Nitrates as Birth Control

[wbzorker]

Now don't laugh (much ) folks, I've got a problem.

About 2 months ago I bought 6 cherry shrimp. 3 were red and 3 were clear. I now have 5 generations swimming around, just found another female with dark eggs and watched a different female "laying" new yellow eggs. Assuming 20 to 30 baby shrimp each week, that's almost 200 shrimp and the succeeding generations haven't even started breeding yet.

I keep brig apple snails. There are 14 in the tank, of varying ages, and they are all employed full-time as taxi-drivers for the shrimp. The shrimp travel in pairs usually but I've seen as many as 4 hitching a ride on one snail at the same time.

I've got to stop the breeding. I'm afraid to move some to my other tanks for fear they will take over them as well. I have one tank that has angel fish and guppies mainly. Is this tank guaranteed to not perpetuate the species?

My temp is 78 degrees, ph 7.8, low nitrates, plastic plants only, crushed coral substrate and the only other tank mates are miniature corys and a Bristlenose pleco. Would allowing the nitrates to go up prevent breeding without jeopardizing the health of the adult shrimp? If so, how high do I need to go?

Thanks for your help,

Wendy

[YuccaPatrol]

Intentionally poisoning your shrimp with nitrates might not be the best course of action. At best you will end up with unhealthy shrimp and at worst you will kill them all.

Most folks here would not think of that as responsible shrimp keeping.

[badflash]

Take the extras to the LFS, they will be happy to have them, or sell them on e-bay or aquabid. High nitrates are nothing but trouble. I find the population to be self limiting. Once there get to be too many shrimp they either stop getting eggs so often, or start dropping the eggs.

Another option is to do like oneof our members did, and that was to have all male & female tanks.

[Neonshrimp]

I've got to stop the breeding. I'm afraid to move some to my other tanks for fear they will take over them as well. I have one tank that has angel fish and guppies mainly. Is this tank guaranteed to not perpetuate the species?

The population will not grow because your fish will eat all of the new baby shrimp. I would go with badflash's recomendation and contact a fish store. Hope things work out for you and the shrimp.

Later.

[carbon etc]

If you don't care about the price, selling them should be easy.

Only hassle is bagging and boxing so many of them because people don't tend to buy them in large quantities.

Or you could sell a ton of them cheap to someone who doesn't mind bagging and boxing them to sell them in smaller quantities.

[Neonshrimp]

I would see if there is a local club or society that will help you. PM someone for leads or just do a search for one near you. It sounds like you want to make room fast but try not to take such drastic measures. Hopefully they can help you.

Later.

[Mustafa]

You can also use food to control the size of your population. If you feed them less, they will reproduce less. At some point you will find a balance so that you feed them just enough to be happy and healthy, but not enough to reproduce in large numbers.

[wbzorker]

Thanks, folks. I certainly don't want to "poisen" the shrimp, so don't worry about that. Maybe taking my problem to the Colorado Aquarium Society would be best. Hopefully, they could send someone over to take them off my hands.

I appreciate your feedback.

Wendy

[Neonshrimp]

Best wishes and hope it all works out for you .