Can fish medications cause shrimp to go sterile?

[FreshWater1]

Hello,

So I inherited some shrimp from someone quitting the hobby after some disasters the final being worms and stuff in the tank and a dying beta and I believe they dosed the tank with Metroplex and Kanaplex as those meds were given to me in all the stuff.

I have since upgraded the tank and gotten them java moss and hides etc. and it's been a long time with no breeding. I believe they are full size it seems like I have two females who are much larger than the one male. Their coloration after multiple molts has gotten much better but still not PURE red cherry. They were in pretty rough shape when I got them could the fish medications have caused them to go sterile?

Thanks for any info

 

[Andy Sager]

While some medications can make fish sterile, those 2 meds do not have anything that could sterilize fish so it's very doubtful the shrimp are sterile however, Metroplex is known to be stressful to plants and invertebrates so that may be why they are off their breeding cycle. The fact that they were moved could also be why they have stopped breeding. You will need to let them recover by keeping their water clean and giving them a good diet. If they were breeding well in the water from the other person, you might want to try and duplicate those water parameters.

 

[Autumnsky]

Additionally, it does often take a while for the new tank to form biofilm, and tiny things for them to feast on during the days of constant picking at surfaces for foods. It's often that it takes months for those to develop and breeding to start.

And if the Neocaridina red cherry shrimp were with other colors of Neos, they will cross breed and end up with mixed colors. Say blue orange, yellow, green shrimp pals with a red. Some stores keep them together and succesive offspring may be diluted coloration, often being clear, tan, greyish to pale blue and varying pinks.

 

[Autumnsky]

How are the shrimp doing?

 

[FreshWater1]

How are the shrimp doing?

Doing good

Turns out they weren't sterile I had three older females. After letting them sit and mature the tank I picked up 8 or 12 more from my LFS and now they are going like crazy. Also had no clue that red cherries need to be "culled" to get them more and more red and that the males are spotty red.

Getting another 5.5 gallon setup to start the up"culling" process

Kind of obsessed with water lettuce on a side note after letting it grow from a tiny bud into whatever its done to my tank. I didn't take that picture well enough I guess you can't see any of the tiny flowers... taking another lol

Hair algae is the bane of my existence as my reds won't touch it but I refuse to put amanos anywhere near the reds.