# Cherry Shrimp saddled but not berried.



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

I bought 6 shrimp and 4 of them have been saddled for about 3 weeks now and none berried. Any ideas why? Im pretty sure the other two are males. Also, how big does the saddle get before the female becomes berried? Im pretty new to this.

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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Wait another week or so.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Would filtered water from the store have anything to do with it? Its not the softest but not hard either. 5degrees gh and kh. Run slightly below 7pH but pH usually evens out at 7.

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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

nickdu said:


> Would filtered water from the store have anything to do with it? Its not the softest but not hard either. 5degrees gh and kh. Run slightly below 7pH but pH usually evens out at 7.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


I don't think so - in my experience, RCS will breed in almost anything!


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## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

Time is the key. Once your shrimp are settled in a happy breeding wont be an issue.


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## water-kitties (Mar 19, 2013)

Sometimes it just takes a while for shrimp to settle or molt. I think some people feel shrimp berry less during the winter months. Be sure you have a male too and not young females with no saddles, some places will only sell female shrimp because they are better looking.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

My males are just as big in size as my females. I have seen about 3 molted shells now but still waiting on berried female. So it is possible for them to breed in softer acidic waters? Can anyone confirm?

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## 52149 (Feb 26, 2012)

Well the saddle shrimp are in a stage of developing the eggs. In order for them to drop the eggs and be berried they got to molt. 

What's your parameters? 
Tds? 
Temp? 
RO filter water? 
Tap water? 
Gh? Kh? 

My main focus would be temp. 76-78 degrees then I would focus on my Tds and using RO water and replenishing the minerals. Feed them a hardy diet to I alternate my foods every week I switch from a strict veggie diet to protein diet I go back and forth from those 2 diets. I seems to work for me. About 2 weeks after I get my shrimp into a established tank they berry up. Pretty nice. My carbon Rilis just hatched her first batch and is already berried with a second batch.


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## 52149 (Feb 26, 2012)

nickdu said:


> Would filtered water from the store have anything to do with it? Its not the softest but not hard either. 5degrees gh and kh. Run slightly below 7pH but pH usually evens out at 7.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk



5 is pretty okay for those guys. I have a 6-8 gh in mines ph 6.8 Tds 174 I always bred in all kinds of waters. I find a stable temp is the best for these guys. Higher temp seems to stress them out. They go into hiding cause shady tank areas. Are cool. But still warm. You might want to check for a parasites. Maybe throw in some micro bacteria.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

daboss808 said:


> 5 is pretty okay for those guys. I have a 6-8 gh in mines ph 6.8 Tds 174 I always bred in all kinds of waters. I find a stable temp is the best for these guys. Higher temp seems to stress them out. They go into hiding cause shady tank areas. Are cool. But still warm. You might want to check for a parasites. Maybe throw in some micro bacteria.


My temp is just above or about 75. And yes, u saw my quote on water parameters. I use ro drinking water from the store. No idea / dont have anything to measure tds with but I would imagine its average. There is a ton of moss in the tank, and they also feed on left over white worms from a few cardinal tetra also in tank.

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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

RO needs to be remineralized as all values are 0. Your shrimp won't be able to molt or live in 0 GH KH and TDS


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

ravensgate said:


> RO needs to be remineralized as all values are 0. Your shrimp won't be able to molt or live in 0 GH KH and TDS


What minerals would I need to add?

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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Use a remineralizer. Lots of products out. Many use Salty Shrimp remineralizer.


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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

There are a ton of different options out there. 2 of the more popular ones readily available in the US are:
Shirakura Liquid Mineral CA+
SaltyShrimp Bee Shrimp GH+


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

How do they affect pH and hardness?

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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

Shirakura Liquid Mineral Ca+ adds vital minerals to the aquarium water and raises its overall hardness (dGH). Especially when using very soft water, a lack of minerals is well-known to occur quite quickly and Shrimps might suffer from loss of colour and skinning problems. The important microorganisms in the filter and in the substrate become inactive and the water quality decreases. A water hardness (KH) of 0-2 is recommended for breeding bee shrimps, as is a pH-value of less than 7 in order to avoid the formation of ammoniac. However, achieving these values, the overall hardness (dGH) often gets too low. In this case it is recommended to harden the water with Liquid Mineral Ca+ in order to avoid the death of the shrimps. The water hardness (KH) is not influenced by this. Mr. Shirakura furthermore recommends maintaining an overall hardness (dGH) of 5 or more for a healthy and strong skin. 1 drop of Liquid Mineral Ca+ to 1 liter water raises the general hardness (GH) by about 1° dGh.

