Why Aren't My Shrimp Breeding?

I have 5-6 ghost shrimps in a 10 gallon with my betta. I hadn't really intended on breeding them, but I've seen a lot of people say that any healthy colony of shrimp should, eventually, begin to breed. Is that just incorrect, or am I doing something wrong? They've never even been berried and i've had them for around a year.
I'm moving my betta into a 40 gallon this month and i'd like to turn my 10 gallon into a tank to breed cherry shrimp in, but I feel like something must be wrong if the shrimp I have now won't even breed.

 

Ghost shrimp don't easily reproduce in community tanks. They have larval babies, and they are easily eaten by fish and often die from a lack of food (since they need plentiful food in the water column).

Not all shrimp are as easy to breed as others You should have better luck with cherry shrimp!

 

The betta is probably eating any kind of babies that you may get before you even realize it.

I agree, cherry shrimp breed like bunnies especially if there's nothing else in there to eat them. They're also fun to watch. You can see them in my tank, they pop out on the black gravel.

 

agree with the above

 

Ghost shrimp don't easily reproduce in community tanks. They have larval babies, and they are easily eaten by fish and often die from a lack of food (since they need plentiful food in the water column).

Not all shrimp are as easy to breed as others You should have better luck with cherry shrimp!

Oh, alright -- I assumed they were easier to breed because they're so cheap and so common. Guess not! Glad to hear the cherries are easier to breed. (-:

The betta is probably eating any kind of babies that you may get before you even realize it.

I agree, cherry shrimp breed like bunnies especially if there's nothing else in there to eat them. They're also fun to watch. You can see them in my tank, they pop out on the black gravel.

I have one cherry shrimp in my tank and I hardly ever see him! Sure is cute when I do see him though.
Would they still be berried or saddled though, or is that not a thing they do? Betta would definitely eat any little critters wandering around, but I can't see him going after eggs on female.

 

Cherry shrimp require both sexes to breed, so if you only have one, you won't get any babies.

 

Cherry shrimp require both sexes to breed, so if you only have one, you won't get any babies.

Yeah, I know! I didn't intend the cherry shrimp I got as breeders when I purchased them. My cherry shrimp actually DID have a wonderful girlfriend who was berried when I got her, but my betta hadn't seen any RCS before so I guess he had to adjust to the changes via murder. He's reformed now, though, no worries.

 

Yeah, I know! I didn't intend the cherry shrimp I got as breeders when I purchased them. My cherry shrimp actually DID have a wonderful girlfriend who was berried when I got her, but my betta hadn't seen any RCS before so I guess he had to adjust to the changes via murder. He's reformed now, though, no worries.

That's not really how it works Since you're moving him to another tank, it shouldn't matter though!

 

That's not really how it works Since you're moving him to another tank, it shouldn't matter though!

I took some liberties. I mean to say that he isn't interested in eating them. He's been in with both the cherry and ghost shrimp for months and they've been fine. I'm still going to have cherry shrimp in with the betta, but I'll be breeding them elsewhere.

 

I have always thought Ghost shrimp need very special conditions to get breeding to work and those conditions don't happen in most tanks. I can't recall what they where right now I looked into breeding them 5-6 years ago but decided to go with Cherry shrimp because they would breed in my tanks.

 

As someone mentioned earlier the difficulty in breeding ghost shrimp is due to them being born in a larval state. They are basically just floating specs bobbing up and down in the current for a few days. During this time period, they make for easy to catch snacks for fish and adult ghost shrimp. Also, during this stage they need to feed on free-floating algae or other tiny food. If you all have noticed, we all tend to keep our tanks spotless clean, so we have very little of this free-floating food available.

Red Cherry Shrimp are born into minI versions of adults, being able to fend for themselves and scavenge food just like their parents.

Here is a link to an article I put together on getting started with freshwater shrimp, it explains a lot about both red cherry shrimp and ghost shrimp...

Freshwater Shrimp Keeping

 

As a side note, a 40 gallon is really a bit large for a male betta... the filtration alone would knock him around easily making it hard for him to feed... any chance you could breed the shrimp with community fish in the 40 and leave the betta in the ten?
Or.... go buy another ten at petco (dollar per gallon sale) for the new shrimp

Dolfan the link is not bringing me to the correct page FYI