Another "Just a Picture"

What was once a small colony of 17 CRS, that number has since multiplied!

Just a Picture

Been a while since I've uploaded anything.  Here's a crummy photo taken with my iPhone with an awful glare/reflection.
On a side note, second batch of F1 babies have been popping late of last week.  Only 3-4 females have released so far with 4-5 more females to go.  As you can see in the photo above, there are already a ton of babies on the glass and the first batch of F1 are also growing up nicely!

Bucephalandra sp. 'Midnight Blue' update!

I made a post about this plant a few weeks ago and I just wanted to make an update on it.  You can check the original post here.

Yesterday, April 13, 2012, I noticed that the flowering bud, previous green, has turned a beautiful white color.  As seen in the photos below.  It was going to bloom soon, I knew it.

Today, to my surprise, the flower has opened up and fully bloomed!  I have been waiting for this day as I find the bucephalandra flower to be quite unique and attractive.  I fell in love with this plant because of its flower actually.  I hope you enjoy them too!

Berried Panda Picture

Here's a new photo of my berried Panda Shrimp.  I am very proud to have her, as she seems to be the only mature female of my four taiwan bees.  I believe I have two male Pandas, one female (this one) and the Wine Red is ambiguous right now.

Can't tell she's pregnant?  It's because her color is so thick, they hide well within her carapace.  It's quite amazing really, to see the intensity of their colors in person.  When the prices go down for these guys, I highly recommend you all to keep a few and marvel at their beauty.  Or if you don't care so much about the cost, jump right ahead.  They will quickly become a favorite in your collection.

Shrimp Thief

I've been really hesitant to make this public, but on Wednesday, April 11th 2012, I had a shrimp buyer come to my home.
I made a post of this on a local club that I am.  So I will simply copy and paste my story here.  The purpose of this post is to warn people that yes, thieves in this hobby DO exist.  It's strange and bizarre to me but I guess it does happen.

My post on the local forum, dated 4/12/12:
Post #1
Yes, a shrimp thief.

I was selling some of my S+ CRS yesterday to some guy named Marvin, who lives in San Francisco. He goes by the email m_tea@yahoo.com. 
He came over to my house, I had the shrimp packed already but he asked to see my tanks. I said sure and let him come into the house and took a look at my shrimp. He was eyeing my Pandas and asked if I was selling any. I said no and because they were really expensive, so I didn't have any to spare for sale. 
He asked for change and I didn't have any on me at the time, so I went upstairs to look for change. Took me at least 5 minutes upstairs and my stupid self left him alone downstairs. I come back down, told him I had no change and asked if he'd like to pick up something else (more shrimp). He tried lowballing me a lot the entire time but I said whatever, I don't have change anyway. So for 14 S+ shrimp, I sold it for $50. It was done, he was gone, whatever. He was incredibly annoying and rude the entire time. "Can you just give me this one? *Points at SSS* Can you give me extras?" etc etc.

I notice after, that I was MISSING one of my panda shrimp. I have three in total and I can only find two now. My tank isn't exactly heavily planted and it's only a 20 gallon long tank. I lifted the driftwood, every piece of SS mesh of moss I had, nothing. Only had TWO pandas. 


Post#2
It was one of the two larger pandas too...  
Lesson definitely learned. There's honestly no other way it could have disappeared. I ALWAYS check for all 3 PD and 1 WR before I leave the house and whenever I'm at the tank, absolutely always. I still feel dumb and scat but life goes on and I can only wish for the best for it at this point. iwillslaughterhimwheniseehiminhell.


Post#3
 I actually pre-scooped the shrimp being sold already but he insisted on seeing my tanks. I made it way too easy to steal, I guess. Leaving him alone, let bags and the net right in front of the tank... I let my dog outside because she's incredibly protective, I was afraid leaving her alone with him. I checked my adult CRS to make sure they're all still there. Thankfully, they are (Unless I miscounted, which happens when the number is above 15). 

I am moving forward from this, not even gonna bother but hope for the best for the little girl. 
----- end.


Since then, I have repurchased another Panda shrimp from my original source.  Unfortunately, he only had males left so I had to pick up a male.  It was to help fill the empty void I had inside me.  I always counted three pandas when I looked into the tank, seeing only two made me feel ashamed for being so careless.  I felt uneasy.  Buying a new panda is like a small band-aid to me.  It still doesn't fix the void completely but I feel a little better.  Call it my OCD-ness.  

