# My cherry shrimp won't breed...



## Franco

I have a small group of RCS in a heavily planted NPT and they won't breed! I know there are both males and females but they just ignore each other. The females are getting big (over an inch) and I want them to breed before they die of old age.
My water is really hard with a stable pH of 7.6-7.8
I read on plantedtank.net that people said they keep their shrimp much in much softer and more neutral water. Is this my problem? I figured shrimp would like a lot of minerals.
Advice?
Thanks


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## davemonkey

I've kept RCS in 2 different NPT's and they bred like crazy (still going strong in 1 of the tanks). My water is fairly hard with pH 7.9 or more.

How long have they been in this set-up? Also, are you sure they aren't breeding? In a heavily planted tank the berried females can hide very well. I never see any berried females in my pico-NPT, but I see new shrimp all the time and regularly take out several dozen shrimp. It probably took a good 2-3 months before I started noticing the population explosion though.


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## neilshieh

agreed... it takes about a month or two... at first my yellow shrimp just ignored each other but now i see a whole bunch of berried females wandering around. they get very used to the tank after a while so you'll definently see them wandering, at first they just hid.


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## JohnPaul

CRS need soft water, RCS should be fine at the pH's you listed.

It could be they just need more time. I would also encourage you to keep the water crystal clean, and at a temp somewhere in the 72-75 degree range. When they get really hot, or really cold, breeding is drastically slowed down or even stops.


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## Franco

They have been in the tank 7-8 weeks. I'm certain there aren't any berried females but they have been swimming around less and hiding more so maybe they are getting ready to clutch.
I use a fluval heater rated for the Edge (6.6 gal) so it keeps the tank at about 7-76 depending on how long the lights have been on and what temp thouse thermostat is set at.
Ammo=0 Nitrites=0 Nitrates= 5-10ppm depending on the last time I dosed potassium nitrate.

I've heard they will munch on dead leaves and I have some dried oak leaves leftover from making blackwater extract so I wonder if that would help condition them.

I don't intentionally feed them anything, they just pick at algae all day and eat whatever flake food is left over that the neons didn't get. I know I know but the neons don't pester the shrimp at all and hide most of the time. They are the wimpiest neons ever. I won't be replacing them as they die.


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## msnikkistar

I am on TPT more often then here, but felt I should give some input.

Shrimp are my forte, with that being said, RCS are like the roaches of the shrimp world. They can live in just about any water, and survive even the worse of ammonia/nitrate spikes. 

Now, you have to remember that although RCS breed like rabbits usually, it is also the down season for breeding usually. So breeding will slow, and then pick up again in Spring/Summer, at the peak of breeding season. However, you should be seeing some sort of breeding, and like you said, may not be noticing it because they are hiding. 

Protein is key to breeding. I feed all my shrimp a high protein diet of blood worm every 2 weeks. The protein will help with egg production and all that jazz.

Last but not least, have patience. It can sometimes take shrimp 2-3 months to get re-accustomed to a tank and start to breed.


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## potatoes

Maybe they arnt established as other said, or the neons are placid because they are full of baby shrimp. It is heavily planted though, so i would imagine a few would make it.


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## Franco

When I try to feed them anything, they don't really seem interested. They like algae alright.
I know that none of them have been berried in the time I have had them. There are only 3 females and I make sure to find them all everyday when I come home from work and have never seen eggs. It is probably just taking them a while to get adjusted. These 3 females are really gorgeous. They are a solid, deep red (so red its hard to make out the saddles unless they are backlit) but they are getting big so I don't want them dying before they pass on their genes. The males have quite a bit of color, too so that should help keep the offspring really red. And yes I know they are males not just less colorful fems. They are clear with red speckles all over and the tails are narrower proportionally to the females and don't have saddles.

It doesn't seem like animals in climate controlled tanks inside should have breeding seasons but when I bred apple and mystery snails, they always took the winter off, too. As soon as the snow melted, they would start sticking clutches above the water line and stop as soon as the leaves turned in the fall.


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## tex627

shrimp don't eat much. don't over feed. if you see food laying around after half an hour you're over feeding. just give it some time. they'l figure it out. IME, water changes help too. check out my blog at theshrimpjournal.com. it might be able to help you. =)


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## mfgann

FYI, my RCS love Hikari's Crab Cuisine. It also has calcium if I remember right, so may be a good supplement.

Also I've heard a lot of stories about neons and guppies being very aggressive shrimplet eaters. If nothing else the shrimp mothers may drop the eggs if the neons are seen as predators.


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## Franco

I don't think the shrimp are scared of the neons because they swim around in the open all the time while the neons hide among the plants. These are seriously the most boring neons I have ever had.


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## James He

If you want to breed shrimp.
Do a shrimp only tank.

Keep wate clean with regular WC.

Try "Hikari Crab Cuisine", it works great for me.

I used to keep shrimp in the water with PH 8.0, it doesn't bother them. now I use RO water, I didn't see any difference.

James


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## neilshieh

its different for different shrimp and fish... my pygmy cories love to school and look through my substrate and my shrimp have no fear and are always out an about. i have my plants arranged in a n-shape. so all the plants are around in the back and the sides and the middle "plaza" is carpeted. everybody is happy and many of the yellow shrimp babies have grown up into adults. btw. i don't feed any special foods and their colors are still very solid (try adding driftwood... shrimps and fish love their water a bit brownish from the tannins) to think about it, i almost never feed my 20 gal with all the shrimp and fish... there's enough random vegetation "salad" for them to eat.


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## Franco

The tank has driftwood but I did a very good job of prepping it. Havent had any water coloration in the 2 months the wood has been in there. I can't really do a shrimp only tank because the wife likes fish and not shrimp (too buggy for her).


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