Here are some of my newest additions. They are Caridina cf. Propinqua (a.k.a Orange Sunkinst or Mandarin) Shrimp. These are not a morph of the regular Caridina species such as the Cherry Reds. They are in a class by their own. They can be compared to that of the Caridina Japonica (Amano) shrimp.

The catch with this species, like the Amano, is they are low order breeders. Instead of giving birth to live "mini" shrimps, the Propinqua eggs hatch in a larvae state. While in this state, they require brackish water to morph into the juvenile state.

There's not very much info out here on them, so hopefully, I will be able detail the progress. This is a tough road to travel but I'm up for the challenge.

So, without further adeau.....

I present you Caridina cf. Propinqua.

A little home history right quick. They arrived just fine and where acclimated to their tank via drip method. After acclimation, I removed the drip line and placed the end into an empty water jug. Never thinking about it.

Upon coming home from work the next day, I found water all over the shelf and floor. Their tank was over 3/4 drained. I thought it had sprung a leak. I quickly snagged them out and placed into a bowl. I then started acclimating them to another tank (their home now). I shortly after discovered my flub up.

Needless to say, they are staying in this tank.

And the fun part. They have only been with me for a few weeks now. Yesterday, I found her:



And today, I found this one:


Now I need to setup my hatchery and rearing tanks. Project is now in full swing.

One things for sure, I won't be suffering from the lack of zoes when they are ready. Here' the latest find:



This is now three berried females. It's interesting as the first one looks to only have half the amount of eggs as the last two.

Lets get some parms:
pH: 7.4
Temp: 77
NO3: 10
GH: 6
KH: 4
TDS: 139

Picked up a small repti habitat. Looked like it was a gallon in size but turned out to be a bit short. Would really like to have 1 gallon rearing tanks for the testing. Guess I'll have to use a couple of the repti ones. Will begin getting that set up shortly.

Sweet I got to get subscribed to this journal. U are so good with them

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75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

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55gallon
Light - 6500K CFL, 23wattsx5 5hr/day
Substrate - Red Mexican Clay, Sphagnum Peat moss, Eco-Complete
Misc- Pressurized CO2, EI Dose KNO3, KH2PO4, CSM-B
Plants -Limnophila Aromatica, Stargrass, Dwarf Hair Grass, Christmas Moss, Baby Tears (HM), Dwarf Baby Tears(HC), Rotala Rotundifolia, Ludwigia Glandulosa, Riccia Fluitans

Yeah, they need brackish water in order to morph into the adult form. The tough part will be hitting the proper salinity.

Microalgae and other equipment now on order. Figured I'd have a little more time to work with though. ;)

Will start playing with mixing the salt water to get the salinities I want to start working with.

Check of the tank today reveals (6) berried females now. The other three have about as many eggs as the first one. My first thought was that they started dropping eggs. But then I found the others still holding a ton.

Starting to work on my salinity formulas.

James,
Any update on your progress?

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Crystal Red and Black, Red Claw Macros, Red Cherrys, Green Shrimp, Sulawesi Malawa, Blue Pearls, CPO, Dwarf Crays (C. shufeldtii), South America Puffers, Assassin Snails, Ramshorn and Pond Snails, Hawaiian Actinic Shrimp (Halocaridina rubra), Nerites

I forgot to post this here yesterday. Sorry.

* Update 11-Oct-2010 *

Running into some issues getting the aeration set up. I have quite a bit of O2 tubing from when my father was with us and thought I could use it. It is a bit smaller in diameter than the normal tubing but thought it would be ok. Got the rig all set up and nothing. Changed out manifolds....nothing. Changed from a 10g pump to a 40...nothing. Getting very upset. Found some old tubing and swapped it out, that worked. Adjusted the other tubing as well and now both are aerating. Guess this O2 tubing for the canula's is just too small. Poo. It's quite a bit to let go to waste. Maybe I can find some alternate uses for it.

I may have miscalculated the hatching date too. Only (4) females now carrying eggs. Drat! It looks like the first round might be a wash.

Phyto still going to need at least a week to get going and that won't start until tomorrow.

We'll see.

Just how many tanks do you have?

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lol...depends on who you ask...

Wife: Too Many
Me: Not Enough

;o)

Currently have nine established tanks running. In the process of setting up a couple more shrimp tanks.

Do you plan on selling this kind also?

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Do they get as big as the japacona shrimp do?

If I'm successfull. These are such a beautiful shrimp to add to your tanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk4gti Do they get as big as the japacona shrimp do?

They are pretty standard sized as far as dwarf shrimp go.

Round 2 officially begins today. Found (2) berried females. One is holding a ton of eggs and the other about half as much. Now, by my calculations, I will leave them in the tank for just under 2 weeks before moving them into their hatching areas.

Will be getting the zoe tank going tomorrow.

Phyto is now curing. I'm having some reservations as the cultures are pretyy light. They should be ok but we'll see. Here's my set up for this round of testing:

Seawater at 1.026/35PPM. In this bottle, I added 10ml of Dunalliela Salina.

Brackish water at 1.014/19PPM. In this bottle, I added 10ml of Nannochloropsis Oculata.

Each bottle then got 1ml of Macro Algae Grow.

They are sitting under a light (not sure of the wattage as I didn't look yet). I just wanted to get it started. Slow rolling with air pump.

Back in the shrimp tank, three ladies are now carrying eggs. Looks like the same pattern as last time.

It's early yet but phyto not showing any growth signs just yet. It's only been 1 day. I may just have to add a bit more to the cultures but we'll keep an eye on it. I misjudged my calculations on my culture station so will have to get more materials. This will enable me to culture all (4) phytos. I'm starting to think about starting them in a set medium. Probably 1.014. I'll have to play with the numbers a bit to calculate the salt to water ratio during the tests.

There are now (4) berried females. Definately following the same pattern. I expect the other females will be berried by Sunday.

Getting ready to make some more salt water. Once the phyto is ready to split, then rearing tanks will be established.

As you can see, the Nannochloropsis is taking hold.

The Dunaliella is a no go. Those spots you see in the pic are contaminates. Not sure how they wound up in here. Will be scrapping it and starting a fresh batch tomorrow.