As most of the older forum members know I have had an ongoing battle to get my Crystal breeding program up and running. It seemed that no matter what I did i could not get a berried female. I tried everything that was recommended, bought canister filters, RO system, Benibachi soil, salty Shrimp GH+, minerals , different foods, different tanks, more shrimp , stable water conditions, but NADA not a single berried crystal -for months AND MONTHS well over a year actually. (had the same problem with my Yellows yet everything else was breeding).
Over the last couple of months I have finally been rewarded with many berried girls and a large number of shrimplets.I am extremely pleased with the way things are now going and will soon be able to start selectively breeding the better grade ones but for the moment I'm happy to just have babies in the tank.
I don't know what the break through was except slowly lowering the TDS to 140ppm from 160ppm and starting to use Black Water Extract- (TechDen have this at a great price) although I can't say that this is what got them going I have only heard good things about it. I also used this in my Yellow tank and they have finally bred for me too with over 20 babies happily swimming around. I have to say perserverance and patience is one thing that was bandied around a lot in helpful posts -that goes without saying and eventually works. I had a lot of help from BB (thanks BB) and encouragement from Squiggs and many other members which helped stop me from giving up. I have also been given and swapped lots of Crystals from Eshrimp who has been a bit of a mentor for me and encouraged me to continue too.
I am also happy to report I have berried tibees and Mischlings now too so things are moving along nicely. Still have Chocolates, Rilis and Blue Velvets merrily bubbling along too.