Cherries Not Breeding.

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Drunkenbushman

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Jun 30, 2010
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Im having lots of trouble breeding my cherries. I know they are supposed to breed like rabbits but mine dont seem to ever get berried. The females are constantly saddled but thats all.

Im wondering if there is anything that I could do to help them start or get them going?

Ive been keeping them for a while and had success at the start with a few lots of shimplets but then they stopped and my colony is starting to slowly die out. Last count I think I had about 14 left after starting off with 10 and a few lots of shrimplets.

Now the tank is only small, a 10gal with peddles as substrate. I have two size 30 sponge filters powered by an air pump. The tank is heated to 26degrees. There is some blue stricta that grows like crazy in there and some drift wood as well. Recently I had java moss but it had some white cotton wolly fungus growing on it and the drift wood so I have removed that, boiled my drift wood a few times and gone crazy on the gravel vaccing to try and get it out of the substrate ( using ehiem submersible vac). I did also used to have some plastic ornaments but have taken them out incase they might be affecting the water. Ive had the tank up for around a year as well. Used to hold my yabbie and some Danios but its now a shrimp only tank.

Tank params are

Ammo - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
PH - 7.8

I do around 10-15 % water changes each week and tend to feed every second day. They do ok in the tank they are all active and are constantly eating I just dont know what im doing wrong or what I could do better. Any advice would be muchly appreciated :) :help:
 

cpetrosky

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Jan 22, 2011
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Chris Petrosky
i have no idea but you really must have messed up if your cherries arnt breeding. i keep a backup colony going in a vase in the kitchen, just sand, water, java moss, and 30 cherries. no water movement or water changes. feed once or twice a week. been like that for 9 months and there breeding just as fast as my 20 main breeding tank.
 
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homedog98

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Jul 19, 2011
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More hiding places is a must. That tank needs to be planted dense, with lots of java moss and other good bushy plants for breeding to be successful. :)
 

cakins

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Apr 30, 2011
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Maybe a stupid question, but are you sure that you have males? They're not usually the ones people pick out at the pet shop because their color isn't as good as the females.
 

Drunkenbushman

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Jun 30, 2010
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Melbourne Australia
Im feeling that ive messed up big time :(

@Cakins Im pretty sure I have males, they are they more clear ones that dont seem to have saddles im thinking/hoping and have a differant shaped body. More slim.

I might put a clay fake log in and buy them some more java moss as I took the stuff in out because it was covered in the white cottonish stuff.

Cheers for the imput guys :)
 
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noble

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Jun 9, 2011
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Try dropping the temp a bit. Mine is set to 22 and they are breeding. I have 3 berried females at the moment.
 

Drunkenbushman

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Jun 30, 2010
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Melbourne Australia
I know some people use RO or rain water for their shrimp tanks.

We have to run a dehumdifier in our place and thought I could use the water from that. Tested the ammonia tho and its off the charts like a 10-12 ( tester only goes to 8 and its darker than that)

So thats out of the question as i dont wanna be dropping that in.

I have a old ceramic/clay log ornament that used to be in the yabbies tank might drop that in there so they have a nice dark place to hide, it wont leech anything into the tank will it?
 

jetajockey

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Apr 9, 2010
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florida panhandle
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how long have you had them? My RCS didn't really take off till several months into keeping them. I had trouble keeping them in smaller tanks but in a larger well planted tank they thrive. Unfortunately the CRS in the tank dont, which is weird :[
 
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