Red Cherry Shrimp Not Breeding

[bluesword23516]

I have five red cherry shrimp, two males and three females. I have had these guys for 2-3 months. I have never seen a female carry any eggs. I see them all the time, so I am not sure whats up.
 
Any suggestions? 

 

[Xzavier247]

Take a picture. Do they have saddles yet? They need to be mature first.
What are you water parameters, diet?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sometimes it takes a while for RCS to saddle and carry eggs, they need to feel comfortable in your tank and tank has to be settled with good steady parameters.
 
Things simply like having large or shrimp predatory fish or no plants or hiding places in their tank makes them uncomfortable and therefore they won't carry or drop eggs all the time if spooked or scared.
 
What size of tank do you have and how long has tank been running?

 

[Wildbetta]

Do you have any fish in with your cherry shrimp?  Most cherry shrimp will stop breeding if they are in a tank with a predatory fish even if the fish is not technically "big" enough to eat the adult shrimp.
 
I had a thriving colony that would have multiple berried females and the others saddled all the time.  I then had to move two of my small juvie wild bettas into the tank (the betta juvies were smaller than an adult cherry shrimp) and the shrimp while still very active and healthy are not spawning at the moment.  The only difference is the addition of the betta juvies.  I have had the same thing happen when I kept cherry shrimp and scarlet badis (dario dario) together.  The shrimp while healthy and otherwise doing great, did not spawn until I removed the scarlet badis from their tank.

 

[bluesword23516]

Take a picture. Do they have saddles yet? They need to be mature first.
What are you water parameters, diet?

One female definitely has a saddle, she is very large, and another female look as though hers is just developing. The other female is much smaller and I don't expect her to breed soon. 
The tank is fully cycled, no ammonia, no nitrites, and 40 nitrates.  They have live plants, leftover fish food, and frog pellets (I have checked to make sure they are safe for them and they are) 
 

Sometimes it takes a while for RCS to saddle and carry eggs, they need to feel comfortable in your tank and tank has to be settled with good steady parameters.
 
Things simply like having large or shrimp predatory fish or no plants or hiding places in their tank makes them uncomfortable and therefore they won't carry or drop eggs all the time if spooked or scared.
 
What size of tank do you have and how long has tank been running?

 
I have had the tank for almost a year and a half, they are housed with guppies and neons. They also have live plants and decorations to hide in, but they can usually been seen roaming about not on a plant so I don't think they are spooked. The tank is 38 USGal

Do you have any fish in with your cherry shrimp?  Most cherry shrimp will stop breeding if they are in a tank with a predatory fish even if the fish is not technically "big" enough to eat the adult shrimp.
 
I had a thriving colony that would have multiple berried females and the others saddled all the time.  I then had to move two of my small juvie wild bettas into the tank (the betta juvies were smaller than an adult cherry shrimp) and the shrimp while still very active and healthy are not spawning at the moment.  The only difference is the addition of the betta juvies.  I have had the same thing happen when I kept cherry shrimp and scarlet badis (dario dario) together.  The shrimp while healthy and otherwise doing great, did not spawn until I removed the scarlet badis from their tank.

Are guppies seen as a predator? How about neons? 

 

[Mamashack]

The nitrates level of 40 may be a little too high. I have white pearls - a variation of cherry shrimp - and was advised to keep the nitrates under 10 ppm. It means doing twice weekly water changes for me but it's definitely worth it!
I was also advised that they breed more successfully in a shrimp-only tank for the reasons mentioned by previous posters.

 

[Wildbetta]

Yes guppies and neons would be considered predatory to the shrimp.  

 

[bluesword23516]

Well it turns out my female has eggs in her saddle now! I saw something yesterday evening when she was a paler color from sleeping. And today she has yellow spots in the saddle. So i am assuming those are her eggs from what I have researched. 
 
Doesn't it take about a week for her to move them onto her underside? When will they hatch?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yellow spots in shrimp abdomen are sign of eggs, usually either yellow or green.
 
Usually 4 to 6 weeks from eggs to hatching.
 
Some more info here that might help you
 
http/www.planetinverts.com/Red%20Cherry%20Shrimp.html

 

[bluesword23516]

Thanks! 

 

[l_l_l]

I have a lot of tanks with shrimp in it.
Only my fry tanks have berried shrimp in them.
I was able to breed shrimp with a small shoal of neons (6) in a 20 g but as soon as I added Peacock Gudgeons in there, they stopped.
 
Now, I can only count of my fry tank to produce more and more shrimp.

 

[bluesword23516]

I think I only had one male, and he is dead. The one I have left was one I thought to be a male, but about a week ago he has gained some brownish red and appears to have a saddle. So I think why they didn't breed was that they didn't have a mate.