Finally after considering 5 days 3 hrs and 21 mins I have decided on my 1st post for my blog!!! (Champagne pops)

Not something extremely interesting , but enough to get me and my boyfriend sitting in front of the tanks every night and every weekend from day till dawn.

To be exact, not really my hobby to begin with, but more on my boyfriend’s hobby.Honestly, my 1st thoughts on this were like..Huh? shrimps?! Can we eat them when they grow bigger?…. Well..after sometime…I grew to like them and eventually I have learnt to appreciate them more than ever. I’m not really a passionate aquarist myself, the only thing I ever kept in my lifetime was a pet terrapin,angel fishes and some cactus which eventually passed on to a better place after a few weeks in my care. X.X . Traumatized by such experiences, I have decided not to keep anything else.

Ok, so what are crystal shrimps? how do they look like?…below are some information on it if you ever decide to keep some on your own.

(Crystal Red Shrimps)

caridina Cantonensis Sp. Red

So here it is, one of the most popular hobby trending at the moment, Crystal Red Shrimp or sometimes called Red Bee shrimp.

Its coloration and pattern is what makes this a sought after shrimp for serious breeders and novices alike.  Over time a grading system has developed and some grades of the Crystal Red Shrimp have become very expensive. I have heard at one point some shrimps can go up to $2500 SGD for 1 single shrimp ! faint* Not a wonder why many are flocking into this business right now, but before you can make that $ out of it…lots of time and $ are to be invested on it.

Grading System

Below is a chart taken from http://www.shrimptoast.co.uk on how the shrimps are graded in.

The more SSSSSSSS your shrimps are…more valuable they are!!

The care and nature of this species requires lots of  attention to detail. Not wanting to make a  mistake due to inexperience with the Crystal Red Shrimp and have it cost us a lot of money.We visited multiple LFS (Life fish shops) and did some research online before we finally decide to rear them.

Little did we know that merely some shrimps, they requires extremely good condition to live in.

The Crystal Red Shrimp prefers soft acidic water. Clean water is also a must as with all shrimp in the hobby ( Iregardless what species). However, the Crystal Red Shrimp may be the most vulnerable shrimp when housed in dirty water. Water changes are a must for this species. Temperature should be lower than 26.6C and the pH should range from 6.2 to 6.8, gH should be between 4-6 and kH should be between 1-2. It is very important that the Crystal Red Shrimp be housed in specific conditions. Extremes in either water parameters mentioned should be avoided. It cannot be stressed enough how delicate this shrimp is. As you approach higher grades of this species, water parameters become even more important.

Startup

Finally we decide we are ready, we took a walk to ‘ That Fish shop ‘ in Yishun 618 and gotten a 1 ft tank , shrimp soil, moss, a marimo (Algae ball) , 10 red bee shrimps ( super cheap grade type) 2 CRS and a bottle of shrimp delight.