Why no babies yet?

[Hailey]

I have had my 5 cherry shrimp in thier own 5.5 gallon tank now for I think over a month and a half now, and no babies, or eggs, yet. I did have 8, but a couple died when they got sucked up the filter in the big tank, most survived in there though.

Im pretty sure I have 2 females and 3 males, but sometimes, they seem to change a bit and I cant tell. I've been looking on the reddest ones for the eggs to appear under the tail, but havent seen it yet.

I keep the tank clean of course, and do weekly water changes, I can tell they love the new water in the tank. I have lots of hiding places in there, plants, and a heater. I keep the temp around 78.

I feed them every 3 to 4 days small pieces of a sinking pellet. There is algae in there for them, and I will hopefully be getting some java moss soon.

So what am I doing wrong? I want babies!
Thanks, Hailey

[korith]

Have you seen the molting yet? That's the time when they the shrimp get jiggy with it.:p Also remember no copper in foods or in the tank!

[Wild Turkey]

My advice would be increase feeding schedule and variety. I feed mine mostly red flake, 1 large flake per day is enough for those guys though.

[Hailey]

Alright, I will feed them more, and yes I have seen them molt a few times.

[Eileen]

My red cherry shrimp had babies but I have not seen any lately. I looked at the food that I was feeding them and almost all had Copper in it. I threw that away today and bought some TetraMin flakes and TetraMin Algae chrisps. They both do not have any copper in it. I'm so glad that I looked at the food. The Algae wafers I bought from Walmart had copper in it. I had some catfish sinking pellets and that had copper in it also. I'm so glad that the red cherry shrimp are ok. Maybe the food did not have that much copper but I did not want to take a chance. I read that if Copper is in the food They might not have any eggs or babies and might die.:fish:

[Hailey]

Here are the ingredients for the sinking food

Ingredients: Fish Meal, Wheat Flour,pre-digested plankton, Soy Protein Concentrate, Corn Flour, Oat Meal, Squid Meal, Soy Flour, Wheat Gluten Meal, Krill, Dried Yeast, Squid Liver Meal, Shrimp Meal, Fish Oil, Laver Aquatic Plant, Amino Acids, Wheat Germ Meal, Lecithin, Vanillin, Chlorophyll, Citric Acid, Vitamin A, E3, E, B1, B2, B6, B12, Folic Acid, Vit. D-Pantothenic Acid, Vit C, Inositol, Biotin, Niacin, Ethoxyquin (as a preservative).
Guaranteed Analysis: Min Crude Protein 44% Min Crude Fat 5% Max Crude Fiber 2% max Moisture 8% Max Ash 9% Min Phosphorus 0.6% Max Phosphorus 0.9%

and now I'm going to feed them the flakes, here are those ingredients

Fish meal, wheat flour, PDP, soy protein concentrate, corn flour, oat meal, squid meal, fish liver meal, soy flour, wheat gluten meal, krill, dried yeast, squid liver meal, shrimp meal, fish oil, laver aquatic plant, amino acids, wheat germ meal, lecithin, vanillin, chlorophyll, citric acid, vitamins A, D3, E, B1, B2, B6, B12, folic acid, vitamin D-pantothenic acid, vitamin C (l-ascorbyl-2-phosphate), inositol, biotin, niacin, ethoxyquin (as a preservative), Guaranteed Analysis Crude protein (min.) 44%, crude fat (min.) 5%, crude fiber (max.) 2%, moisture (max.) 8%, ash (max.) 9%, phosphorus (min.) 0.6%, phosphorus (max.) 0.9%

So I dont see any copper in them

[thezookeeper]

My experience with shrimp has been with crystal red bee shrimp. I feed them just like regular fish. They are scavengers and will eat just about anything. I run my tanks around 75 degress and have great success with breeding. Most of your shrimps do better in cooler temps and will live longer. I also don't have a very high opinion of any foods made by tetra as a lot of them do contain copper. I mix a combination of brine shrimp flakes, eathworm flakes, spirulina flakes, freeze dried daphnia and bloodworms. I feed this to all my fish and shrimp. The water here has a ph around 7.2 and is pretty hard and the shrimp do fine.

[Eileen]

Thank you for the information on the food. I need to make a nice mix like you do. I forgot to post that you can tell the gender of the red cherry shrimp.

The females are always red in color except when they are babies. The color will develop in 1-2 months in babies. The females are larger and have a saddle pouch underneath them to carry developing eggs. Most LFS will sell only females. You can tell the males because they are smaller in size and look very slender and look a clear color not very colorful like the females.

[Hailey]

so still no babies or eggs!!! whats goin on? I've been doing everything i'm supposed to do.

[Kaz]

Maybe you just don't want it enough.

Lol! JK!:hmm3grin2orange:

[Gayle]

Have you tried candles and romantic music? LOL I am just teasin!

[Wild Turkey]

Whats the ph of the tank?

[Hailey]

lol yah right eh?
Well im starting to think i have all females? even though I have smaller, whitish ones in there compared to some of the others...I just dont know!

[Hailey]

Whats the ph of the tank?

well I havent checked it in a little while, but when i did everything was good. I will test it soon and get the results on here

[Gemini]

so still no babies or eggs!!! whats goin on? I've been doing everything i'm supposed to do.
Have any of them got the yellow saddle on their back?
They are the eggs in the ovaries. If you have some that do and some that don't, then you have boys and girls and can only wait. If you dont' have any girls then that may be the problem.
Have you got much plant cover? I only feed my cherry shrimp once every four days, and they usually get algae rocks I grow, or Hikari crab cuisine sticks (3) crushed.

[Hailey]

Yah, some of them have the yellow sadle and some dont, i think. The most reddish one i cant really see the sadle, but I would think its a female too.
Well I probably have all females, the most whitish ones looks like they have a sadle.
Its like the opposite of what it should be

[Algenco]

if you got them at a lfs they most likely are females

[Hailey]

So, ya, still no babies... I will be adding 6 more RCS when I order my plants for my 76 gallon tank, so maybe that will help!

I dont know what I'm doing wrong!
Anyone else have this problem, then resolved it?

[btate617]

Hailey My suggestion would be get the extra shrimp like you are planning. Up you water changes to twice a week, it's only a 5gal tank right so not a big deal to do an extra water change. What brand of foor do you use? I would get something like Hikari algae waffers and a high quality pellet. Of course with only a few shrimp in the tank only feed small pieces of either the pellet or waffer daily. If you don't have java moss in the tank I would add some.
If they still don't do it for ya, ignore them, that seems to work too.
I can honestly say I neglected my shrimp tank and they were going crazy in there. I did water changes probably twice a month and feed them when I remembered. They frustrated me like they are doing to you and I had had enough. Then one day there was no stopping them. Give them time and I think the addition of a few more will help you along. Good luck.

Brian

[Hailey]

Ya, well if the extra shrimp doesnt work, then I will have to just forget about them! lol
And I am hopefully getting some java moss today, Ive been looking for some forever.
Thanks for the help.