cherry shrimp disappearing??

[Robin]

Hello Everyone,

I've had my cherry shrimp for many months now and have noticed that they seem to be getting fewer rather than multiplying. I'll be honest and tell you that I have not checked the water parameters recently but do a water change once every week (about 25% of the water) and feed them every 5 days.

I do have green diatoms on the front of the 6 gal. acrylic tank that I cannot remove! The shrimp are very active and seem to be happy. The tank is well planted and has good water movement. Kim suggested to check for an "intruder" in there that could be eating them. I did a visual check with my magnifying glass and didn't see anything that looked (to me) out of the ordinary.

What in the world is going on?? I was really looking forward to them multiplying..... Please give me any suggestions or help!

Thanks,
Robin

I do have good news - I saw (what I believe) is a saddle on one of the shrimp!!!!

[Palinurus]

Hi Robin

I´m sorry to read, that you have problems with your cherryshrimps. It´s seldom the water and the parameters we can test. There are so many other reasons why a tank doesn´t run. "Green diatoms" is it a way of filtering? I know diatom filters for swimmingpools or sea-aquaria. They retain even bacteria. May be, the water is too much filtered and there are too less microorganisms. Or, the diatoms are charged with pernicious stuffs, which become soluble and get into the water. Or, feeding each fifth day isn´t enough. There may be many reasons why shrimps stop reproduction. I am a advocator of a tank with very few technical things, but many plants an enough light. It´s the best warranty for an ecological equilibrium.

Cheers
Wolfgang

[Robin]

Hi Wolfgang,

I meant green diatoms as in algae. I only have one sponge filter in the tank. I keep the light on a timer....

Robin

[sorab]

Its hard to guess what might be going on. Do you know for sure that you have males and females? Have they ever had babies? Cherry shrimp are normally very easy. They might need more food. When the food goes in and the shrimp jump on it within a few minutes that tells me that they are hungry enough to need feeding. If they ignore the food they are clearly not hungry. Guess if they don't start breeding soon you could test the water and that might give us some clues.
Hope they do start breeding for you soon.
Cheers
Peter

[Robin]

Hey Peter,

I believe I do have both male and female. I have a few that look red (female) and others that look a bit clear with a tint of red (male). That coloring is correct, right?

For a few weeks now, I have noticed some planaria so after feeding every 3 days, I changed it to every 5 days in hopes that the planaria would lessen. I just didn't want to put too much food in there....

Robin

[Robin]

Peter,

I forgot to answer one of your questions.... Yes, I believe they have had babies. At one point, I noticed smaller shrimp in the tank. I assumed they were juveniles... I compared them to the ones I purchased initially which looked bigger.

Robin

[Ulli Bauer]

Hi Robin,

some planaria species have been known to snack on freshly molted shrimp, but if those you have do so... no idea. Maybe, maybe not.
Do you have dead tree leaves in your tank? They're a good staple food for shrimp.

Cheers
Ulli

[AdeDunn]

Just a few other suggestions for you:-

Try to test your parameters, especially things like pH, ammonia and nitrite. Also have you added anything to their tank recently? Including new plants or other decor.

I ask, as I get this question a LOT and quite often after a bit of digging it turns out they have added new plants, new plants that had traces of the copper treatments used by many growers to keep snails away...

One other thing I will ask, do you keep your tank near any strong sources of electro-magnetic radiation? Eg. Hi Fi speakers? I ask as after lots of investigations on a friends tank it turned out he had it sat in front of a speaker and it would appear that somehow this was interfering with breeding to the point where they didn't, at all.

Ade

[Raven]

Hi Robin.
How about temperature ? in my tank they stop breeding at hot summer months and above 28 *C. They seem to do better at 22-25 degrees.

[Robin]

Thanks for more input!!

Ulli - I do keep an indian almond leaf in the tank. The planaria in that tank are itty bitty; about the length of less than 1/2 piece of white rice and thinner too. I vacuum them out every water change. They are there but few now.


AdeDunn - I will have to test the water in the next few days. This has been going on for at least a month and 1/2. In that time; no new plants. However, just this past weekend, I added a new plant which is from my other tank where there are no issues (danios, corys, 1 otto, and snails only). The tank is kept by a wall - no speakers nor air vents/windows nearby.

Raven - the temp is around 74 degrees F. I know the higher the temp the better breeding but I still wonder why the shrimp are disappearing....

Thanks again....
Robin