Oct Nov Dec 2020 Breeder Diary

 The breeding of Yamato Shrimp had failed, the salinity of the water is very hard to maintain at a stable condition. After much thought I decided to let the fishes had it as food. Wife finally decided to move the two Neon Tetra back to the Fish Tank after seeing them eating the Baby Crystal Shrimp.

Not sure what actually happen, but a lot of plant seem to start blooming flower. The first one is Kai Lan, then is Chilli, and even Kang Kong which had been harvest a few times also start to bloom flower. My wife decided to keep the Kai Lan growing to harvest the seeds.

The Passion Fruit and the Kaffir Lime which fail previously also start to grow well, maybe the Autumn Season is a very good time for growing vegetables and fruits. Finally brought a Aloe Vera from the Flower Shop nearby, had been trying for few times but fail as it start to rot before the root sprout.

 

 21st Oct 2020 Kai Lan Flower Bloom

3rd Nov 2020 Chilli Flower Bloom

7th Nov 2020 Kang Kong Flower Bloom

 

Chilli had grown, but Cactus take long time to grow. Crystal Shrimp population also start to bloom after the Neon Tetra are transfer back to the fish tank. Passion Fruit also start climbing the steel rack, but we are not sure when we will see it bear fruits.

 

15th Nov 2020 Chilli had grown

15th Nov 2020 Cactus take long time to grow

 

Finally start to see Broccoli Flower Bloom after three long month, we are not sure when it will be ready for harvest. Crystal Shrimp population continue to bloom out of our control, guess large living space and plenty of food contribute a lot to their breeding. The Asparagus look very thin to me, I doubt my wife when she told me they are actually Asparagus.

1st Dec 2020 Broccoli finally Bloom Flower after three months

 

 Crystal Shrimp Aquarium

Crystal Shrimp Feeding

 

Asparagus 

 

 Had been wanting to try Opae Ula aka Wonder Shrimp for a long time, I finally pick up the courage to explore the possibilities when they announce the starting of Phrase 3 in two weeks time. It is the easiest to maintain pet as it does not really need much care, they only need to be keep in a small bottle and feed on algae to survive.

As I am planning on letting the population to thrive, I am using a 5 liters big glass bottle instead of the usual 1 to 2 liters small glass bottle. I already got the sea shell and the crystal glass pebble, so all I need to purchase is the Coral Fan and the Marimo Ball.

The Coral Fan is 5 cm wide and 10 cm tall, it cost $11.50, I got to choose the better looking one and happen to get two pack in the same bag. The Marimo Ball is about 5 cm diameter, it cost $5 and I also try to choose the biggest one.

I brought the salt mix for $10, it will be mix to the salinity of 1.018 with the distill water I brought from the supermarket. I brought 10 Opae Ula Shrimp as it will be cheaper by $10 at $70, if I brought 5 instead it will cost $40. The website only cheaper by $5 at $75 for 10 of it.

 

Opae Ula Glass Bottle Setup

Close Up Shot of Opae Ula aka Wonder Shrimp

Another Close Up Shot of Opae Ula

 

Another Close Up Shot of Opae Ula

 

Black Beard Algae start to appear on the Spider Wood in Fish Tank, after doing some research on the internet I decided to use the most natural method of removing them. I brought 10 Siamese Algae Eater for $8 at $0.80 each. If it is not successful, I will try using boiling water before I go into chemical treatment.

The only thing I doesn't like about Siamese Algae Eater is that they can grow into a very big size of up to 15 cm. But I already had plan to release them into the river at Cousin Iris house to help with the cleaning of Algae when they grow big. The worst case scenario would be buying 100 Feeder Platies Fish and 50 Feeder Ghost Shrimp for the Event.

Opae Ula are not so hardy as I had expected, 7 of them die within a day. As there are only 3 left, I decided to transfer them to a smaller 2 liters glass bottle. I brought some Coral Chip and Lava Rock from Shopee, I will use the 5 liters glass bottle to create an optimum environment over a two months cycle period before I continue with the remaining phrase of the project.

 

The project is actually still related to Yamato Shrimp Breeding, as Opae Ula breeding environment is very similar. So by ensuring Opae Ula ability to breed in their natural environment will increase the chances of my Yamato Shrimp Breeding in the future. Still trying to fulfill the dream of having thousands of Yamato Shrimp release into the river at Cousin Iris house to help with the cleaning of Algae.

