Help me get babies please

[sabbylina]

Hey guys. I've had my tank for about 6 years and haven't had much luck with babies. I had a set once but it was right when I had to move so she dropped all her eggs but two in the commotion D: I haven't seen any berries since then and that was 4 years ago.

I have a 1 gallon tank with 10-20 shrimps in there and was thinking about getting more, partially because it looks a bit empty, and partially cause I was hoping it would help them procreate. I also have a lump of the chaetomorpha that i bought with my shrimp which is not as vibrantly green as it used to be. Does that mean anything? The salt level rests at about 16ppt. I try to re-add the salt creep that forms on the edges and top off the tank with distilled water. They have a light that's on for 12 hours a day plus sunlight from my window sometimes. I also have 2 living zebra thorn nerites from the 7 that I bought originally.

It's too dark to get a decent picture so i'll post one later.

Any tips would be nice. Please halp!

[Mustafa]

I also have 2 living zebra thorn nerites from the 7 that I bought originally.

THAT may be part of the problem. 7 nerite snails in a 1 gallon?? Wow.... Even *one* is actually too much for such a small tank. They eat pretty much all biofilm in a tank and don't leave much for the shrimp.

We need you to post a few pictures of your tank and describe your tank routine. How often do you feed? How much? Where is the tank located? What's the room temperature over the year? Etc. etc....

[Turlington]

Glad I've seen this post. I was actually going to add a couple of more nerite snails to the tank. Scratch that idea!

[crittersni]

The shrimp I bought from Mustafa last March started breeding very quickly. My first larvae hatched 6/2.

My salinity is 1.010 and the temperature usually runs between 74 and 78. I have about 3.5 gallons of water and one nerite snail. No live plants.

I've had multiple berried shrimp after the one above (first one dropped her clutch), with them hatching between 6/29 through the beginning of July. I now have 3 different sizes of babies and more larvae just recently.

I do have a bubbler. I kink the tube to minimize the output so I don't blast the shrimp all over the tank. I feed them a VERY little bit of an algae pellet ground to powder (a tiny pinch) once or twice/month. It's really hard to fight the temptation to feed them more, but I've read the warnings.

Good luck. I hope something works for you soon.

[sabbylina]

I also have 2 living zebra thorn nerites from the 7 that I bought originally.

THAT may be part of the problem. 7 nerite snails in a 1 gallon?? Wow.... Even *one* is actually too much for such a small tank. They eat pretty much all biofilm in a tank and don't leave much for the shrimp.

We need you to post a few pictures of your tank and describe your tank routine. How often do you feed? How much? Where is the tank located? What's the room temperature over the year? Etc. etc....

They are tiny snails- about the size of a pea, so much smaller than the regular nerites. I was told that since they were so tiny they wouldn't eat too much for my tank size. They also lived for over 3 years so i assume that meant they had enough food? I bought them off amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/Assorted-Horned- ... dpSrc=srch

I also have a good amount of the chaetomorphae still in the tank and see the shrimp all over the walls constantly. There is also a large fake plant and some snail shells/ lava rocks for things to grow on. I don't feed them anything extra.

The tank is on a bedside table that won't sit in direct sunlight from window but gets plenty of light if the blinds are open. I mostly leave it alone except to top off the water. When I do that i also push the salt creep back in. Room temperature ranges form low 60s to high 70s but usually between 65 and 75.

[sabbylina]

The inside of the tank:

The tank in relation to the window:

I'll try and remember tomorrow to take pictures while the light is on inside.

[sabbylina]

Daytime Pictures:

[crittersni]

Your tank looks nice. You can keep an eye on all your shrimp. More experienced people may agree or disagree with me (I'm still a novice in many ways), but I wonder if that might be the issue. My shrimp have the ability to hide in many places, which frustrates me at times as I'll never get an accurate count, but I wanted them to feel safe. Maybe some more artificial plants/decorations that allow them to hide would make them feel safer about breeding?

[sabbylina]

They have hiding places under the lava rocks and shells. Its kinda hard to see because of all the algae. After reading some of the posts on here and looking at youtube videos, i think some of it might be hair algae so i'm going to remove parts of it.

I can see at least 12 shrimp out and about today, and all are red except two. I wonder if it's because the tank might be warmer.

I'm still thinking of getting more shrimp anyways,but do you think it'll help them reproduce?

[Nellyville41]

When I had hair algae it looked like silk thread to me. Definitely clean it up if you see it. Also your macroalgae is looking really big. Maybe trim it down? I don’t think you need more shrimp. It’ll just happen on its own. Maybe the flux in temp? I’m still fairly new to this as well but so far I had 4 berried females and two of them dropped all their eggs. But from my initial 21, I’m at like 50 now. Had it since Jan.

[sabbylina]

Yeah I can't tell if it's hair algae or not, but as soon as my new tweezers get here, i will be trimming it either way.

The temp doesn't change really fast, more just the daily fluctuations. Do you still think that's it?

[Nellyville41]

Gradual change I don’t think so. But like it’s said, they prefer breeding in 60s to 70s degree weather

[sabbylina]

Like i said above, it's most often in the 65-75 degree range

[Mustafa]

They are tiny snails- about the size of a pea, so much smaller than the regular nerites. I was told that since they were so tiny they wouldn't eat too much for my tank size.... When I do that i also push the salt creep back in.

Nerites are voracious eaters...even "tiny" ones eat *a lot*...and you have three. Why do you even have salt creep by the way? Is there a filter integrated into that hood? In a normal setup without a filter there shouldn't be any salt creep at all. Salt creep means that the water surface is moving somehow.

The only other thing I can add is to either move your tank to an area where it gets 1-2 hours of direct sunlight from the window, or buy a small LED light (something like 3 watts). More light may get some biological processes jumpstarted.

[sabbylina]

Why do you even have salt creep by the way? Is there a filter integrated into that hood? In a normal setup without a filter there shouldn't be any salt creep at all. Salt creep means that the water surface is moving somehow.

The tank sits on a small bedside cabinet. The water does move when I walk around the room or if I get something form the cabinet but then it just gently sloshes inside the tank; the salt creep is outside the tank. Would that maybe be from capillary action of the water touching the lid?

The only other thing I can add is to either move your tank to an area where it gets 1-2 hours of direct sunlight from the window, or buy a small LED light (something like 3 watts). More light may get some biological processes jump started.

I'll try opening my blinds more often since the window light reaches it The light I have on a 12 hours cycle is 3 watts, but not LED. Would that make a difference? What biological process changes should I be expecting- my algae clump to grow faster?