Shrimp not breeding

[nevets]

I have a few orange and cherry shrimp in a tank. I know their not suppose to be but I don't care if their fry turn out clear, shrimp are cheap here and the sell top grade red cherries for the same as regular.
I know I have at least 2 females 3 males and the rest are to small. One keeps carrying eggs but then I don't see what she does to them and the other female never carries eggs

Fully cycled tank 10 months old
Ph 6.8-7.2
Ammonia 0.5-0
Temp 75°-78°
Low to medium lights on for 7 hours

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[Fishfur]

You are unlikely to see the female shrimp drop babies, they tend to do it in hiding. Usually the babies start showing up a day or two later, once their shells have hardened.

Does the female that does not seem to breed have a saddle ? If not she's not mature enough to breed, and might not be female, either. Younger ones can't breed until the females show a saddle, which means their ovaries are mature. Typically they moult after this happens, then send out mating pheromones and become pregnant shortly afterward.

But, if your pH varies as much as you say, and is ever below 7, they may not be able to moult properly, or grow properly. They are not like crystal shrimp, they need hard water and alkaline pH. You need water with a decent GH and KH of at least, I think the minimum is around 4 for KH. Keep pH above 7 and as steady as possible, and with any luck you will see a difference in breeding success, I think.

 

[nevets]

For sure I have to females cause I can see the saddles. My ph is usually just under 7 and when I do a water change it raises to just over 7. I don't have a complete test kit so I can't tell what the gh and kh are but I do see them caring eggs sometimes then I don't know if they dropped them or they hatched

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[Fishfur]

You need to get the pH up over 7 all the time. You can get products to remineralize RO water, you could use something like that to harden your water, if it's too soft.

If you're seeing eggs then some of the adults are moulting successfully, but they may not have enough calcium in the water to carry eggs successfully. Do you ever see moulted shells on the tank bottom ? If yes, leave them there, the shrimp eat them to reclaim the calcium.

Once you can see eggs, you should notice they slowly get bigger and drop lower, eventually they look almost like beads on strings below the belly. If you can see eyes, they are very near hatching. From the time the shrimp becomes pregnant to birth is usually around 4 weeks or so, but you won't necessarily notice pregnancy right away.

If at all possible you need a kit to measure GH & KH, as well as pH. You can get kits that have both tests in one box, as from API.

 

[brandonsfish]

Any chance your filter is catching them

 

[nevets]

I see shells at least once a week and my HOB filter has a pre sponge

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[Fishfur]

I think the primary problem is that water conditions are not the most favourable for this species of shrimp. If you can remedy that, I think you'll see more normal breeding.

 

[ScotJudd]

Just to add my 2 penny worth.
I have 2 tanks teaming with RCS. Can't stop them breeding.
Temp 26c
Ph 6.5 - 6.8
Kh 6
Gh 6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate always under 20
Although not the ideal according to the books, they obviously haven't read them



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[Fishfur]

You at least have adequate GH and KH, which is necessary for shell maintenance and growth. Some people have been successful keeping some critters in conditions that differ from what is usually thought of as what's normal. Fish and shrimp are often able to adapt to conditions that don't meet the so called 'ideal' for their species, but it's not something you can absolutely count on either.

 

[jetajockey]

Looks like I see a cardinal tetra in the background on the pics? If so, that's probably where the babies are going.

 

[Fishfur]

Most fish eat shrimp. If it fits in the mouth, it gets eaten, pretty much. And if the fish has teeth, they can tear larger prey in pieces too. Otos are said to be the only fish that are completely shrimp safe, as they eat only algae.

 

[nevets]

The cardinals stay away from the shrimp. I see eggs at the bottom of the plants, like the shrimp just drops them. The eggs are white and very small. The shrimp don't want to carry the eggs for more than a week

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[Fishfur]

They're aborting them. Something is wrong, this should not happen. Some females do that for a first brood, but after that, it's not normal to see this. I wish I could offer more suggestions beyond what I have already.

 

[ScotJudd]

When I first got my shrimp they dropped their eggs. Looked like a miniature bunch of grapes. But they were young shrimp. Later batches hatched successfully. My main tank has 50 plus tetras but the shrimp colony still steadily grew because I have a huge mass of moss for the baby shrimp to hide in. My small shrimp tank has no fish and the numbers just keep multiplying. One thing I have noticed whilst keeping shrimp is that they don't much like a new tank, no matter how much you feed them. I throw my moss thinnings from the main tank into the shrimp tank which is now 2/3 full of moss. I do believe that happy RCS do best in really heavily planted tanks. Well, that's my experience.


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[Fishfur]

True enough, first time moms do sometimes drop their eggs. But it should not continue to happen. And I'm a big fan of giving them plenty of plants, both for feeding opportunities and hiding places.