 

 

Black Beard Algae in Fish Tank

Siamese Algae Eater

 

Siamese Algae Eater and Yamato Shrimp manage to clear the Black Beard Algae in a week, I did try using hot boiling water to treat the Spider Wood on second day. So I am not very sure if the Siamese Algae Eater and Yamato Shrimp are so efficient or the hot boiling water treatment also help in the process.

Black Beard Algae clear in a week

 

Saw a guy listing on Carousell for Opae Ula Shrimp by chance, it was remove after a day. I try to contact him a week later to see if it is still available and was lucky enough to be able to get it from him at a cheaper price of $5 per shrimp. I decided to get 20 of it from him to speed up the process of the breeding cycle.

 

As he had been keeping it for three years and most of it had been mature enough to start breeding. I do not have to wait for few years for them to be ready, so it kind of save me a lot of time. 

 

The 5 liters Glass Bottle which I had prepared a week ago is ready, the are visible spot of Algae grow on the wall. I think it is because I am using the media from the previous Crystal Shrimp Tank which still have some beneficial bacteria present in it.

Opae Ula Mass Orgy

Sep 2020 Breeder Dairy

 Yamato Shrimp start to have Eggs, they only breed in Salt Water but somehow the condition became suitable for them in the Fish Tank. Now I had to prepare for salt water habitat for the larvae to grow after the eggs hatch in about 5 weeks. It is still thousands of lives that are at stake, still worth the effort to give it a try.

 

Yamato Shrimp have Eggs

 

Spinach start to bloom flower, Sixth Aunt say it is Bolt due to hot weather. I thought it is Broccoli at first, but the Broccoli had been destroyed by my mom due to her impatient. She always want to eat the vegetables while they are tender, her disregard of respect for other had cause a lot of problem to the farm.  

Spinach Flower Bloom

Preparing for the Birth of New Yamato Shrimp. The Eggs will Hatch in about 3 to 5 weeks. The Eggs will Hatch into Larvae and being wash out into the Sea. The Larvae will Grow into Baby Shrimp in about 30 days and swim back to River.

1.020 Salt Water for Larvae to Grow for 30 days. 1.012 Half Salt Half Fresh Water for the Baby Shrimp to Grow for another 15 Days. Each Shrimp is able to Breed about 1000 to 3000 Babies.

I had two Yamato Shrimp having Eggs now and will be expecting their Eggs to hatch next week or next month. If I am successful, I might be the first person in Singapore to Breed Yamato Shrimp in Aquarium. 

 

 

Yamato Shrimp in Breeding Tank

 

1.020 Sea Water

 

1.012 Half Salt Half Fresh Water

 

First batch of Yamato Shrimp Breeding had failed, at first I thought there are insufficient food for the Larvae but later found out that the salinity of the water went above 1.030. Not sure if the Bio Film dosage had affect the salinity or the Mineral Supplement, I had been monitoring the water closely so it could not be due to evaporation.

The half salt half fresh water salinity also gone from 1.010 to 1.018, so I switch it to be use as Sea Water and try to mix another batch of half salt half fresh water. If this batch also fail again then I had to conclude that it is really hard to breed Yamato Shrimp, just had to let the Larvae to become Fish Food in the future.

The the third Yamato Shrimp also start to have eggs, what surprise us is that the first Yamato Shrimp which had just hatch the eggs had also start to have eggs after a few day when I transfer it back to Fish Tank. Not sure if I should start keeping Opae Ula Wonder Shrimp or Brine Shrimp Sea Monkey and use their salt water for breeding Yamato Shrimp, Marine Coral Aquarium is definitely out of the question as it is too expensive to maintain.

 

Okra is ready for harvest after a week from Flower Bloom, not sure why we were not successful in sprouting the plant in our previous attempt. We doesn't seem to have any luck with herb type of plant, not sure if it is due to the environment or got any relationship to Chinese Feng Shui. 

 

Okra Flower Bloom

 

Okra ready for Harvest after a week

 

August 2020 Breeder Dairy

 Starting from this month, I had find it hard to keep track of the breeding progress as the number are just overwhelming. There are two batch of Baby Crystal Shrimp showing sign of reverting back to Primitive Wild Type. A few of them also start to show different color tone of Green, Blue and White.

