I have a small tank, so small it can fit barely fit a size S open face helmet. In the aquarium trade these tanks are known as Nano tank or cube tank, normally used to house small fishes and shrimps.
I’ve been rearing Red cherries, Malayan and recently Crystal Red shrimps in the same tank with a certain degree of success. Red cherries and Malayan are considered entry level shrimps and are not very fussy about the water conditions, Crystal red shrimps on the other hand are notorious for being sensitive to water changes, PH level and temperature.
Breeders adopt the practice of culling bad genes and put these shrimps through generations of selective breeding resulting in many grades and mutations (aesthetically pleasing but weak) which can fetch high prices all over the world.Just a quick check on the local forum shows that people are willing to pay a neat sum for just a piece of shrimp. I’ve since given up my batch of Crystal red shrimps to Nic who has a dedicated tank to better house those critters as I feel they are simply not my kinda shrimp(weird but call it a hobbyist thing)
While browsing the local aquarium recently i happen to chance across another batch of shrimps, Unlike their usual dull freshwater cousins, the ones I saw resembles those of the marines species. Colorful with eccentric designs and markings.
Shrimps lover and non shrimps lover alike will fall in love with their unique quality.
Did a search online on their whereabouts and manage to find out that these shrimps are relatively new to the trade and not many hobbyist has manage to garner any success in keeping them alive pass a month much less breeding them in captivity. Price wise they are in the mid range costing around 7 odd dollars per shrimps.
Because these shrimps originated from several lakes of Sulawesi Indonesia. The water which they lived in are generally different from those in other parts of asia:
Slightly alkaline (PH): 7.5 to 8.2
General hardness(GH):6
Carbonate hardness(KH): 11
Temp: ranging from 26 to 29 degree Celsius
It got my attention and over the next few nights after the discovery of these shrimps I started to delve deeper and dig out whatever knowledge there is out there about these batch of shrimps. Most of the forummer speak of high death rates with regards to rearing these shrimps, I decided to jump in and take a shot anyway 
-Bought fine river sand which is PH neutral
-Coral chips to buffer the GH,KH and PH level up
-Lava rocks to mimic it’s natural habitat
-Bought API’s GH & KH test kit and borrowed Nic’s PH pen to cover the monitoring cycles
DAY 1-2
Tank’s parameters:
PH:7.3
GH:6
KH:4
Temp:29 degree Celsius
Remarks: cloudy water due to insufficient flow rate from hang on filter
DAY 3
-Hang on filter decided to break down(wear & tear)
-Replaced with BOYU external canister filter
-Original filter medium which was active carbon had been replaced with coral chips bit by bit(to prevent PH swing)
Tank’s parameters:
PH:8
GH:10
KH:6
Temp:29 degree Celsius
Remarks:Water visibility improved and parameters have gone up to desired values.
Added one Cardinal.sp to test the water since parameters shows that theoretically the GH,KH,PH,Temp is already quite close to its original habitat.
Able to spot the little critter?
Will continue to monitor the water and shrimp condition for a few weeks before I make my full commitment to rearing these shrimps
**Npark finally responded to my email and I’ll be going down this saturday to begin my orientation sesssion.woooo!