Berried Panda Shrimp

I was surprised today by finding one of my Shadow Panda Shrimp to actually be carrying eggs already!  Holy cow, that was incredibly fast.  I guess they're comfortable being in my tank after all.  The photo above isn't exactly the best photo in the world, I know, I know.  But you can see the Panda Shrimp hanging upside down from the driftwood.  You can see the white part of the abdomen area to be darkish in color.  Those are the eggs!  I'm incredibly stoked right now.  They're likely to be mischling (Hybrid CRS x Taiwan Bee) because I only saw one of my Pandas to be swimming rapidly last night.  So the chances of him impregnating her isn't that high.  I hope it was him though, I would love to get taiwan bees and not mischlings.  I didn't really think much of their activity yesterday but after seeing eggs today, I now know why they were swimming around.

Today will be marked as day one (1) of berried.  I will be keeping track on her progress from berried to birth.  It should be similar, if not, the same amount of time as regular CRS.  But since this is a taiwan bee and technically different, we shall keep a record.

Temp is 23C, approx 73F.

Shrimp For Sale

To order, email me at JustShrimpStuff@gmail.com

All shrimp for sale are approximately 1/4''
All shrimp sold are young shrimp and must be kept in a shrimp-only tank. I strongly do not recommend keeping them with fish.

S+ CRS - $5 ea
These are either half Hinomaru, tiger toothed or V bands. They come from SS-SSS/SSS+ parents, thus carrying the gene to get SS-SSS offspring.

SS CRS - $6 ea
These are either Hinomaru or No-Entry pattern

SSS CRS culls - $10
These culls are shrimp with a smidge of red on their back. Not a complete Hinomaru or No Entry, but not pure white on the back so I don't consider it SSS quality.

SSS CRS - $15
These carry a red head and white body.

SSS+ CRS cull - $15
These culls carry a crown or flower head pattern, however, like the SSS Cull, they have a smidge of red on the back. So I do not call them true SSS+. They carry the SSS gene though so their offspring can potentially lose the smidge of red, making them pure SSS(+)

SSS+ CRS - $20
These carry a crown or flower head pattern and also have a white body. These are top of the line shrimp in terms of patterns.

Taiwan Bee Video

Video of my Taiwan Bees.

This video shows my four (4) new shrimp.
3 (Shadow) Panda Shrimp
1 Wine Red Shrimp

Wine Red & Panda

Picked up two more shrimp.  This should be the last for a while, I don't have a lot of $$$ to be throwing around right now.  Haha...

Wine Red & Panda Shrimp

Panda #1 update

Panda #1 has passed.  It was a looming death of unknown cause.  Perhaps it was too difficult for him to acclimate into my tank?  Who knows?

Panda #2 and #3 are doing well still though.

Crossing my fingers!

Two More Pandas + Update on Panda #1

Picked up two more Pandas.  These were shipped in as Shadow Pandas but as weeks went by, their blue hue went lighter and lighter.  You can definitely see some blue on the white still, but it is significantly less than original.  Thus, they were sold to me under regular pandas.  The history of the Blue Panda is still a mystery to me and the seller.  I hope to discover what the deal is with these guys.

Update on Panda #1

Originally, I placed him (or her?) in the Black Crystal Shrimp tank.  After two days of observation, I noticed that the Panda wasn't really behaving like a normal shrimp.  It would just stand still in one place and move every now and then.  I rarely saw it forage for food, though he did do it every now and then.  He'd groom himself here and there but not much activity.  He'd just move from one spot to another every few minutes.  It was truly odd behavior.  I wondered if this was normal or not.  I decided it was odd behavior by the 3rd day and put him into my CRS tank.  He still behaves the same way as he did in my CBS tank.  Still alive though, so he must be doing something right?  Who knows?  I want to believe he is SLIGHTLY more active than before, but it may just be wishful thinking.  His behavior was like this the moment I added him into the CBS tank, so I am wondering if it's just his character or if there's something wrong with my water.
I did my water tests and they seem to line up with the seller's, whom by the way, has kept him alive in his tank for over a month now.  So I've ruled the bad water out for the most part, but not completely.

The reason I picked up two more Pandas today was because I wanted to see if it is truly my water and the Pandas can't handle it or if it's just that one specific shrimp.  After all, I chose Panda #1 for color, not for activity.  I chose #2 and #3 for both color and activity this time.  I noticed that in the seller's tank, there were some shrimp (I saw one Wine Red and one Panda) that behaved similarly to Panda #1.  Perhaps this is just a taiwan bee thing?  Furthermore, I noticed that the activity level of the Taiwan Bees are less active than my CRS at home.  Very interesting to observe the difference.

Panda #2 and #3 was introduced into my tank a few hours ago.  They went straight to picking for food, behaving like a what a normal shrimp would do.  Panda #1 didn't do that at all.  *Taking notes...*

That's all for now!  I'll update as things go by.