Otocinclus Catfish had been a very Excellent Cleaner for the Tank, they had help me to reduce the cleaning and maintenance of the tank from one week to two weeks.

New Baby Crystal showing a bit of Green.

 

 Otocinclus Catfish Excellent Cleaner

 

The older shrimp color get more vibrant as they get older, some of the younger shrimp also doesn't had much color as previously expected. 

Their favorite place are mainly the Floating Driftwood and the Pea Sprout Roots, they also like to find food at the Sponge Filter. The Pea Sprout Root provide a good hiding place for the shrimp and also help to maintain the water parameter. The sponge filter provide more space to promote bacteria growth and also additional filtration.

 

 The Fish Tank is a slightly different setup with more driftwood as the fish prefer a softer and more acidic water as compare to the shrimp preference of harder and more alkaline water. The shrimp tank hardness is maintain by the sea shell and mineral ball.

 

The different between two generation.

 

Floating Driftwood

 

Pea Sprout Roots

 

Fish Tank

 

The Orange Rili start to show sign of stripe on the back, it is getting a bit like Golden Back. The population grow very fast, with a few new shrimp having eggs every few days and new baby shrimp hatching almost every week.

 

The baby shrimp start to show more Primitive Wild Type look with Black or Brown Tiger Stripe, I had to transfer the Yamato Shrimp from the small Aquaponics Tank to the Fish Tank so that I can use it to do Culling.

The shrimp also start to show affection toward us and will usually swim up and stay on our hand whenever we dip in for some cleaning or maintenance.

Orange Rili

Over Population

Primitive Wild Type

Showing Affection

 

The Otocinclus Catfish are able to live in perfect harmony with the shrimp, they are herbivore and we had no worry of them eating the baby shrimp. We had try to shift some of the fish over to shrimp tank to help clear some of the White Tread Worm, the Harlequin Rasbora look uncomfortable with all the shrimp swimming around and the White Cloud Mountain Minnow had been seen eating the baby shrimp with much aggressiveness.

So far only the Neon Tetra are a bit more peaceful and they had became our choice of fish for pest control. The Yamato Shrimp also seem to live peacefully in the Fish Tank and doesn't really swim around much to frighten the Harlequin Rasbora. They usually just crawl slowly around the driftwood looking for food or just hide near the sponge filter doing nothing.

Harmony

Yamato Shrimp

Got to see a rare slight of the shrimp mating, the whole process only took about 10 seconds. Not sure if I am lucky or what, I get to see two other mating progress the next day too. 

The Shrimp Tank start to have a few Hydra, they start to appear a day after I clean the tank. Maybe the disturbance of the sand gravel had prompt them to come out of hiding and climb up the glass wall. As they are known to attack baby shrimp, I decided to try removing them.

 

Mating

Hydra

July 2020 Breeder Dairy

 This month had been a very exciting month, with a lot of Crystal Shrimp start having Eggs and a lot of New Born Baby Crystal Shrimp. The first two surprise were from the Sunkist Orange, then with the Red Rili which came with Eggs a week ago giving birth to New Baby Crystal Shrimp we discover that another Red Rili also start to have Eggs. What came as an even more surprise is that the next day another different Red Rili also start to have Eggs too.

We are not sure how long will these reproduction cycle keep going, but we know we are starting to lose track of all the Eggs and New Born Baby. Last month we are still expecting a conservative quantity of about 100 Crystal Shrimp, but at the rate it is going now we would be expecting 200 or more. We also discover a Red Fire with Eggs in the night, that big surprise will really bring more variety to the group.

30th Jun 2020 Sunkist Orange with Eggs

1st Jul 2020 Another Sunkist Orange with Eggs

1st Jul 2020 New Born Crystal Shrimp Baby

1st Jul 2020 Red Rili with Eggs

2nd Jul 2020 Another Red Rili with Eggs 

2nd Jul 2020 Red Fire with Eggs

The Red Fire with Eggs die, but we discover another Red Fire with Eggs again. One of the Yellow Bumblebee also hatch the Eggs, so now we have five different batch of Baby Crystal Shrimp now. We can really see a lot of different in the size between the first batch and the fifth batch, they really grow very fast.

Wife decided to change the seed for the Pea Sprout for the Aquaponics Aquarium, while we are busy clearing the deep penetrated root we discover a Baby Crystal Shrimp swimming inside the Tray. This is really a very big surprise as we are unable to figure out how it manage to survive and where does it come from.

