corbie Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 I'm in the process of planning out a tank that I hope to one day keep cardinal shrimp in (probably a loooong time after initial setup). I know that they are less finicky than other Sulawesi species but are still pretty delicate. For anyone who has been able to keep these shrimp happy enough to breed: What were your water parameters? Which remineralizer did you use? What about your substrate? Would Rift Lake sand be appropriate, or would more generic aquarium sands work? Tank mates will be giant rabbit snails and probably malawa shrimp. (Sulawesi shrimps don't interbreed, right?) I'm definitely planning on using seiryu stone for the hardscape. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 I'm in the process of planning out a tank that I hope to one day keep cardinal shrimp in (probably a loooong time after initial setup). I know that they are less finicky than other Sulawesi species but are still pretty delicate. For anyone who has been able to keep these shrimp happy enough to breed: What were your water parameters? Which remineralizer did you use? What about your substrate? Would Rift Lake sand be appropriate, or would more generic aquarium sands work? Tank mates will be giant rabbit snails and probably malawa shrimp. (Sulawesi shrimps don't interbreed, right?) I'm definitely planning on using seiryu stone for the hardscape. Thanks! Cardinals are awesome! When you buy them be sure they come from someone who has bred them in the tanks. Wilds are really the only ones to worry about. They need a high temp so do express shipping with them. They make a remineralized just for cardinals. Adjusts the PH to 7.5 thew like hard water. In mine I used crush coral and a Marco rock. corbie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishprinceofca Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 Lexinverts. Great breeder, very knowledgeable, and a good guy. I bought my cardinals from him, and he has a very hardy, homebred strain, probably the strongest around in my opinion. On top of that, they are beautiful shrimp. Vpier and corbie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 kept them for over 18 months and bred them successfully. Parameters were as follows: PH 8.6 Sulawesi like very warm water and high PH Temp 86F Straight tap water with just Kordon Aqua Plus as conditioner, nothing else added. Substrate was crushed coral from LFS used for cichlid tanks. Stones were lava rock/slate Sulawesi like to hang upside down under stones so make lots of caves for them (very much like cichlid tanks) Food was algae wafer They didn't eat a lot of specialty foods as they graze off the stones, so make sure your tank is cycled for at least 4 weeks to let the biofilm develop on the rocks. Yellow Rabbit snails.....these Cardinals have a symbiotic relationship with these snail...I believe they eat the snail poop! Seem to do much better when kept with these snails than without. You can keep neos with Cardinals and they won't interbreed. I accidentally had a yellow neo get into the sulawesi tank from some moss I had added to the tank, after that they all lived happily together for the whole 18 months till I shut the tank down. Ive kept several Sulawesi species including the yellow dot, starlight, blue nose posos etc, but the cardinals were always the nicest to keep. Good luck. Louie, corbie and svetilda 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 Hey Monty, I always love reading about your Sulawesi experience but I'm curious, why did you stop breeding and keeping them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 Cardinal shrimps are super awesome. The most important things are in my opinion. 1. Have a very mature tank that has a lot of biofilm (3 months +) 2. Because the Cardinals like stable conditions, a large tank size is advisable (20 - 40 G). 3. Have the top closed well too avoid too much evaporation because of the high temperatures. 4. Do only modest water changes (I do 5% every 3-4 weeks). 5. Use remineralizer with RO water. You might get away with your tap water, but mine did not work. Salty Shrimp Sulawesi Mineral 8.5 or 7.5. I use 8.5, but it is harder to dissolve. 6. Rabbit snails are advisable as you are planning. Bacteria that the Cardinals eat grow in their poop. 7. The more shrimps you have the more comfortable they will be. I would start with a minimum of 10, but 20+ would be better. 