Is it worth studding out my male?

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:37 am

I have a male cherry shrimp (my only male) and he lives in a 10g with 3 cherry females, 3 tiger shrimp and a few spixi snails.

My cherry females have been showing the orange saddle and they are coloured up nicely but my male isn't getting them pregnant.

I have six females in my 20g who are also nice and red with yellow saddles but I haven't studded him to that tank because he hasn't sorted the 3 females in his own tank yet.

Do males need time to become sexually active?

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:16 pm

I think they do, how old are the shrimp? Also, you need to take into consideration the conditions of your water and tank. Please give us more details so we can better help

.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:27 am

The male and 3 female cherries are in with 3 tiger shrimp (1 female and 2 males). My tiger female becomes berried again after a day or so after "giving birth".....she just dropped a batch of babies 2 days ago and is full of eggs again.

10 uk gallon tank
PH is 6.8
Nitrates 10
Nitrite 0
Temp 21-22C
Tank's been set up for over a year and has moss balls, java moss, riccia, some fake plants, a piece of bogwood with a sand substrate.
I do water changes once or twice a week using Aqua-Plus.

I also have a couple of spixi snails and i'm getting eggs regular from them too...a couple of clutches a week, but my cherries just aren't getting the hint.

I have amanos in another 10g and the female carries eggs regular too.

Transferring the cherries to my other 20g tank isn't an option at the moment because the filter isn't baby shrimp proof.

I guess i'll have to keep my fingers crossed.

tapmxt1 · Post by **tapmxt1** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:19 am

If the females molt and do not get pregnant or if they get pregnant but drop the eggs in 1-2 days, you may need to get a (or a few) new male. If this has not happened yet (no pregnancy or drop eggs), your females are just not ready yet!!

tapmxt1 · Post by **tapmxt1** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:25 am

By the way, you may want to raise the temporature a bit.

I keep mine at 76F-78F (24.5C-26C) and they breed once a month (carry eggs for 16-18 days and get pregnant again in another 7-14 days at next molt).

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:58 pm

My young males were breeding at the age of 5 to 6 weeks.

TKD

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:45 am

Breeding at that young an age (5-6 weeks)? Do you feed them anything special or are the conditions in your tank just right? Please let us know.

Thanks.

tapmxt1 · Post by **tapmxt1** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:35 am

I think food is the most important factor.

I feed them twice a day (3 times a day in the past) now and cherry red shrimps get mature in 6-7 weeks. I rebuild each tank every 3-4 months and seed with newly born babies collected from the breeder tanks. Usually the first pregnant female shows up in 6-7 weeks. The first time pregnant female is usually about 3/4" with bright red color (I use black color fine gravel or sand).

I guess male may mature a bit earlier but I do not pay attention to them.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:39 am

My RCS also breed at around 6 weeks.

I think the issue is the Nitrates & the pH. In my exerience they have real troubles breeding above 5 ppm nitrates. Mine breed like crazy with no detectable nitrates and a pH of 7.5

There is also a delecate balance in feeding. They need a fair amount of food to breed heavily too, but if you overdo it, it kills them.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:56 pm

Hi Neonshrimp,

I give them one algae wafer once or witch a week and may be a few shrimp sinking pellets the rest of the time they are eating the algae in the tank. The 15 Gl tank is 3/4 covered by java fern and the rest of the bottom is covered in java moss. It is a bare bottom tank and only I only do water changes every two weeks or so and I treat the water with Prime. I use a pale to do water changes so the bottom never gets touched.

The light is left on for over 15 hours a day

Other then the cherries I have one amano shrimp and a clown pleco in there too.

My cherry population is exploding right now and I will be starting up another cherry tank.

TKD

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:52 pm

Thanks TKD, hope your new tank will be a healthy one and send us some pics when it is finished

.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:24 am

The other tank wont be much to look at because it is a clear rubbermade toat that is only realy for breeding.

Oh and my pH is about 7.6

TKD

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:46 am

Well to update my original post my cherry females still aren't pregnant even though they have wonderful orange/yellow saddles and one moulted. My cherry male just faffs about eating and hanging out.

There was a moment when I thought he was actually gonna go for it when they were eating but she was having none of it.

I have sold a lot of spixi snails I was keepng in the same tank so now the tank is understocked and I should be able to bring the nitrate down.

My female tiger shrimp has babies (i've counted over 10 so far) and is berried again.

The temp has raised by itself to 26C (thanks to our ever increasing hot summers) and i'm feeding them once a day now rather than once every 3 days or so.

A lovely young genius has given me a fab tip on how to cover a cannister filter without using nasty rubber bands so I plan to cover my filter in my 20g then move all the cherries into that tank. The PH is around 7.2 so I think it'll suit them a lot more.

Thanks for all the advice.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:10 am

Another update:

Checked the tank this morning and thought "Eh....what's that weird orange glow under one of my cherry females?"....I had a closer look and saw EGGS! Weeeeeeeee! Now all I have to hope for is that she keeps them.

Here's a pic of one of my female cherrys with my only male taken yesterday.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:14 am

Here she is.....she wasn't keen on having her photo taken but you can see the orange glow.