# Why aren't my cherry shrimp breeding?



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

It couldn't hurt to add more cherries, but it may not be necessary. So, you've had them for almost 6 months? They would definitely be of breeding age. What are your water parameters?

Here's a crappy pic of what they look like. The eggs tend to be green or yellow


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## crisrisl (Jan 16, 2007)

Not the best picture, but you can see she's nice and big with eggs, that whitish/orange in her stomach. In person, you should be able to see more definition of the eggs.

Here's a silly question...do you have both males and females? It seems odd that you wouldn't have any breeding after 6 months. My only other thought, without knowing information about water parameters, is that perhaps they do get "berried" and then hide, so you don't see. If there are fish, they might eat the young shrimp...

Have you seen any saddled shrimp, like this?


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 13, 2007)

Thanks for the responses ... my water parameters are:

pH: 6.6-6.8
GH: 80-100ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm (I have to add Nitrate for the plants weekly)
Temp: 76-78 F

I definately have fish that can and would eat the babies, although I would think a few would survive if they are actually breeding since there are some very heavily planted sections. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any of my shrimp looking like the pictures above.

Thanks,
Harry


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## doubleatraining (Feb 15, 2008)

I know it might sound silly but are you SURE you have at least 1 pair? 8 is a small number and there is a slight chance that you have all females or all males.

My RCS babies are VERY VERY shy. They don't start coming out of hiding until they are almost 1/2 the size of the adults. You might have some in hiding.


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## TAF CAF (Jan 12, 2006)

Don't know if this is the case with everyone, but I have no luck breading them at that low of a PH. Mine breed like crazy in the 7.2 to 7.6 range.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 13, 2007)

I might get some more just to make sure I have at least one pair ... as for the pH, I wonder if that's the problem ... has anyone else ever bread them at lower pH levels of 6.5 to 7.0?

Thanks,
Harry


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## efish (Apr 23, 2006)

what's your filter? maybe they are getting sucked up your filter. if it's a 55G you could def have a lot more than 16 shrimp. So you might as well add a few more.


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## n00dl3 (Jan 26, 2008)

What kind of fish are in your tank with your shrimp?


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## TAF CAF (Jan 12, 2006)

If your fish can take higher ph, you can add baking soda to raise the PH/Kh a little and see if they get going.

I mix a couple teaspoons into a cup of water and then slowly add the mix over a couple days.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 13, 2007)

Here's a list of my fish:

3 Siamese Algae Eaters
4 Panda Cory Cats
6 Otto Cats
3 Male Endlers
2 Female Platys
9 Cardinal Tetras
2 Apisto cichlids
Plus a couple of German Rams to be added soon.

No one is harrassing the shrimp (although I did have a pair of apistos that was harrasing the cherrys, however, I rehoused them). Technically I probably could raise the pH, however, I wouldn't wanna risk it just to get the cherrys to breed. It would probably make more sense to move them to another tank and modify the pH there ... however I'm not sure if that's worth the work unless I'm gonna start selling them or something. All of this is assuming that the pH is the culprit.

As for my filter it's a Rena Filstar XP2.

Thanks,
Harry


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I would suspect all those fish over the pH. I think a few ppl already mentioned in another thread of yours- don't expect many if any shrimp to survive if you add any cichlids.

Only way to be sure you RCS are breeding safely is a species tank- IMO there's not a fish alive that won't eat them. Perhaps oto cats, but I wouldn't make that bet, personally. Especially shrimplets.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I'm pretty sure the fish you have in there could eat adults.


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## IceH2O (Sep 29, 2006)

I believe its the fish also.

All my tanks pH is in the 6.5 range (no CO2 injection) and I have baby shrimps everywhere.


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## efish (Apr 23, 2006)

i made the mistake of getting some tigers a while back. Turned into a $35 snack for my German Blue Ram... If you want Rams, then don't sweat your shrimp breeding, cuz the adults will be gone before they have a chances to _get it on_


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 13, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback. I've been keeping a close eye over the months on how the fish are interacting with the shrimp, and the adults are being left alone. I have had to rehouse certain fish that did start picking on the cherries, however, the list above is what's in there now and I haven't noticed any aggression towards the shrimp. As for the shrimp babies that's probably a whole different story.

Thanks,
Harry


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## bullitt (Feb 21, 2008)

crisrisl.what do you mean in tthe 2nd pic?i have several cherry's that look like that.


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## Sandman333 (Dec 8, 2007)

That second picture is of a "saddled" shrimp, or a female that is ready to breed. She has recently molted and the eggs are awaiting fertilization. When they are fertilized they will move down to the swimmerets.


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## bullitt (Feb 21, 2008)

thanks


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Otos are shrimp safe, and most tetras are adult shrimp safe. I keep some RCS with adult diamond tetras, and the population still increases. However, apistos and rams will pick off adult shrimp. Larger SAE's will too.


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