8. Don't overfeed. I add a bit of AE bacter and Spirulina powder twice a week. I started with 24 shrimps. Now I have a few hundreds. You can check also my journal. http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/3727-%E2%80%9Cmount-sulawesi%E2%80%9D-tank/ svetilda, Vpier, corbie and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie Posted December 25, 2015 Report Share Posted December 25, 2015 kept them for over 18 months and bred them successfully. Parameters were as follows: PH 8.6 Sulawesi like very warm water and high PH Temp 86F Straight tap water with just Kordon Aqua Plus as conditioner, nothing else added. Substrate was crushed coral from LFS used for cichlid tanks. Stones were lava rock/slate Sulawesi like to hang upside down under stones so make lots of caves for them (very much like cichlid tanks) Food was algae wafer They didn't eat a lot of specialty foods as they graze off the stones, so make sure your tank is cycled for at least 4 weeks to let the biofilm develop on the rocks. Yellow Rabbit snails.....these Cardinals have a symbiotic relationship with these snail...I believe they eat the snail poop! Seem to do much better when kept with these snails than without. You can keep neos with Cardinals and they won't interbreed. I accidentally had a yellow neo get into the sulawesi tank from some moss I had added to the tank, after that they all lived happily together for the whole 18 months till I shut the tank down. Ive kept several Sulawesi species including the yellow dot, starlight, blue nose posos etc, but the cardinals were always the nicest to keep. Good luck. Wow 86 degrees ,certainly is a warm water shrimp . I find those rabbit snails lovely in their own right . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vpier Posted December 26, 2015 Report Share Posted December 26, 2015 Wow 86 degrees ,certainly is a warm water shrimp . I find those rabbit snails lovely in their own right . You hear a lot people on here with warm temp problems in the summer. These shrimp could be great alternative. I might have to setup a tank for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted December 26, 2015 Report Share Posted December 26, 2015 I had over 16 shrimp tanks at one time. Ive kept almost every kind of shrimps for well over 5 years, it caused a lot of condensation in my condo and we started having problems with our windows so my Hubby told me to shut some of them down. I sold off all but 4 of them. Then we moved this year to another city so I had to shut the rest down and only have the one now, that has some Pinto Mischlings in it. Cardinals are beautiful shrimps and lots of fun to watch. They mostly come out a night so if you have one of these new led lights that has a night bulb you will be able to see them more. I personally wanted to get the harlequins, but no one had them and the few people in the US that did couldn't get them to stay alive. They now have all the other stuff available for them like food and mineralizers which they didn't have when I had mine. Wygglz and corbie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbie Posted December 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2015 Thanks to everyone for the advice! Cardinals are awesome! When you buy them be sure they come from someone who has bred them in the tanks. Wilds are really the only ones to worry about.They need a high temp so do express shipping with them. They make a remineralized just for cardinals. Adjusts the PH to 7.5 thew like hard water. In mine I used crush coral and a Marco rock. Do you know of any sellers who only have tank-bred shrimp? I'll check The Marketplace first, but it's nice to have a backup! 3. Have the top closed well too avoid too much evaporation because of the high temperatures. You can check also my journal. http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/3727-%E2%80%9Cmount-sulawesi%E2%80%9D-tank/ Oh wow, I didn't think of that. Luckily the tank I was gifted has a pretty close-fitting lid. That's an amazing tank! Wow 86 degrees ,certainly is a warm water shrimp . I find those rabbit snails lovely in their own right . They're really great! I've been wanting to set up a Sulawesi tank especially for them for longer than I've been shrimping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted December 27, 2015 Report Share Posted December 27, 2015 If you go on aquabid.com there is a Seller there who has successfully bred them in local water. Can't remember the name but he's sold a lot of them on that site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amyers22 Posted December 28, 2015 Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 Can Texas Holey Rock be used in a setup for cardinal shrimp as well as crushed coral for substrate with a layer of black sand over it? I prefer the look of the Texas holey Rock over lava rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I am using limestone that I collected in Kansas in my Cardinal tank. Looks like Texas holey rock. Works very well. Offers lots of hiding places for the shrimps and surface for biofilm to grow. Does not really affect TDS. Shrimps are breeding fine. Amyers22 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbie Posted December 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Oh wow, holey rock looks really cool. Now I'm thinking about just taking a hike or checking out local gardening centers to see if I can find some good ones... Amyers22 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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