First berried OEBT

She was highly likely knocked up by a CRS, hope she keeps the eggs. I found this while moving my tanks on the third floor to my basement. Didn't think they are old enough to breed yet. A few more females are as big as this one so hopefully to see more soon.

My Supertiger

Very nice. I have been looking for these and still very amazed when I finally see them in person.

My PFRs

Why?

The 20G L CRS had some newborns a few days ago, I spotted 6 three days ago, then 2 two days ago, only 1 yesterday. It just has to be this hard for me.

Environment:
20 G Long (set up in early March, shrimps introduced in about 4 weeks, it was cycled before shrimps)
Akadama 2" to 2.5"
UGF air driven
Up Aqua EX 120 HOB Canister
One extra airstone
My DIY nitrate filter
13w clipped on CFL light
Tons of peacock and java moss, 1 lone java fern, some amazon frogbits (they haven't been doing well), some hornwort. Two pieces of DW with moss on it, each about 10" x 8".

Temperature: 19 - 23, got up to 24/25 a few times but never stay there for more than 8 hours.
PH 6.5-6.8
TDS 150 - 160
GH 6-8
KH 0-1
NH3/NO2 0
NO3 5-15

20 - 23 adulat CRS low grade
10 OEBT sub-adult

A few more shots on part of the tank,

I have probably lost close to 100 baby CRS by 5 or 6 releases. Adults are fine, OEBTs are thriving and grow fast, and no baby CRS survived more than a week.


I need to move this tank so will have to tear it down. I don't really care that much about the breeding activity in this tank but just can't figure out what is wrong. The shrimps in this tank mostly were put there to wait for the permanent home ready (it was ready 3 days ago).

Calcium for shrimps

Shrimps need calcium, everyone knows that. They need more calcium because it's the main ingredient in their shell. This is why a lot of shrimp food is advertised as calcium rich.

A few things I gathered from various source, all may not apply but this is what I currently believe in.

What you should avoid or be cautious,
- Too high a GH in water (mainly calcium) is actually bad for shrimp, it will cause molting issue. One theory is that their shell grows so well it's too hard to molt.
- Too low a GH makes molting easier, however, it may also cause issue with shell development.
- Spinach contains high calcium, however, the oxalic acid (草酸) and Fe in spinach are calcium blockers -- they reduce the ability for shrimp to absorb and use the calcium.


What you can do to help calcium intake,
- Vitamin D helps calcium intake. I'm not sure high light helps but researches have been done and prove that longer photo period increases shrimp growth. Here is an interesting paper (http://ntour.ntou.edu.tw/ir/handle/987654321/10676)
- Other vegetables may actually be better for calcium supplement - bok choy, broccoli, cabbage ... etc.


Some other things I have found, tried, or thinking of trying:


Cuttlebone: it's vouched  by a lot of shrimp keeper for its benefit to help molting. Since it's cheap and seem harmless, I use it too. But you should know that,
- It does increase the GH/TDS. I added one whole cuttlebone (cut into three pieces) in 500ml of water of TDS 175. After 48 hours, the TDS got to almost 600.
- However, I put one section (1/3 of a whole cuttlebone) into a 6 gallon tank. After 24 hours, there was NO TDS increase.
My conclusion: while it does increase TDS, small amount doesn't have noticeable effect.

BW minerock: I have it in one of my tanks, not sure if it is effective or not. No noticeable difference in that particular tank. It may have increased the molting frequency but I'm not sure if it is due to this. Since I bought some, I use it.

There are lot of other products but hard to get. When I get something new I'll add my experience here.