# Why won't my CRS breed?



## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

CRS prefer a lower pH than you have. Your GH is also on the high side.

Since you have RO water, try using more of it and less tap water.


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## Adrand (Feb 13, 2012)

randym said:


> CRS prefer a lower pH than you have. Your GH is also on the high side.
> 
> Since you have RO water, try using more of it and less tap water.


I 2nd everything said here. PH needs to be closer to 6. I have heard of cases of people getting them to breed in higher ph but it is not the norm.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Agree with the above responses. Caridinas like softer, acidic water.
http://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/17030569-shrimp-water-parameters

Once you do lower the parameters though to Caridina preferences, I can't say for sure how well the RCS will do (they are commonly kept with Caridinas and still live and breed, albeit a little slower than if they were in Neocaridina water preferences -harder, alkaline water-)

Your Amazonia substrate is an active substrate, meaning it buffers the water and keeps in more acidic, which is what you want for keeping Caridinas.
How old is the substrate and what's your water change schedule like (maybe it's effects have worn off)?
Or the substrate is still good, but your tap water just has an extremely hard and alkaline.
Either way, using more % RO water will bring things down a bit. Or do 100% RO water and remineralize.

I haven't kept shrimp in co2 injected tanks, so not sure if the the pH being lowered from co2 injection counts as the same as having the pH remain stable at a low pH. I am sure fluctuating pH/co2 levels in tanks aren't that ideal for the best breeding results (shrimp, especially Caridinas, are sensitive to changes, and doesn't really take much stressors to have them not do well or stop/not breed). It's still possible to breed them in co2 injected tanks, just not as great results as in non-co2 injected tanks.



Is that Blyxa japonica you managed to get red? Nice! Must have high lighting. By the way, why's the water pretty hazy?


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

Excellent advice, I've tried to research this and have read so many different and opposing views. The advice I get on here is always great. I am not concerned with the cherries in this tank. I have another cherry tank with 80+ in it. Actually, would it be best to pull the cherries and make it strictly a CRS tank?

The amazonia was used when I bought it ($10 for 5 gallon bucket) supposedly for 9 months and I've had it in my tank about a year. I will admit that I haven't kept to a regular water change schedule but it usually happens 3-4 weeks and about 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume. 
The CO2 doesn't fluctuate often, it remains steady for weeks until I have to do some work on a tank. The 20lb tank has emptied and thanks to my dual stage regulator, it didn't dump into the tank and kill anything. I have accidentally killed off 100 3 month old GBR fry and it is absolutely disheartening. Dual stages are the only way to go.

I forgot to mention the lighting, the tank is part of a rack, two shelves of two 10 gallons sit next to each other. Each set has a 36" Sat freshwater LED+. Since two ten gallons total length is 40", the light only covers the middle 17-18" of each tank. The only other time that the light gets bumped up is after a hard trim. Then I throw a little Finnex Ray 2 over the tank for a few days to give it a kick start. So really, it's not that high of light... maybe 30-35PAR at the substrate? The red came from leaving the lights on over night. I've since put them on a timer and they are mostly green again. The Blyxa under the light is still somewhat red though. I attribute all of the success with the Blyxa and HC to the aqua soil though. Blyxa refuses to grow in any other tank I have.

The haze in the water was because that picture was after a hard trim. I tried to pull as much moss out as possible and it disturbed the tank a bit. Bad timing for a picture. It is normally crystal clear. Just took a picture to show it when it's clear and shortly after, I did a 20% water change with strictly RO water. I will post any changes in the water parameters tomorrow when the tank settles.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Thanks for the details. People that usually keep Neos with Caridinas, do so because of lack of space/extra tanks. But since you already have a separate tank with cherries, they would do better in a separate tank that has more of their water preference (harder water). But since it seems you want to breed the shrimp, you could just have the nicest red cherries in their own tank and just house the culls/low grade cherries in the Caridina tank (they should still survive, just not breed as much), that way your main cherry tank will retain their solid red coloration (selective breeding, only breeding the nicest reds). But you could do either way, CRS only and RCS only, just the downside would be the lower grade RCS remaining with the higher grades and breeding together, "diluting" the red coloration with each generation, eventually resulting in practically all wild/clear shrimp.

