Pheromone Query

[newbreed]

Hi There, I had an idea hit today and was wondering if anyone can confirm/deny for me. I have been thinking, after reading, about how when the females release their pheromones the males go mad, as they do in other animals. I know there is the theory, and I for one buy into it, that females living/working together can tend to cycle together (bear with me ladies, there is a point here!! No offense meant). A quick question before the idea: 1. Once a female shrimp has the pheromones going on, have any of you found that the other females in the tank also get berried too? My idea, and it is a bit hair brained, is if the pheromones from one female in the tank can inspire the other females to get ready to breed, do you think if I had a female releasing pheromones in tank A and I transferred some of that water into tank B, it might inspire the inhabitants of that tank to kick start the breeding process? A bit of a simplistic idea but had to ask.

[ineke]

I hear where you are coming from and it does often happen that once one female gets berried others tend to follow quite quickly but I'm not sure that the water would carry enough to trigger breeding in another tank. But hey it may be worth a try you never know if you never try. Someone else may be able to tell more.:encouragement:

i thought I should just add there is something written about not putting water from one tank into another due to bacterial infection - that's why you always catch your shrimp in a net to transfer them from their water to a new tank after acclimatising them - that may be because the water comes from a different colony but I would check it out before trying it

[Squiggle]

There is a product called "breeding liquid" which is a concentrated synthetic replicant of this pheromone, you put a few drops of this liquid in the tank & everyone goes crazy. I think that this would only be useful if the females are ready to breed & have just moulted but otherwise it wouldn't really do much but send everyone crazy for a few minutes :encouragement:

[fishmosy]

For fish it works. However as Squiggle said, the shrimp have to be ready to go. Remember that mating occurs only after the female has moulted, which means that your shrimp not only has to have eggs ready to go, your shrimp must also be ready to moult.

If your shrimp aren't breeding, I would be checking water parameters, food, temp, disease ect. first to check that they are A1. Only then might it be worth worrying about trying to trigger them using pheromones. IME shrimp are more difficult to stop breeding.

[newbreed]

Thanks for the replies. Just thought I would put it out there. Don't think I will have issues getting them to breed as they all seem to have settled in well and saddles and moulting has begun. Will look after the water quality and let the shrimp look after the rest of it. Cheers.

[BlueBolts]

2+ years ago, I used and tested the benibachi breeding liquid extensively, and had great success, BUT it does put pressure on all tank mates. Never used the breeding liquid since.....didn't want to risk any forced fatalities, prefer the natural way !