The Great Cherry Shrimp Breeding Boycott.... Why.

So I have been watching this happen for months, but thought it was just a phase. My cherry shrimp have literally stopped breeding and I have no idea, but the strange thing is that my wild color shrimp culls are prolific.

Tank- 7.5g Cube
Filter- Finnex mini HOB filter (The one from Aquarium Co-op) and an airstone
Temp- 78F~
pH- 7.4
Nitrate- 5-10ppm
GH- 10
KH- 3
I have bred cherry shrimp at a GH of 18 and a KH of 18 before I moved.
Current inhabitants-
12~ Cherry Shrimp
1 Chili Rasbora (All his friends died slowly)
3 Clown Killifish
Pest Snails

Now, you may think that my fish are just eating the baby shrimp, but when your shrimp don't even get berried, there is never really any babies to be eaten. I am at a loss as to what to do with this tank. These shrimp have literally stopped, I can see males and females, I feed every night, the tank rarely needs a waterchange as the plants keep it crystal clean, the only problem is this super tough algae on the glass that grows extremely slow, even a nerite has problems eating it. I clean the filter about once a month, but it is honestly never dirty.

For a while I thought it was my water that was causing the shrimp to not breed, like maybe I should give up until I get something new, but no. I have debunked this.


Look at this wild type shrimp- berried as all get up. What tank is this in? The Puffer Tank. 4 Spotted Congo Puffers and this colony is literally expanding, but the cherry shrimp with zero opposition have gotten lazy. I have no idea. I have tried adding new shrimp, but slowly die one by one until only a few ol' stingy ones remain.

I am really looking for ideas as to what to do. I really want them to breed, but do not. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Here is the tank: Higher Res. if you click on it.

 

I'm curious about what other replies you'll get, but I think I'd start doing weekly small water changes. I'd start with no more than 10% for the first couple weeks, then slowly bump it up to close to 20%. I probably wouldn't go over that.

There may be something in the water that you can't test for that is either depleted or built up too high. In any case, water changes may help, and certainly can't hurt as long as you match the temperature fairly closely.

 

The problem is in your water changes by not doing weekly change the goodness (minerals etc) get depleted this over time as an affect on stunted shrimp growth, health,disease, and their reproductive side, this dosnt happen over night but takes months to show up, you have the classic signs for this to take place,
Start doing weekly water changes as JettsPapa as recommended,
They won't start breeding over night but its a start

 

I think you might be underestimating the power of camouflage that wild types have. Colored cherries are like dinner on a plate compared to wild types.

 

The problem is in your water changes by not doing weekly change the goodness (minerals etc) get depleted this over time as an affect on stunted shrimp growth, health,disease, and their reproductive side, this dosnt happen over night but takes months to show up, you have the classic signs for this to take place,
Start doing weekly water changes as JettsPapa as recommended,
They won't start breeding over night but its a start

This makes a lot of sense, and I originally thought that there is something either depleted or too much in the tank, but it really never occurred to me to consistently waterchange as the plants kept the water 'clean'. It is worth noting that the GH is currently higher because I added a wondershell, but my standard GH and KH out of the tap is 6 for both. Next time I do watechanges I will be doing this tank and I will consistently keep at it.

As a side note, do you think I need the airstone? I do notice from the filter that there are microbubbles that get put into the water. The airstone is loud and this is a desktop aquarium.

 

I have airstones in all my shrimp tanks and wouldn't do otherwise, it may also pay you to add some fresh blood to your colony

 

I have airstones in all my shrimp tanks and wouldn't do otherwise, it may also pay you to add some fresh blood to your colony

Yeah I did add 9 recently, but I am guessing about half of those remain. Maybe in about two weeks or so when I can get the majority of the minerals replenished through waterchanges I'll add some new ones. I don't want to kill them straight off!

 

This makes a lot of sense, and I originally thought that there is something either depleted or too much in the tank, but it really never occurred to me to consistently waterchange as the plants kept the water 'clean'. It is worth noting that the GH is currently higher because I added a wondershell, but my standard GH and KH out of the tap is 6 for both. Next time I do watechanges I will be doing this tank and I will consistently keep at it.

As a side note, do you think I need the airstone? I do notice from the filter that there are microbubbles that get put into the water. The airstone is loud and this is a desktop aquarium.

if the air pump is loud, it's probably the surface it's on. Having it either hanging or with a towel/something soft below it will muffle the noise. Circulation is really important in a shrimp tank. Turning up the flow on your HOB can help as well. Could be just the pic, but the water seems a bit still. If you're worried about the plant stems flowing and splitting, having some tall structures around them, like driftwood or rocks, can help break up water movement and protect them.

 

This makes a lot of sense, and I originally thought that there is something either depleted or too much in the tank, but it really never occurred to me to consistently waterchange as the plants kept the water 'clean'. It is worth noting that the GH is currently higher because I added a wondershell, but my standard GH and KH out of the tap is 6 for both. Next time I do watechanges I will be doing this tank and I will consistently keep at it.

As a side note, do you think I need the airstone? I do notice from the filter that there are microbubbles that get put into the water. The airstone is loud and this is a desktop aquarium.

Yea I'd say an airstone is really important in a small tank especially.
Superglue gel is also great for securing plants. Just don't use too much at one time.