My shrimp won't breed?

[llvalll]

Hi guys,
I've got myself an 8.5-gallon tank with a colony of neo Cardinal shrimps (around 20 to 30 smth)a few months ago. The tank has already cycled for months and it is very heavily planted. I do 30- 50% of water changes with OR water every week. But for some reason, my shrimps are not even berried once!

I've checked the water parameters every 3 days, the overall is stable and within the optimum range (according to the Internet). I have no idea why they just won't bother to breed;-;. I usually feed them with shrimp pellets every 2-3 days.

My tank water parameters:
- Temperature: usually around 25- 27°C.
- pH: 7.2
- NH3: 0
- NO2: 0
- NO3: 0
- KH: 2
- GH: 7
TDS: 204

Please let me know if there is any problem(s), and thank you ao much for reading this!

 

[Essjay]

The obvious first question is - do you have any females? Though with that number it will be tricky to check them all.

 

[llvalll]

Hi essjay, thanks for replying!

Yes, there are some females- with the curve bellies and saddles- but they are lesser than males, 1:3 in estimation. I find it almost impossible not to have at least a female with that amount of number haha.

 

[Essjay]

I'm a loss to know what to suggest. My neocaridinas (red cherry) breed readily. But I feed them every day with Hikari shrimp cuisine. Perhaps yours need feeding more often?

 

[mbsqw1d]

I've heard they regulate their population according to tank size and food availabilty, might it be that they are already at their 'limit'? I'm not sure. I have a 52 gallon, and prior to the barbs decimating them (barbs sinced moved on), they were breeding but I wouldn't say that there were more than 50 at any one time..

 

[eatyourpeas]

I find that interesting @mbsqw1d since I started with 7 in a 5 gal., they exploded to about 50 and are now pretty much parked at that number. Maybe they do self-regulate after all...

 

[llvalll]

@eatyourpeas @mbsqw1d thanks for replying! Yeah, I think that could be one of the possible reasons... And I will try to give it a go with @essjay 's suggestion and see how it goes- I've read somewhere in other forums that someone gave Hikari cuisine to the shrimps and they start to breed.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

If they have low food supply they will not breed. Is the tank heated? What do you feed them?

How many males/females do you have? Makes are smaller and more transparent, while females are much bigger and a lot more red. (My sig. picture is a male cherry shrimp.)

 

[llvalll]

If they have a low food supply they will not breed. Is the tank heated? What do you feed them?

How many males/females do you have? Makes are smaller and more transparent, while females are much bigger and a lot more red. (My sig. picture is a male cherry shrimp.)

Thank you for your reply! I'm not sure if I'm not supplying enough food for them; I feed NBL Novo prawn shrimp pellets once in 2 to 3 days as I'm worried I might overfeed them (considering the algae and bacteria for them to eat).

Not sure if it's a necessity to have a heater in Southeast Asia countries- but to answer your question: Yes, I still do have a heater in the shrimp tank as suggested by the research I have found.

For the sex of the shrimps, there are males and females, but the females are lesser than males; in appox. 3:1 (male: female)? Not sure if I have to increase the number of females though...

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Thank you for your reply! I'm not sure if I'm not supplying enough food for them; I feed NBL Novo prawn shrimp pellets once in 2 to 3 days as I'm worried I might overfeed them (considering the algae and bacteria for them to eat).

Not sure if it's a necessity to have a heater in Southeast Asia countries- but to answer your question: Yes, I still do have a heater in the shrimp tank as suggested by the research I have found.

For the sex of the shrimps, there are males and females, but the females are lesser than males; in appox. 3:1 (male: female)? Not sure if I have to increase the number of females though...

In my tank there are more males than females, so I don’t see that as the issue...

I think it’s because you aren’t feeding them enough. So you said you feed them 2-3 a week?

 

[llvalll]

Yeah, that could be the reason. You're right, I will try to feed them more and see how it goes

 

[Colin_T]

I've checked the water parameters every 3 days, the overall is stable and within the optimum range (according to the Internet). I have no idea why they just won't bother to breed;-;. I usually feed them with shrimp pellets every 2-3 days.

That is why they aren't breeding.

For animals to breed, they need a safe environment, stable temperature, clean water and lots of food. When breeding fish or shrimp you need to feed them 3-5 times per day. You also need to do more regular water changes to compensate for the extra food.

Animals (including fish and shrimp), won't breed if they are hungry. It is built into every living creature's genetic makeup. If conditions are not favorable (lack of food), they won't bring offspring into the world because it is not safe for the young and the adults won't think about breeding if they are starving.

Shrimp have very high metabolisms and need a wide range of different foods. Bottom feeding pellets are fine and you can also feed them frozen brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia, bits of dead fish. Basically anything fish eat, shrimp will eat. However, do not feed shrimp with fresh or frozen shrimp because they can catch diseases from it. If you want to feed frozen shrimp to your shrimp, boil the food first and then feed it to them.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yeah, that could be the reason. You're right, I will try to feed them more and see how it goes

Sounds good. Try every day but don’t over feed.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I had shrimp many years ago; I had rec cherry shrimp and bumblebee shrimp. Despite the red cherry shrimp being 'easier' I never managed to get them to breed; the bumble bee shrimp had no problems (that was until my heater went rogue and killed most of my tank inhabitants overnight - the water smelled metallic). I've not had shrimp since unfortunately

 

[ITViking]

Yes, there are some females- with the curve bellies and saddles- but they are lesser than males, 1:3 in estimation. I find it almost impossible not to have at least a female with that amount of number haha.

I'm having the opposite issue. Females all over the place and can't find a male... because the females are the nicer shrimp I tend to think the LFS ends up with mostly females. Part of me wonders if it isn't that the local breeder wants to limit the # of breeding pairs they supply. I'm holding out for a male of the same color as I've heard cross breeding colors takes all the color out of the population pretty readily. I don't know if that's true or not.