Shrimp Spotlight: Japanese Black Pintos

Hello Everyone, 

I hope everyone is doing well during this crazy heatwave we are experiencing. Remember to stay cool and seek effective and efficient cooling methods for tanks during these hot days. 

The weather has been testing the upper 80s and low 90s where I live so I've dust off last year's DIY PC cooling fans and attached them to my tanks. Hot days like these really reminds me just how thankful I am that I spent time and effort into making these very awesome fans last summer!

I devoted some time last weekend to take photos of my Japanese Black Pinto colony. I'm proud to announce that my colony is thriving and doing exceptionally well.  I've even managed to recoup my initial investment a loooong time ago by selling some Pintos locally.

It has been very exciting breeding Pintos these past couple of months because babies are so robust and active and interesting to observe. I wonder if this robustness has anything to do with their Tiger bloodline mixing during their creation process. Pintos are definitely more active and voracious eaters compared my CRS and JRB.

Anyways, please enjoy the photos!

Black Spotted Pinto

Black Zebra Pinto

Black Skunk Pinto

Lovin' that S.H.I.N.E

Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Holidays!

Photoburst: Moar Bees

Girlfriend is back in town. Spent the weekend hanging out with her after picking her up from the airport. It's nice to have her back. She'll help me greatly with this blogger. I'll give her a few days to rest then ask her to help me with my articles. 

I managed to get a few photos in during the week when I was at my parents for dinner. Hope you guys enjoy!!

Cheers!

Shrimp Spotlight: Japanese RedBees

This is an observational update regarding the status of my Japanese RedBees. It's been roughly 3 months now since I've been back from my Japan trip and my Japanese RedBees have had 3 months to breed and grow inside my tanks. The adults survive the journey from Japan to USA and have bred successfully inside my tanks. I’m very happy to report that I am officially out of the “Red” or danger zone. Now that spring is in full swing, both my J.RedBees and J.BlackBees have kicked into full breeding mode. Both bees inside my 25G cubes are very active happy. All of my original female adults are berried.  Their ovens are operating at maximum efficiency although I have to comment that my J.BlackBees is just crushing it! My J.BlackBees colony has undergone a population explosion. The tank is FILLED with babies and young adults.  I feel like my J.RedBees need to play a little catching up if I want to have a strong population to cull by the end of fall 2015.

Observation:

I've made note that J.BlackBees are all born with EXCELLENT colors, whereas the J.RedBees are born with exceptional whites but the red is a bit more of an orange color. At first I was curious and worried about the off-red color that I was experiencing BUT as they grow and mature their colors is darkening and becoming a more crimson color. I don’t know if this is a common thing amongst J.RedBees. Additionally, I have observe that the J.RedBees mature VERY quickly. What I mean to say is juveniles at 3 months are roughly a third of the fully mature adults. This isn't something that should be taken with a grain of salt as J.RedBees is much bigger, on average, than PRL. I don’t know what it is, but it would seem that their genetics dictate their growth to be fuller and bigger than your typical PRL. I have PRL roughly around the same age as my J.RedBees and they look nowhere near breeding size.  Breeding Size? Yes, I am saying breeding size because in the adjacent tank housing my J.BlackBees, babies of 3 month old have started mating and becoming berried.  Babies making babies, yo!

Thank you for reading!

Cheers!

Shrimp Spotlight: Blue Bolt/Blue Mothra

Love the gemlike head!

Berried Mosura Blue Bolt

Sorry sorry! I know this post was suppose to be a spotlight on the Orange Eyes Blue Tigers but I haven't had a chance to visit my parents to actually take photos. I'm hoping that this weekend I will find some time to devote to photography.

Photoburst: Japanese Red Bees

One of the ladies inside the tank experienced their 2nd release because I'm seeing teeny tiny babies clinging on to the substrate and wall of the tank. I'm starting to be less nervous about my JRB because the colony is growing. Starting with only 4 is quite scary but I'm fortunate to have very good parameters due to a few secret prodcuts.

Brave Momma!

Fanning her belly

Handsome male ^.^

I'm not sure what it is that caused the mothers to venture out, but I'm glad they're feeling more comfortable with the tank to venture out and explore. For the longest time they would hide and only the male would patrol the tank. I feel like with the colony growing and their numbers increasing, they are feeling more secure with their environment and venturing out.

Interesting observation:

I added 3 ottos to each of the 25 Cubes and they're doing very well. In the past, I would always have a few die-off whenever I added them to the tank. I would usually only have 1 inside a tank that survives. This time around, all 6 ottos survived and doing exceptionally well.  I never knew ottos like to school. The three would stick together and school together. They look so dark and their skin is very healthy. Both shrimps and fish are doing exceptionally well. There must be some magic in the water. 0_o

Next update will be focused on my OEBT. They need some love. I've had them for 2 months now and the population is doing extremely well. I'm seeing babies everywhere and the young adults have grown into beautiful adults.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers!

Photoburst: Japanese Black Bee & BlackBees

This weekend was dedicated to maintaining tanks and waterchanges of tanks at my parent's home. Some might already know that I house my shrimps tanks in two different locations and dedicate each weekend to performing waterchanges at each. 

This week, it was the tanks at my parent's home which happens to be the location where my Japanese Bees and a majority of my PRL are living. As such, I had the opportunity to take some pretty great photos.

As usual, my Japanese Black Bees and BlackBees were less shy and more optimistic to get their photos taken. My Japanese Red Bees were a bit more shy and decided hide. The only willing participant was the male of the JRB tank. Although he is quite handsome, I'll have to wait until I have more photos of the females. I'll post the photo of him in HD when I have more photos of the females of the tank. This time around, I will be mainly doing a photo dump for my JRB and BlackBees.

Please enjoy!

...they grow up so fast..

Playful Exuberance

Eating with mommie

Family dining

no fear... no share...

...exiled to the kiddy table...

Not sure if I've mentioned before but with the 1st broodlings growing up so fast, the oven's been baking and my 2nd brood have just arrived. The 2nd group is less than a week old but already showing fantastic colors. I can already easily spot them congregating among their older siblings. I'm also really happy/excited to inform you that a few babies from the 1st brood started to show the blue-face features common among their mothers. This is exciting for me as I simply adore the trait!!

With the seasonal changes about, my shrimps have sensed this and started gearing up their breeding. As such, I hope everyone is experiencing similar success! I hope everyone has a great 2015 kickoff and tanks full of babies!!

Thank you!

Cheers!  

Photoburst: Japanese Red/Black Bees

It has been few weeks since my last update, so I figured I should update you guys with the happenings of my Japanese Red and Black Bees. I visited my parents for dinner and brought along the camera.  No beer this time around and no comfy chair, but managed to get some good photos!

I'm really happy with how fast the babies are growing and my JBB babies are quite big for only so recently been born. For being as big as they are, I find that they have exceptional colors. I have high hopes for them in the future. My RedBees have also given birth recently. Unfortunately, the RedBees gave birth much later than the BlackBees and so their babies are much smaller.  

Anyways, please enjoy.

Lovely Blue Faced JBB Momma

Another Blue Faced momma

...camera shy... 

LARGE and IN CHARGE!!! Busting out with dem eggs!

Baby Hinomaru BlackBee

Baby Hino No-Entry Blackbee (bro/sis of the buster above)

The only male that showed up for the party

Newborn

I tried to get more photos of the RedBees but the three berried mommas were a bit camera shy today. Girls... what can you do, amirite? Hah! 

The dual cubes currently have a lot of babies with many more on the way (all 6 mommas are berried) so expect to see more posts featuring them as the main guest of honor.

Until next time! 

Cheers!