# CRS Breeding Substrate



## ilam (Apr 28, 2011)

Anyone have any luck breeding CRS in regular substrate like gravel or sand?


----------



## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

I have had bred CRS using florabase. with an acid buffer to lower the ph at 6.0... and my CRS have bred... what worked for me was keeping your tank stable and water quality at ideal CRS parameters. breeding CRS also takes alot of patience


----------



## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

I always mix up the acronyms between cherries and crystals >.< but I figured I'd throw my two cents in anyways =p . Ive got a 5 gallon with reptile sand substrate and about a year ago I started with 5 crystal reds and now have around 100. Like Stone said, keeping things stable is the biggest factor, I've heard success stories with a variety of substrates as long as the tank was stable. Best wishes on your shrimplet endeavors!

EDIT: Forgot to add that I dose Flourish for my plants and do water top ups every 3 weeks. The sand keeps the ph up and at a constant 6.8. There is also an MTS army in there, which I think is a must for sand substrate to keep the sand free of deadly bacteria pockets!


----------



## ilam (Apr 28, 2011)

Do you do water changes ever and what is your water temperature? I was thinking about starting a 5 gallon with sand.. haven't had too much luck with ADA.. maybe I'm doing something else wrong.


----------



## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

you can keep crs with sand or gravel, ph of 6-7 is fine for these shrimp and have seen tanks teaming with shrimps in just plain gravel. a 5g is decent but 10 would give the shrimps alot more swimming space.... As others have said the stable condition is important, I havent done a waterchange in a few months maybe 4 or 5 just top up with aged freshwater and alittle bit of gh buffer. Theyre easy once you get the hang of it. My shrimps dont breed super fast but when I do small waterchanges like 3-4g they get berried.

Good luck and make sure you run a cycled filter on the tank for abit if its new, also try to aim for a gh of 4.


----------



## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

My temp sits between 22 and 23C and I don't do water changes, just top ups and I scrub the glass once a month. Ive got an AquaClear 20 filter with a small net sewn over the intake to keep the shrimplets out. The shrimp and snails do the rest.


----------