I had discover a first batch Baby Crystal Shrimp inside the tank before and it might had been hiding inside the Water Plant when we transfer the Yamato. But this new discovery really make us question whether the second one is from the first batch and got suck up by the pump and never grow big because of lack of food or it is hatch from the egg which we remove from the dead Orange Rili previously.

5th Jul 2020 Another Red Fire with Eggs

New Born Baby Crystal Shrimp under 3 x Super Macro

Three Batch of Baby Crystal Shrimps:
Right Side on the Seashell is 17 days old, Middle One on the Sand is 10 days old, Left Side on the Blue Crystal Glass Pebble is 1 days old.

The different in size between 20 days old and 2 days old.

More and more Crystal Shrimps start to have Eggs, we can confirm one Sunkist Orange and one Red Fire so far. There are one more Red Fire which we are not sure as it is still not very obvious due to the color of the shell blocking the belly making it hard to spot. We just had to continue to observe and keep track of the progress for the next few days.

Pea Sprout, Bak Choy and Choy Sum are ready for Harvest. My Wife had slowly turn her interest more toward the Crystal Shrimp than the Vegetables. The Zucchini also start having Flower Bud and we are expecting some flower bloom within the next few days. As we have start to go back to our normal work routine, we find less time to focus on the farming as we use to be during the lock down period.

7th Jul 2020 Pea Sprout ready for Harvest

7th Jul 2020 Bak Choy ready for Harvest

7th Jul 2020 Choy Sum ready for Harvest

7th Jul 2020 Zucchini having Flower Bud

One of the Yellow Bumblebee have Eggs, not sure if it is the second time. A Sunkist Orange also seem to hatch some Eggs, but we never observe any new Baby Crystal Shrimp and it is only a week since we first discover that it had Eggs and it is too early for hatching. Although the weather had been very hot for the past few days, but we do not think it will speed up the hatching process by so much.

We had to suspect that the Eggs were not fertilized, as we discovered that there is no Male Sunkist Orange, Red Rili and Orange Rili. With only Yellow Bumblebee and Red Fire with Male, the chances of successful cross breeding is very slim. I am considering to get some
Male Sunkist Orange, Red Rili and Orange Rili soon as summer time is their mating season.

8th Jul 2020 Yellow Bumblebee with Eggs

My mom told me she notice a Red Rili with Eggs, at first I thought it is the same one which we had discover few days ago. I quickly realized that it is the one that had give birth 8 days ago, and I never expect it to have Eggs again at such a short time. I am worry that this Eggs will not hatch due to cross breed, it might become same like the Sunkist Orange and disappear in a week without hatching any new born.

9th Jul 2020 Red Rili with Eggs

My Wife told me that the Zucchini had started to bear Fruits, I did not believe her at first until I saw it with my own eyes. It had Flower Bud at the end and it is Female Flower when it Bloom, the Male Flower Bud grow on thin stem and we will have to pollinate it manually when both Bloom. I am also surprise that the plant had a slightly spiky stem, my wife notice some ants climbing on the plant and hope they will help with the pollination.

10th Jul 2020 Zucchini had Fruit and Flower Bud

We found another Red Rili with Eggs, there are so many Crystal Shrimp having Eggs until we had lost track of them. Three of the Yellow Bumblebee and one of the Red Rili are having Eggs for the second time. I manage to get some Male Red Rili, Orange Rili and Sunkist Orange for them to mate, also try one of the Wild Dance water treatment to see if they became more active.

My Wife told me that the Sweet Potato had Bloom Flower, I again didn't believe her until I saw it with my own eyes. Sixth Aunt also never saw it before, she did a search and told me that it will be very similar to the Morning Glory as they belong to the same family. My Wife also finally decided to harvest the vegetables, she had plan to plant Spinach, Lettuce, Kang Kong and Kai Lan for the next rotation as we had never really try before.

She had try a few of them in the smaller pot but not very successful, so the Large Tray are still the best option for all the vegetables because there are protecting net to shield them from the harsh weather condition.

The first batch of Yellow Bumblebee Baby Crystal Shrimp had almost fully grown up, there are a few which doesn't have much color which resemblance the Yamato. Only a few tiny yellow dot are visible on their head when we look closely, I hope it doesn't become a new variation of Yamato which would require to be separated again.

