# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna >  Need help, red cherry shrimps are not breeding

## silver

I've been keeping red cherry shrimps for around 3 months in a low tech planted nano tank. 1 feet length, quite heavily planted with jungle val, water sprite, java moss and java fern, using a HOB filter, no CO2.

I first purchased it with a batch of 10 shrimps and additional 6 babies (I only realised about the babies when brought home). They're doing good so far, only 2 death till now. The baby is now half the size of an adult one. And the adults are growing and I can see significant changes in size of some of them. I also see the female with the yellow "horse saddle".
The problem with them is that I've never seen any berry mommy or new baby shrimps. Which mean they're not breeding.

I've heard that red cherry shrimps will bread easily when keeping male and female in a planted tank. So what could be the reason they're not even berry at all? About 1 month ago, I added 5 neon tetras and few horn snails. It looks like they're living in peace and I have never seen the tetras chasing or bother the red shrimps.

Do I need to improve the shrimps diet? I only feed then with the dried food and pellets bought from LFS. I tried boil cucumber few times but they don't look like much interested in cucumber.

Any advice is appreciated.

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## fireblade

the tetra will hunt down the shrimplets in future...

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## oberon4687

> the tetra will hunt down the shrimplets in future...


+1 to this comment.
By the way, how many males do you have?

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## silver

I would say half half, if I count all the smaller one without saddle as male. 
Guess I will need to find a new home for the tetra then. But does the female scare of them so much that they don't even get berry?

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## NanoScaper

val


> I've been keeping red cherry shrimps for around 3 months in a low tech planted nano tank. 1 feet length, quite heavily planted with jungle , water sprite, java moss and java fern, using a HOB filter, no CO2.
> 
> I first purchased it with a batch of 10 shrimps and additional 6 babies (I only realised about the babies when brought home). They're doing good so far, only 2 death till now. The baby is now half the size of an adult one. And the adults are growing and I can see significant changes in size of some of them. I also see the female with the yellow "horse saddle".
> The problem with them is that I've never seen any berry mommy or new baby shrimps. Which mean they're not breeding.
> 
> I've heard that red cherry shrimps will bread easily when keeping male and female in a planted tank. So what could be the reason they're not even berry at all? About 1 month ago, I added 5 neon tetras and few horn snails. It looks like they're living in peace and I have never seen the tetras chasing or bother the red shrimps.
> 
> Do I need to improve the shrimps diet? I only feed then with the dried food and pellets bought from LFS. I tried boil cucumber few times but they don't look like much interested in cucumber.
> 
> Any advice is appreciated.


Hi-Yo, silver

The usual advice you'll get (if you're trying to breed shrimps) is to set up a shrimp only tank. Meaning, no other fauna in the tank except the shrimps themselves.

Nothing wrong with your tank since I assume you're leaning towards a planted tank setup and it is still possible for the shrimps to breed even with fishes inside. Just look at j.c.koh's planted tank where he has plants, fishes and shrimps. From post #265 onwards, he's already having trouble keeping the shrimp population in control. :Very Happy: 

Knowing that "saddles" on the shrimps means they are female is actually a good start. But shrimps without saddles doesn't necessarily mean they are male. Another way to tell the difference between male vs female shrimps will be the appearance of a curved underbelly for the female shrimps.

Also, you didn't realise that you've got shrimplets when you bought them. I have to guess that you bought those pre-packed shrimps from an LFS? Usually, they are not in the best of health when sold in that manner. Let's hope they are well and don't have any other problems. If they are surviving, just have to be patient until they start to thrive.

By the way, it would help if you could post photos of your tank and provide your tank's water parameters for us to know more about what's going on.

Good luck.

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## silver

Thanks rezdwan for your reply. I actually bought red shrimp by hand picking (the LFS owner did it for me), and I guess the shrimplets came due to sticking into the nets or she did it on purpose as a promotion  :Very Happy: . I remembered the shrimp tank in LFS was really crowded.
Quick update is that I finally saw a berry mama shrimp 2 days ago. So I guess it's the matter of time. Pretty excited but I hope the neon tetra crews will leave the mama alone. My tank is small (nano size) but it has great hiding space due to heavily planted, so hope the shrimplets will survive over hard time. I have no tank for the tetra unfortunately.
Will shot some image and post soon for the update.

Btw, is that like after 3-4 days the berry mama will release her babies?

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## fireblade

I think some shrimplets will still be able to survive with your neons just that some will be eaten.. 
I used to keep some shrimps with a pair of ram and I do see shrimplets somehow... but my MC was a few CM thick that time..  :Smile:

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## NanoScaper

> Thanks rezdwan for your reply. I actually bought red shrimp by hand picking (the LFS owner did it for me), and I guess the shrimplets came due to sticking into the nets or she did it on purpose as a promotion . I remembered the shrimp tank in LFS was really crowded.
> Quick update is that I finally saw a berry mama shrimp 2 days ago. So I guess it's the matter of time. Pretty excited but I hope the neon tetra crews will leave the mama alone. My tank is small (nano size) but it has great hiding space due to heavily planted, so hope the shrimplets will survive over hard time. I have no tank for the tetra unfortunately.
> Will shot some image and post soon for the update.
> 
> Btw, is that like after 3-4 days the berry mama will release her babies?


Hey, silver

Glad to hear that you're shrimps are finally breeding. It could be just that they took some time to adjust to your tank.

The berried shrimps will carry the eggs for about another three to four weeks before the eggs hatch. You'll observe little shrimplets bit by bit in your tank.

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