Shrimp breeding

Hi all
Im a bit new to breeding side of this hobby

I always had n regular small community tank a few years back
But recently i grew interested in the breeding side of this hobby

I would like to start with shrimp as they always interested me and seem rather simple enough. I know o could go for live bearers like guppys but i just don't like them

What i would like to know and get assistance with selecting a shrimp breed to start with.
I'm looking for shrimp that would be unique, not to challenging and have a good resale value

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In my opinion the easiest shrimp to start off with, would be the ubiquitous Neocardina Heteropoda, or Red Cherry Shrimp.

To start off you would need at least a 30L tank, although 40L, 2ft or 3ft would work just as well.
A 3ft could be subdivided into 3 separate compartments if space is at a premium.

You decide whether you want to go bare-bottomed, or with a substrate.
My personal preference is a black volcanic sand.

Filtration could be a simple sponge filter powered by a small air pump, a small Hang ON Back filter or anything you prefer.
Remember that shrimplets are tiny, and can easily be sucked into a filter. A sponge or sieve covering for any inlets will be required.
Personally I use Cascade HOB filters with a stainless steel sieve over the inlets, with a separate sponge filter running in the opposite corner.

A heater set between 24°C and 28° will provide the correct temperature.
RCS appear healthier at the lower range, while at 28°C they breed and grow faster, but don't live as long.
A good median temperature of 26°C works well in my tanks.

Some form of decoration always makes a tank look better, and I use driftwood, with Moss and Anubias.
The Anubias is the ideal place for biofilm to grow, and the moss is the perfect place for baby shimps to hide in.
I also have a moss wall in each of my smaller tanks.
The shrimp love hanging about on the moss wall, as well as on the sponge filters.

To make it more challenging you could start out with wild colouration Neo's, and breed out the colours you want.
That would mean separating the vairous colour morphs into their own tanks, and breeding them out to the correct colours.
You could also start with a basic Red Cherry Shrimp, and breed them darker, from the basic RCS to Sakura, and from there to Fire Reds and Painted Reds.
There are many colours you could decide on, with Red, Yellow, Pumpkin Orange, Powder Blue, Dream Blue, Chocolate and Carbon Black being possibilities.

Once you have mastered Neocardina, you can move on to the more advanced (and much more expensive) Cardina shrimp.
Crystal Red, Black, Bumblebee and the other colourations are trickier to get breeding successfully, but the end result would be worth it.

Whichever route you decide on, take it slow, and enjoy it.

 

As i did my research i noticed that rcs were flooded in the market but the more colored and "exotic" shrimp were scares but they are also harder to breed and thus fetch a higher price
So i would like to do them one day so as the breeding can fund the basics of my hobby

I have a 300l cube tank that i got over the holiday's and was thinking of starting with a basic scape and putting a good strong colony of shrimp in there for breeding.

Would the rili shrimp be hard to start of with or would you reccomend red cherry shrimp?

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Who is your client and how will you get the product to them?

What makes your product better than the imported or even local supply?

What is your expense (express it in Rands per month - projected for 6 months) that you need to cover, what volume of product can you develop in those 6 months.

If the above have a good pitch that you absolutely believe in GFI. If one of then do not, then do it as a hobby and accept as such it is a money pit.

Later Ferdie

 

@stephen.vansittert.50 Rili's are RCS (Neocardina). All of the blue, pumpkin and greens are all originally RCS that's been inbred. I started off with the wild coloration and have inbred all these except the green. And as Fredie said its a money pit. I've sold some and the tank has paid for itself already but that's after 2 years and when you sell you are at square one again as your numbers are down and the don't multiply as rapidly anymore as it takes time for the baby females to mature. With all that said it is a awesome hobby and I really like breeding them.

Oh yes, catching, selecting and counting them for a sale is quite a job. They are the most difficult things to catch for me, lightning fast and moves unpredictably like little helicopters. Then someone phones you and asks for 60 and they want to collect tomorrow hahaaa fun times. The reason I take my ad off after a few sales is because of the time it takes to grow them out and don't want the colony to drop below 100, I do sales about every 3 months or so.

I'm busy trying CRS and all I can say about them is frustrating screams with swear words and blaspheming. Lost the only two females I had WHILE they where berried and already 3 weeks in.

 

That's just a walking list of contradictions all bundled up into one right there...

If a specific shrimp was unique, not challenging and had a good resale value...everyone would've jumped on that bandwagon. Which would lead to the market being flooded by "get rich quick" guys...which would drop the demand and subsequently the price of the shrimp (to the point where you would probably not be able to give them away)

Exact same thing happened to Cherries...people saw them selling at R50 a pop when they just hit the SA market, everyone jumped...and much like the guppy trade...people over bred them. Didn't cull to keep quality high, just forking out numbers and numbers to make a quick buck. To the point today that you gonna search high and low for decent quality cherries. Not to mention...the market is pretty much saturated...

Too many people think there's money to be made out of this hobby. Sadly, as a private breeder in SA, you can maybe cover the cost of your fishfood...or perhaps the electricity, but for the common Joe that's about it. Plus, if you in it for the money, you in it for the wrong reasons. As soon as money becomes a priority, quality suffers.

You cant have your bread buttered on both sides...

 

Agree with Deadpool on this matter

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