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.
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.
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 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.
Male Sunkist Orange, Red Rili and Orange Rili soon as summer time is their mating season.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
