rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
Moderator: Mustafa
rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
hey folks! i have a 10g planted freshwater tank stocked with rcs, pale blue shrimp, nertrite snails, pond snails and mts. i filter w/ a small sponge filter. water is crystal clear and my pond snails are reproducing like crazy! problem is my rcs and mts aren't. I've seen many of my rcs females berried but have never seen babies. my mts are huge but no little ones from them either. I've had this tank going for over a year. i started it as a food source for my sunfish in my 70g so i want the numbers of all species . as many as i can get. i feed a variety of foods regularly. i even added a little aquarium salt to see if it makes a difference but it hasn't. any ideas why they aren't reproducing? the tank isn't close to crowded yet and the water parameters are perfect. temps at 75f. any and all ideas appreciated.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
You would have to provide some more information. What's your kH value, both tank water and tap water? How much and how many times do you perform water changes? Do you use a dechlorinator? How often do you feed? A picture of your tank would be helpful, too. Having said that, it's never worth it to try to produce freshwater shrimp as food in home aquaria...it's just not going to happen. You may want to go with things like scuds in larger outside pools.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
its been awhile since i did a complete workup of my tank but about 3 months ago there were no nitrate or ammonia. don't remember the rest but i know it was in the acceptable range from info. i found on the internet for shrimp water. my tap was good too and its well water. i still treat w/ a little prime at water changes which i do 1/3 tank monthly. i have cat litter covered by pea gravel for substrate.. my tank has so many plants i need to trim weekly as they take over the tank. i feed once a week a 1/4in chunk of beet or med. beet leaf and a algae wafer broken up. also have 6 dead willow leafs . yes its a lot of food but i have probably 200 pond snails, m.t.s and nertrites as well as about 30 blue and red cherries in there. i tried to cut back on my feeding and about 50 baby pond and m.t.s. floated to the top. so i went back to feeding what i was before and no deaths or problem since. i also dose w/ leaf zone every 2 weeks. ive yet to see a dead shrimp, adult or juve. I've even got a mag. glass to look for babies. right now i have 5 berried females. all the other females are saddled. all look healthy. tanks crystal clear. its filtered by a 4in. sponge filter. i can't understand where the babies are going .
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
They are obviously dying. And it's obviously your water parameters that kill them (as there are no predators in your tank). Shrimp are more sensitive than snails. And hatchling shrimp are the most sensitive. For me to help you in any way, you would just have to go out there and at least get a kh/gh test kit. The water being "crystal clear" does not mean anything..."dirty", muddy water may have better water parameters for shrimp than visually clear water. Having said that...a tank that experiences change all the time (i.e. in your case tons of plants being removed, possibly the substrate being disturbed) is never going to establish a biological balance that's right for shrimp, even if snails and fish do just fine.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
heres my water parameters: ph 7.4 , amm. 0ppm , nitrite 0ppm, nitrate trace, gh 180 , kh 40. i dont pull plants. i trim them to keep the top half of the tank open. and only a tiny bit at a time. I've done my homework before starting this tank. only thing i don't understand comepletely is the gh-kh.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
pH directly depends on kH, gH is not really all that important other than you should have some of it at least. a pH reading by itself is useless as it may fluctuate during the day...quite dramatically even if the kH is low (i.e. you may have something like 6.7 pH at night and 7.6 during the day). That in turn affects the toxicity of ammonia to shrimp. Even if you don't have any measurable ammonia, there may still be enough in there to kill shrimp. Meanwhile fish and snails may look completely unaffected. In any case, given that you don't seem to have any chloramines in your water (well water), I would, for now, just stop using a fertilizer. Changes in a tank can take a long time, so it may take a month or two (or longer) before you start seeing baby shrimp running around. Most of the time the best thing appears to be doing absolutely nothing. Other than that...just make sure you take out organic materials that are sitting there rotting, possibly causing bacterial blooms (even if the water is crystal clear). Your water parameters look fine.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
i cut my fert. dosing from once a week to once every 2 weeks. my ph goes up slightly at water changes but stabilizes a couple days later and its not too extreme. is prime ok for shrimp? i haven't found any info on it for invertebrates. i only use about a 1/8tsp. on my changes so i don't think it would affect much. theres no fish in this tank. only snails and shrimp. ill try the removal of the fert. any food I've put in theres gone in 6-8 hrs. I've cycled a 5gal. and im planning on putting some shrimp in there as well. waters tested the same. this tank has java moss and some other slower growing stem plants. im just going to put shrimp in there. no snails. and see if it works out better for the shrimp. thanks for the help. ill let you know how things turn out.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
Prime is more than ok...it can be a life-saver if you have chloramines in your tap water or some kind of temporary ammonia spike. It's almost impossible to overdose (in emergency situations i've dosed 5-10 times the recommended amount before, without any problems). You can underdone, however, depending on how much chloramine your water has. My water has a lot, so the normal dosage doesn't do it. I double dose. Keep us updated, and good luck!
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
well I've gone from no babies to loosing shrimp. lost 4 that i found. i think I've lost more. did a third water change w/ some more prime yesterday. no affect on the snails. shrimp are eating but not swimming around at all. id give my left leg to figure out what the hell is going on in this tank. water parameters are the same as they have been over the last year. I've even got a piece of cuttlebone i put in about a month ago for calcium supplement. im barely feeding. my plants are doing good. no stagnant water as my sponge filter takes care of that. i know shrimp are sensitive but didn't think they were this hard to grow and breed. got lots of pond and mts snails although a few weeks ago when i stopped feeding i lost probably 20 of the baby m.t.s and pond snails. started lightly feeding and all went back to normal at least with the snails. now im losing adult shrimp. 1st. time in a year that I've ever lost any out of this tank. i guess time will tell what happens.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
Ok...just follow the instructions without thinking too much about it. Take out the sponge filter (and don't add any other filter; no airstone either), stop all ferts completely, add twice the amount of the recommended dose of Prime for the entire volume of your tank. Then just do 20-25% water changes every week or two. The already weak shrimp will probably die regardless, but you may be able to save some still.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
well so far so good no more losses. before i saw your post i had already done exactly what you said minus the bubbler. tested the water tonight and no ammonia and everything else's where its supposed to be. hopefully just a freak spike. thanks again for the advice.
Re: rcs and mts not reproducing in my tank.
Good. Now just have patience. 
It takes time for a tank to find its balance.
It takes time for a tank to find its balance.