 200+ juvies in one of my grow out tanks at feeding time :^)

-Gordon


----------



## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Holy Sakura!


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Nice


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Only 1 rilli shrimp out of this batch though :^(
My crystal populations are up, I've seen some nice SS+ grades pop out but not many.

Trying to do a rilli breeding group on the side but I'm always running out of space.

I'm setting up my first rack this month but its mainly for plants. The hope is to clear out enough space to convert my grow out tanks into ones for breeding.

Everything costs $ though and not many people are buying my plants.
My hopes to piece together a suwalesi tank is shot, and I still haven't upgraded to compressed co2 lol.


----------



## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

You have A LOT of snails. A LOOOT.


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

I pull about 300-400 mts snails out of that tank each month.
One of these days I'll get another couple puffers. Never ending food supply!

-Gordon


----------



## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

Geez, I cant keep snails alive...


----------



## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Do you feed your tank enough food? They need to survive off something.

-Gordon


----------



## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

Same here...... I can't keep mts alive and now they're floating to the water surface. Looks like they're dead


----------



## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

I think its my water, but I dont really know. I need a test kit.


----------

