Why aren't my Cherries breeding?

[Myola]

Hi all,

2 months ago I purchased 18 red cherries and put them into my well-cycled, 40 litre tank. Several of them were berried and have since given birth. Since then however, none of the other females have berried and I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. My tank parameters are as follows: water temp - 22C, pH - 7.2, NO2 - 0, NO3 - 5, TDS - 195, KH - 1, GH - 3. My water is rainwater but I've been adding powdered egg shell in to boost the Calcium and I also have some mineral balls. I do weekly 10-15% water changes. Everyone seems happy and active but I have lost a few to failed moults (although there is evidence of plenty of successful moults too). There are plenty of places to hide and I have a piece of cholla wood that they love hiding in and eating from. I don't want to breed thousands of new shrimp, but it would be nice to see a few more little shrimplets scurrying around the tank. Most of the original babies have died with just a few juveniles left from the ones that came from the females that were berried when I bought them. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Zoidburg]

If your water is that soft, then you need to get a remineralizer. GH should be around 6-8, ideally.

 

I have tap water that comes out at 3 GH and KH and around 60 TDS. Babies never survived and adults slowly died off. Increasing GH and making sure they had a diet that was algae based (many "algae foods" aren't actually algae based, but rather, algae infused...) and supplemented with a protein food finally allowed the colony to start taking off...

[Myola]

Hi Zoidburg, and thank you for your reply. 

I ordered some 'Salty Shrimp, Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+' during the week, is this the sort of remineralizer you are talking about? If so, how do I add it? I'm thinking that I should dissolve it in a few litres of water and then slowly drip it into the tank, maybe over a day or two. Am I on the right track? I don't want to stress my little guys out any further.

What do you suggest for an 'algae based food'? There is lots of bio-film and algae in the tank and I also add in a thumb-nail sized piece of blanched zucchini once a week. As mentioned, there is cholla wood, and I have access to dried mulberry and dried banana leaf, both of which are in the tank. Apart from that, they get a couple of tiny sticks of 'Hikari Crab Cuisine' once a week. Please let me know what you recommend as there is so much information out there that I am struggling to know what to do next with feeding.

Cheers

[Zoidburg]

You would add it to new water during water changes. You could remineralize the new water to ideal parameters and do 10% water changes every other day or so until you get the parameters where you want them. Then go back to water changes as normal. The easiest way to achieve the desired parameters is to add a little and measure the GH. Once you get the GH where you want it, then test the TDS of the water. After that, you can add in the remineralizer until you get to the desired TDS.

Salty Shrimp will work just fine!

Food wise, sounds pretty good! The Hikari Crab Cuisine is your protein. I don't know what you have available near you, so not sure what I could recommend. The algae based foods I've been feeding have been made by USA companies, although it looks like one isn't making food anymore. (only had it for sale for a brief time)

[jayc]

On 9/2/2018 at 10:08 AM, Myola said:

What do you suggest for an 'algae based food'?

Check out Bossaquaria.com.au.

They have one called Shrimp Crack that many people have tried on their shrimps (incl my own shrimps), and has been a favourite.

https://www.bossaquaria.com.au/shrimp-foods/?sort=alphaasc&page=2

 

For a protein source that is better than crab cuisine, try frozen bloodworms once a week. <- this will condition your shrimps to breed.

[Myola]

9 hours ago, jayc said:

Check out Bossaquaria.com.au.

They have one called Shrimp Crack

For a protein source that is better than crab cuisine, try frozen bloodworms once a week. <- this will condition your shrimps to breed.

Thanks for your suggestion jayc. Shrimp Crack is currently out if stock but I've emailed Boss Aquaria asking when it might be available again and hope to hear back from them soon.

Frozen blood worms are available locally so I will get some tomorrow. 

Thanks again for your help, it's great to have a reliable source of information being so new to this hobby.

 

Thanks also Zoidburg for your information. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Shrimp minerals, and so are my little ones! I'll let you know how it all goes.

 

Cheers

[Myola]

Hi jayc, Zoidburg and everyone,

Since your advice about my water parameters I've slowly increased the GH up to 6 and I've finally got some berried females. So happy, and no more deaths either! Thanks again for your advice, it worked!!!!

[jayc]

Woo Hoo!!?