I have a 5 gallon tank with about 10 shrimps in it. Plenty of plants, algae and good soil.
I have been feeding dedicated shrimp pellets and they seem to be eating it, other than that they just graze on algae on the glass and rock.
I had shrimp before in a 14 gallon last year but they never had a massive population growth. However, the tank was not heavily planted only java moss and thin layer of sand.
Yes, female arthropods need high-quality protein and fat because it takes a ton of nutrient resources to make huge, densely-packed eggs that together essentially equal the volume of her entire body. Shrimp, liker other animals, can't make all of their own amino acids and fats, so they have to get these from their diet. If she doesn't have enough resources to make eggs, then she won't make eggs.
Source: I'm a professor in molecular biology working on embryo development using amphipod crustaceans and other arthropods
Also this neat meta analysis finds the exact essential amino acid requirements for crustaceans:
It’s honestly amazing how Reddit can serve as my second university professor on a somewhat regular basis. I just felt compelled to say thanks for teaching me something new tonight! I sometimes wish my major was Bio instead of Psychology lol.
I don't know. I bought 10 blue shrimp a couple of months ago, and now I have more than 30, still more coming up I suppose. I think that maybe some patience would do half of the trick.
Came here to say this. My female amano who hadn't produced eggs in the 3 months I had her became instantly egg obsessed the second I started feeding bloodworms ( just tryingntk give the tank a treat). I haven't managed to get salt water set up for the larva so no new shrimps for me, but bloodworms made her go wild. I think some other high protein foods can have that effect too. I've since found she goes feral for Hikari crab cuisine which has some nice calcium in it, so I think that could work similarly
If you have males and females I recommend Hikari algea wafers. I had a tiny population of 6 males and 1 female in my 29 around Crimis and now I have 7 berried females with more growing up and shrimp everywhere. Those wafers are magic.
I notice feeding quite a bit of high protein foods help. When I was gone last month, my boyfriend was only feeding 2 times a week to keep my water quality decent.
I had no babies at all when I came home and still don’t (just got back a week ago) - typically I have babies everywhere. Now that I’m back, I’ve seen TONS of berried mamas that weren’t berried when I got home simply bc I feed daily and feed copiously.
Water parameters and hardness could also play a role.
Really nothing special just keep your water parameters good and make sure they have plenty of spaces to hide like moss and heavy planting, especially if you have fish 😊 once they hatch out I sprinkle high protein tropical fish food all throughout the tank including into the mossy areas and the babies are able to eat without being exposed. I make the pieces small by crushing them between my fingers and sprinkling it all about.
A higher temperature increases breeding. However it also leads to a shorter life span. There are some studies about this if you are interested, just google temp effect on shrimp breeding and you should be able to find more info. When I had my initial batch of 10 I kept temperature at 76f or so. Within 2 months of receipt I had 6 of 7 females berried. It has been almost 6 months since I started and I have at least 75 (that is what I can count so probably more I don’t see). After the initial berried females had their babies I reduced temp to 73. Always have a few berried so that they continue to reproduce easily at this point. Lower temperature increases breeding also results in more females than males as well! Anyway… you may want to try gradually bumping your temp up until you have the new generation!
Get some Indian Almond leaves and put on the bottom. Increase plants with hiding places (I like guppy grass). And start some infusoria and start adding it as soon as you see shrimplets. Check your temperature and make sure it's not too low.
All the recommendations are great, but biggest question is do you have both sex of shrimp? I bought 8, and after they've molted and grown a bit, and now I'm pretty confident I only got ladies 😅 going to have to go back and get some males
That one big female in front looks like she is newly berried. They seem to populate when they are fed heartily and warmer water 76° about. Feed daily and turn up the heat a degree or so. Then wait maybe a month. You will see tiny babies in there.
Are there fish in there? I have had huge population booms despite 6 guppies in the same tank. It’s really about food. If the fish are well fed, they’ll leave anything they have to chase alone.
I had a colony that started with 10 shrimp and the population exploded into an insane amount every point in the tank had at least 5 shrimps visible.
Something happened and the population just declined. Until now I am unsure what happened. I initially suspected inbreeding cause females got berried and just dropped their eggs.
i started dosing with kats aquatics calcium wafers & i have very much noticed an increase in the amount of breeding!! They’re having healthier molts now which means more breeding.
as they dissolve they can release calcium which is going to affect the general hardness if you overdo it. I personally feed very small amounts & attempt to target feed so that all the food is being consumed & less is being dissolved out into the water column. The instructions state to remove uneaten food after 12 hours, so i find its very important to use a feeding plate so that you’re able to easily remove the food. I honestly just really like her formula because it doesnt crash your water quality. She does use a small amount of wheat, but only as a binder so it doesnt immediately dissolve once it hits your tank as compared to a filler like many companies use it.
Have you tested your GH? I had a hard time getting a steady population until I addressed that issue in my tank and then they went kaboom and now I have an extreme abundance of them.
I keep mine around 11dGH (200ppm). I have to add Bee Shrimp GH+ because my water has 0 GH naturally. Before I started supplementing I had really low breeding rates and lost them to failed molts regularly.
My well water has really high KH naturally, not sure what's recommended.
Mine started breeding more when my Christmas moss filled in and they had more places to hide. I started with 5, am up to 15, and there’s 3 eggnant mommas in there right now.
Mine started breeding more when my Christmas moss filled in and they had more places to hide. I started with 5, am up to 15, and there’s 3 eggnant mommas in there right now. (Also a 5 gallon tank)
i find that shrimps do best when i stop mucking around with the tank and to just leave it alone. most i would do is trim the plants and 20% water change every month or so. but this only applies to shrimps only tanks tho because of the lower bioload
Keep watch of your pH. Some shrimp species needs specific water parameters to feel comfortable enough to breed. One example of this is my Caridina Sp Malayensis (Malayan Shrimp), that only breeds when my water pH is 6 or lower
That’s true. A colony will only grow according to space & food supply. They actually regulate their own population by dropping eggs or not fertilizing them at all if their environment tells them so. I think that’s a really cool aspect to shrimp.
Last week I started finding 1-3 dead shrimp every day or 2. I’ve been racking my brain. They all have their heads missing too! I did a lot of research. My water is fine. LOTS of plants and hiding caves etc. Well, they ARE all adult bigger shrimp. They are just getting older. It’s a 2 yr old colony that I started with 3 shrimp. 1 male and 2 females. 2 yrs later I give away 30-50 every month as feeders or pets. I generally have 200-300 cherry shrimp in a 20 gal community tank. For every dead adult I find, there are 20-50 shrimplets being born every week. And I have 6 guppies in there AND a honey gourami. Surely they should control the population. But, they all get along peacefully. I trade or give away all those shrimp every month just so I can keep the cycles going. Then last month I added 6 blue cherries to the mix! I can’t wait to see what colors I get.
PS: I guess the heads get eaten 1st because it’s the most nutritious part of any living being…the brain 🧠
Makes sense 🤷🏻♀️
Yes, they do self limit their population size, however that limit is typically a lot (especially if there is adequate food supply). I have an 8 gallon shrimp tank with at least 75 shrimp (that I can see) and always at least a few berried.
Interesting. I haven’t kept cherries in a while and only keep crystal now. A while back moved around 100 crystal from my 30 gallon to my 6 gallon - same parameters, heavily planted lots of hiding spots.
I had 3-4 berried shrimp who dropped their berries - and none have been pregnant since, population still the same just no new young - so I’m guessing they’re at their limit.
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