I see this so often, people wondering why they aren't getting much breeding action in their tank, or some do get breeding action, but don't get that baby boom they are looking for. Well, there are a few things to consider, before messing around with water parameters.
First of all, you might be overcrowded. Lots of folks say its hard to overstock a shrimp tank, and while there is some truth to that, there are some caveats. You can have 50+ shrimp in a 10 gallon tank, but what you will see in that tank is a bunch of adults, possibly getting berried, but they're never really able to hold on to those eggs for a full term. Maybe you just see a few babies sprinkled around your tank, and you expect to see more. Lots of times, overcrowding will present with small adults. If you see a female on her 2nd round of babies, and she still looks small, chances are you are crowding out your adults. Thin the herd.
Maybe you're seeing random deaths, and you notice they're mostly females. Hey, some may even be freshly berried and that one is so sad to see. Or you walk in on a shrimp frenzy, but you didn't feed, and they're starting to cannibalize. If you are feeding at least twice a week, this is probably due to the male to female ratio being off. When the female molts and releases her pheromones', this attracts all the males to her. If there are too many males in the tank, chances are pretty high that they end up eating her/the eggs instead of doing their deed and continuing on. I try to keep a ratio of 2 males and 6-8 females. 1 male does the trick if you're confident he is healthy and has lots of time ahead of him.
If you thin out your colony, and get a good m:f ratio in your tank, and are still not seeing babies, maybe it is time to evaluate your water parameters. Do a full check up of pH, gh, kh, temp, tds and see if there is anything that you can correct. I don't suggest altering water parameters until you rule out these other issues. Sometimes, more harm can come by messing with these numbers too much.
First of all, you might be overcrowded. Lots of folks say its hard to overstock a shrimp tank, and while there is some truth to that, there are some caveats. You can have 50+ shrimp in a 10 gallon tank, but what you will see in that tank is a bunch of adults, possibly getting berried, but they're never really able to hold on to those eggs for a full term. Maybe you just see a few babies sprinkled around your tank, and you expect to see more. Lots of times, overcrowding will present with small adults. If you see a female on her 2nd round of babies, and she still looks small, chances are you are crowding out your adults. Thin the herd.
Maybe you're seeing random deaths, and you notice they're mostly females. Hey, some may even be freshly berried and that one is so sad to see. Or you walk in on a shrimp frenzy, but you didn't feed, and they're starting to cannibalize. If you are feeding at least twice a week, this is probably due to the male to female ratio being off. When the female molts and releases her pheromones', this attracts all the males to her. If there are too many males in the tank, chances are pretty high that they end up eating her/the eggs instead of doing their deed and continuing on. I try to keep a ratio of 2 males and 6-8 females. 1 male does the trick if you're confident he is healthy and has lots of time ahead of him.
If you thin out your colony, and get a good m:f ratio in your tank, and are still not seeing babies, maybe it is time to evaluate your water parameters. Do a full check up of pH, gh, kh, temp, tds and see if there is anything that you can correct. I don't suggest altering water parameters until you rule out these other issues. Sometimes, more harm can come by messing with these numbers too much.
