[tinkerpuppet]

I have a 10g fairly heavily planted tank that has been running just over a year and a half. This past spring I had two amano shrimp and a betta. I added 10 cherry shrimp and thought that because there was so much coverage, maybe a few babies might make it. Over the following couple months I replenished six cherries. I now only have about six or seven cherries plus the original two amanos and the betta. But I have never seen a baby. Is it possible the betta is finding them all and eating them before I see them (I spend time every day sitting and watching the tank, I notice every change)? Could the amano's be munching down on some babies? Is it possible the shrimp just aren't breeding? I don't have a recent picture tonight, but can post one tomorrow (to show plant coverage). And sorry, I don't remember my latest parameters, just that they were all good.

Oh, and just in case its relevant, I feed Hikari Algae Wafers (the mini ones, two every other night), plus the betta gets Omega One Betta Bites, usually he misses/spits out/ignores one or two bites that make their way down to the bottom of the tank. I don't dose anything and have only added a root tab a few times, but probably not in the last three months. I also have a Marina Slim Filter S10 that has a sponge over the intake. Maybe I'm feeding too much/not enough? Wrong filter?

The Betta is on his last legs (so to speak), and when he does pass I'd like to concentrate more on the shrimp, so if I'm doing something wrong (other then the Betta in the tank!) I'd like to start working on it now if anyone has suggestions. Thanks!

 

[GeToChKn]

He's probably full of shrimp so won't eat the beta bites. lol.

 

[tinkerpuppet]

Well he is quite the piggie! I feed him the bites one at a time over about 2min, and he usually eats at least 5 or 6 a night. I think 8 was his record! I just didn't think he'd be able to find and eat them all without me at least seeing one?

 

[dreamt_01]

most likely it's your betta. i had my cherries breed in less than a month a got them. transfer your betta in a 2.5g or something.

 

[Cynth]

It might be possible all the cherries were the same sex. But the betta has nothing else to do but hunt down tiny snacks.

 

[ddrfreak_tung]

I got a Betta in my 15g cherry tank, ever since I place him there the shrimps hide more often and when it's feeding time, he sits near the wafer and watches it. I'm just lucky I have a heavily planted tank where the babies can hide

 

[Jorge_Burrito]

It should be pretty easy to tell if they are breeding, you should be seeing females carrying eggs for about 3 weeks. If you are not seeing this, they are not producing babies. If you are, they are probably being eaten by the Betta or your water parameters are way out of whack and the babies aren't surviving (and for cherries it does have be a pretty bad extreme).

 

[johnny313]

wait.... do you see any shrimp berried? if you do see a shrimp with eggs, maybe buy a shrimp breeder box....

 

[diwu13]

My friend had a really old betta that barely swam around but would still gobble up RCS when they wee stupid enough to walk close to it

 

[tinkerpuppet]

That's a good point, I have never seen a berried cherry (I watch and count them every night). When I started my tank a year and a half ago, I had a berried Amano (no babies though), so I recognize what it would look like (plus my stalking of shrimp pics here have found lots of berried pics). This is my only tank, so the Betta will live out his days with them. Until he goes I guess I won't be sure, but that's okay. I love the shrimp I have!

 

[jasonpatterson]

You won't get baby amano shrimp unless you jump through a bunch of hoops involving moving the larvae to a brackish tank then back to fresh water in just the right way while feeding them just the right stuff.

Are you certain that you have cherry shrimp? It's really really odd that they wouldn't be breeding at all. It's possible that you only had females or males, but not terribly likely with the number of shrimp that have gone through the tank. Are any of the shrimp saddled? (Do they have a yellow or green blob inside them, behind their stomach and on top of their tail?) If they are crystal red shrimp then it wouldn't surprise me at all that they haven't berried. It would take some seriously bad water quality to get cherry shrimp to not breed, but crystal red shrimp are fairly picky...

 

[tinkerpuppet]

Totally right about the amano, I was just pointing out that I'm pretty sure I'd notice if one of the cherries was berried, I had seen it before. Too bad though, I love my amano's, would love to see them breed!

I'm not sure I would as easily notice a saddle, but that doesn't sound like any of my shrimp. And definitely not crystals, no stripes, just red (some dark and pure red, some quite a bit lighter, but still red).

I know its strange not to see any babies, thats why I thought maybe the amano's were taking some out too.

I'm now thinking of setting up another tank for just the betta and the amano's and seeing what happens with the cherries. My 6 year old son has expressed interest in having a tank in his room, maybe this is just the motivation I need to start another one!

I'll try and take some pics and put them up shortly.

 

[tinkerpuppet]

Just found a pic that I had posted when I first got them, the pet store had labeled them Red Fire Shrimp, but I think they're just regular cherries. This is one of the lighter ones, the others are a bit deeper red.

 

[jasonpatterson]

I'm not sure I would as easily notice a saddle, but that doesn't sound like any of my shrimp.

...

I know its strange not to see any babies, thats why I thought maybe the amano's were taking some out too.

It does look like a cherry shrimp. And the one you took a picture of, yeah, it's saddled. The lighter colored patch behind the dark colored patch, that's the shrimp's ovaries filled with eggs.

The amanos aren't eating the babies. It's just not their thing.

 

[tinkerpuppet]

That's what saddled looks like? Thanks! I never see them all at the same time, but I'll try and watch at feeding time if they're all females or not.

 

[johnny313]

what temp do you have the tank? water changes? filter / current?

 

[tinkerpuppet]

Temp is usually 76/77, 50% water changes every few weeks, Marina Slim 10 filter, not sure of the current, but its not full (maybe 75%) and there are some big anubias leaves directly under the current which helps to break it up.

So I've been watching the shrimp since yesterday looking for saddles. All that I've seen have saddles so I was thinking maybe I do have all females. Of course I can't tell if I'm seeing the same ones over and over again, but this morning finally saw one male. But if there is only one male, maybe he's just not fertile? He is quite a bit redder then the others, so stands out quite a bit, I think he's the only boy so far.

 

[johnny313]

I would get a few more cherries and see what happens. they DEF should breed.

 

[jasonpatterson]

He is quite a bit redder then the others, so stands out quite a bit, I think he's the only boy so far.

Not disputing your sexing of the shrimp, but that's kind of odd, usually the males are relatively poorly colored compared to the females. Of course, as with people, variation within a group is greater than variation between groups, anything's possible. If it is a male, it doesn't seem terribly likely that he's infertile. You could probably mail order 10 shrimp from the SnS for cheap and specifically request that the seller send you some males (to the best of his or her ability to determine that, of course.)

 

[tinkerpuppet]

I got a shot of him earlier today, unfortunately this was as much as he (she?) cooperated.
Any guesses? Also, I went by my lfs today, they have a bunch of new cherries in. I'm thinking of taking out the betta into another tank, and when I do, I will definitely add in some new blood!