In regards to that substrate, it's hard to say how long it would remain effective. The more water changes done, the faster the acidic buffering properties get removed/depleted. Being used, it's hard to know how much % and how often the water changes were done. I don't know the expected "life expectancy" of that substrate exactly, but I have heard of others changing it out every 6 months or yearly. But I think that is a bit too soon and should last longer, those were done by people who believe changing it out that often resulted in better breeding results. You could ask on The Shrimp Spot forum to see what they think, as that is a common substrate used. But it would seem, that if the substrate still is "active", then you could test so by testing tap water, put some of the substrate in a separate container with tap water and see if the water gets more acidic (not sure exactly how long it takes to lower the pH).


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

What do shrimp keepers typically buffer the water with? I have GH booster but haven't really had to use it since my GH is usually where I want it. Would it be worth buying some sort of mineral rock for shrimp? I rarely ever see my crystals molt any of their exoskeleton which makes me wonder if they're getting enough calcium and other minerals.


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## Mango (Dec 12, 2015)

Tvadna said:


> What do shrimp keepers typically buffer the water with? I have GH booster but haven't really had to use it since my GH is usually where I want it. Would it be worth buying some sort of mineral rock for shrimp? I rarely ever see my crystals molt any of their exoskeleton which makes me wonder if they're getting enough calcium and other minerals.


Buffering substrate like ADA AS, ControSoil, etc.


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

If your Crystal Reds breed, can you share what you are feeding them and the frequency/schedule?

I recently purchased Meticulous Snowflake grain by Zebulon from a fellow TPT member. It comes in larger pellets that are tough to break up to the size my shrimp can eat in a sitting. My shrimp seem to swarm it, but they swarm any food I put in the tank. Lately, I've even seen a new behavior at feeding time from them. Instead of slowing wandering towards the food, a few shrimp have actually jumped or darted toward it the moment they see it drop near them. The dart toward the food is 2-3 body lengths and they go right after it.

Here is a photo of the food.









Bump: I'm wondering if some of my Crystals are berried or not. It seems like it is ten times more difficult to see if they are berried compared to cherry shrimp. Also, Is it possible to identify males/females from these photos. Would appreciate some input.


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## Salvanost (Mar 30, 2014)

all pic males


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

I watched the seller of these shrimp net them when I bought them and it did not appear he was checking for sex. He would scoop and bag fairly quickly so unless he had already pulled all of the females from the tank, I should have some males. I have 14 (possibly 15) crystal shrimp left and if you do the math, I have a 99.9993% chance of having at least one female. 

Last night I am fairly sure that I observed my first berried female. I tried to take a picture of her to post here for confirmation. I apologize for the picture quality. I was rearranging the tank when I noticed her.










I have one more possible candidate as well. The angle was tough to see if she was carrying so I figured I would let someone with more experience let me know.


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## miataisalwaystheanswer (Jun 12, 2015)

Congrats on that berried female! Did you do anything different or was time just a factor? Hopefully the eggs hatch and the babies survive in that PH. Iirc there is a company that makes a product to lower PH in tanks where thr substrate loses its buffering capabilities.Or you can try sera super peat, you'll just have to do a lot of testing to see how much you need to lower the ph where yoy need it and how often you need to replace it.


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

I started feeding them the Zebulon snowflake a week ago and then fed them blanched spinach and zucchini and within a few days there were eggs. Because of the short time between the new foods, it may have been time that was the big factor but I'm going to continue the spinach diet every few days. The swarm on the spinach was amazing. The cherry shrimp seem to enjoy it a bit more then the crystals but they both devour it.


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