Bee-Shrimp Mineral GH+ has especially been developed for the keeping and breeding of bee shrimp, bumblebee shrimp and tiger shrimp in an aquarium, to mineralise RO water, rainwater, fully desalinated water etc. It raises the total hardness (°dH) without significantly influencing the carbonate hardness (KH). This is especially important for shrimp originating from softwater habitats (ratio of KH/°dH: 0.06/1.0).
Bee-Shrimp Mineral GH+ contains all the important minerals and trace elements your shrimp need for their well-being, an intensive colouration, successful breeding and healthy growth. It also furthers plant growth and the microbial regeneration of biological filter substrates. The danger of noxious bacteria is reduced, as these salts especially further the growth of antagonistic (beneficial) microflora.
Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+ does not influence the pH directly.
For keeping and breeding bee shrimp, aim for a pH of under 7. As soon as biological biodegradation processes start in your tank this may happen all by itself. However, if the pH remains higher, the low carbonate hardness (KH) enables you to influence the pH very easily, e.g. by the use of black alder cones or peat (both containing fulvic acids), or with pH-reducing additives.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

So several weeks went by it seems. An update... still no berried females. I moved all shrimp to a larger 30 gallon tank and i added half tap water to it. It has sand on bottom with a driftwood /algae and a lot of java moss. I'm just waiting to see something happen. I also got some more from the store. I should have about 9 shrimps now so i think my odds are pretty good. Hoping they are settled in new tank.


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## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

im pretty sure your parameters are fine. its just a matter of time.


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## ctaylor3737 (Nov 14, 2013)

Moving to a new tank,likely delayed the process. Shrimp like to be left alone, that is why we don't do large water changes and let the tank keeps itself in check for the most part. Look into the minerals know your tds meters are 10$ on Amazon. Best advice,would be get parameters straight,and let then be! Hard I know we were all the same way, I still catch myself doing it,to haha.

-Chris


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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

Are you sure you have males? Moving 9 shrimp to a 30 gallon tank also just made it a lot harder for the males to find the females. Just because your shrimp are saddled doesn't mean they are going to be berried. They have to saddle, molt, breed with a fertile and sexually mature male, then they will berry. Sometimes they will drop their eggs. But I have had plenty of females saddled that don't get caught (hide too well) and don't berry. Shrimp sex isn't kind, the female tries her darndest to NOT get caught by a male. So, saddling is just a first step in the cycle.


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## Art by Stef* (Jan 27, 2013)

Yet the same shameless hussy has to get to the highest point of the tank, advertise her stuff like a drama queen, and then split. Go figure.
Shrimp amaze me.

-Stef*


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## lemonnoodle (Apr 1, 2013)

Just wait a few weeks.


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## teqvet (Feb 6, 2014)

greenteam said:


> Time is the key. Once your shrimp are settled in a happy breeding wont be an issue.


This. Lyric had hers in for barely a week and had 2 berried shrimp. last count I had there were 7 saddled females + the 2 berried ones, out of an order of 26 blue pearls.

Keep everything consistent for them and they'll return the favor


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## ctaylor3737 (Nov 14, 2013)

teqvet said:


> This. Lyric had hers in for barely a week and had 2 berried shrimp. last count I had there were 7 saddled females + the 2 berried ones, out of an order of 26 blue pearls.
> 
> Keep everything consistent for them and they'll return the favor


He only,had 6 though so worse chance to have couple's.

-Chris


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Here is the setup. I dont think it will be that hard for the male to find the female. Also, I just spotted a molted skin/shell.

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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Still no berried. Is there anything i can use to mineralize the water that i can get from lfs instead of ordering stuff online? (I am using tap water and dont know if it needs to be) I do get molts but no berried as of yet.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

So I found out all my shrimp turned out to be females. I traded plants for more shrimp from someone on craigslist who was nice enough to get me some males. I think I have berried females now... I have a quick question: will the filter in the picture puree the babies if I put a fine panty hose material over it. Are they in danger at all like that or should I put a sponge filter in instead?









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## klumas (Apr 15, 2014)

Lol sponge it up or you will get babies in the filter. Mine get in my internal filters with sponge covers, and my hob filter and breeding box. They are so small they go where they want. But i have one filter not even covered  my babies better learn to stay away. when you see cherries have 20+ babies every few weeks you worry a little less about the tiny guys, they take care of themselves in my tank. I have so many fish they have to get to a cm before they are safe, i have so many nanofish, but they do fine. My population is now growing exponentially i feel. 
It's funny i read your first post and like the other guy knew right away all females. People need to realize lfs sell females, just females because they are the pretty ones. Now there may be pretty males but they don't carry them at lfs I've seen. Just females only females at lfs .


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## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

I personally would drop that filter and get a good size sponge filter. It's cheap, safe, and provides a good surface area for shrimp to graze for food. 

If you do get a sponge filter run both filters for a few weeks until the sponge can build up a good bacteria colony.


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## HUNTER (Sep 4, 2012)

If your water is 5 gh/kh, there's no need to mineralize it. You only need to do that if you start with zero values. Once they start breeding, you can only wish they stop.


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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Ok im on it with the air sponge filter. Question, can adult amano survive in 30-35ppt salt water?

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## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

The end result is that I didnt have any male shrimp so I traded with someone and here are the results... 








Thats them eating algae in its purest form. Scraped from different tank. They love this stuff.









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