Notice a few Red Sakura Baby Crystal Shrimp, should be the offspring from the Red Rili. I am less worried about not having different breed now but I am worried about the next generation reverting back to the original Cherry Shrimp or Brown Wild Crystal Shrimp. I notice the second batch by Orange Rili seem to have darker color and hope they will turn out well in the end.

12th Jul 2020 Another Red Rili with Eggs

12th Jul 2020 Sweet Potato Flower Bloom

13th Jul 2020 Red Sakura Baby Crystal Shrimp

Sixth Aunt is conducting some lesson on Farming, she send us some guide on knowing the plant condition from the appearance. I also did some research on the Variation of Crystal Shrimp for the purpose of my breeding. The Spinach, Lettuce, Kang Kong and Kai Lan had Sprout after 4 days, they should be ready for harvest in a month or two.

Plant Deficiencies from Leave Apperaance

Crystal Shrimp Variation

15th Jul 2020 Spinach and Lettuce had Sprout after 4 days

15th Jul 2020 Kang Kong and Kai Lan had Sprout after 4 days

Zucchini Flower Bloom after two months, but the Female Flower seem to had wither. My Wife wanted to prune the Male Flower to allow more nutrient for Female Flower, but her indecisive nature had again hold her back as she became too sentimental for the plant. Sweet Potato had more Flower Bloom, the main reason might be the stem had grow longer than the other plant.

New Crystal Shrimp Baby had been born, we are not sure if it had hatch from Red Fire or Yellow Bumblebee as both seem to had some reduce in number of Eggs. Red Fire seem to be more likely as it had been having the Eggs for about 13 days while Yellow Bumblebee only had the Eggs for about 10 days.

What came as a bigger surprise is that we discover that one of the Second Generation Yellow Bumblebee already start having Eggs only about a month old. This mark another mile stone for us as we are going to get third generation very soon in about two weeks time.

18th Jul 2020 Zucchini Flower Bloom

18th Jul 2020 Sweet Potato more Flower Bloom

18th Jul 2020 New Crystal Shrimp Baby

18th Jul 2020 Second Generation with Eggs

Manage to find a Strainer Tray that fit, start growing Pea Sprout on top of Crystal Shrimp Aquarium. The Roots will absorb the nutrients and help purify the water, it will also provide a hiding place for the Crystal Shrimps.

22nd Jul 2020 Pea Sprout for Aquaponics

More Crystal Shrimp Baby had born, from the observation should be from Yellow Bumblebee. The Sunkist Orange and Red Rili Eggs should also hatch in these few days base on previous experience, at least the Sunkist Orange duration had been back to normal.

One of the Red Rili seem to have Green Fungus Infection, it had been there since last month when it first arrive. But so far I never notice any spread of the infection to other Crystal Shrimp and I do not have additional tank to quarantine it so I leave it until now.

There is also White Bacteria Infection on one of the Red Fire, it had also been stable until today when I saw it had spread to one of the Second Generation Yellow Bumblebee. As the Yellow Bumblebee condition look more serious, I decided to finally put them on quarantine.

Sixth Aunt had give me the old fish tank which she doesn't use any more, I decided to use it for fish so that I am able to maintain the Bacteria Growth. I brought Sponge Filter to help in the cycling of the tank for better water condition and will be switching the sponge filter between the Crystal Shrimp Tank and Fish Tank at regular interval to support the Bacteria Growth.

The problem with Crystal Shrimp is that they shit much less than fish and the Bacteria Growth Cycle is unable to maintain in a stable condition due to lack of waste material for it to break down. I am planning to put Neon Tetra, White Cloud Mountain Minnow and Harlequin Rasbora as they are known to be hardy and easy to keep for beginner. I am also planning to get some Otocinclus Catfish for maintaining the cleanliness of the tank.

There are many ways to resolve the issue, some people keep fish or snail together with the shrimp. The problem with keeping fish with the shrimp is that the fish will eat the baby shrimp. The problem with keeping snail with the shrimp is that when the snail die it will cause very serious Ammonia Spike which will crash the whole tank and cause all the shrimp to die together.

24th Jul 2020 New Crystal Shrimp Baby

Green Fungus Infection on Red Rili Belly

White Bacteria Infection on Red Fire Head

White Bacteria Infection on Yellow Bumblebee Head

Condition of Water for New Tank