Shrimp not breeding or moulting

[drk5179]

Hello all,

 

Long time shrimp keeper on and off and this is my first time posting to shrimp spot! I am having an issue or two with my current tank that I was hoping to get a few opinions on.

 

Currently I keep a combination of neocaridina (blues) and CRS in the same tank.  This is a 7 gallon cube tank with tropica aqua soil, seryu stone, some malaysian drift wood and RO water (TDS 10) remineralizer with SS GH+ to about 140 tds.  The typical TDS of the tank itself is around 200 due to feeding and general evaporation. TDS above 200 is an indication that i need to do a water change.  I've tested the KH = 1-2 and GH = 7-10 and the PH right around 7 probably due to the seryu stone. Additional occupants are a single nerite snail and a single ottocinclus. 

 

I have had the blue shrimp for much longer term in the same setup, roughly 8 months.  They bred for me a couple of times but have gone stagnant over the past 6 months, very very slow growth from the babies and no breeding.  For this period of time i was using normal tap water and keeping the tank at a relatively low 70-72 degrees.  In total now i have about 50 of them that are almost at maturity. I got the CRS relatively recently, maybe had them for 2 months now and this was when i transitioned the tank to RO remineralizer.   They responded quite well to the tank and i took zero losses and everyone seems happy and healthy. I feed the tank blanched zucchini and calcium pellet food on occasion.  They are always really active and eating heartily. 

 

My confusion is this...  I have not seen a moult in this tank in months.  The shrimp are active and healthy, not dying, but there is no moulting activity and if there is i do not see any sign of it.  In addition to this despite happy shrimp in ideal conditions there is no breeding activity either.  I've upped the temperature to 75-76 degrees F over the course of a month in hopes of increasing their libido.  I've noted higher activity levels but still no breeding or moulting.  Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?  In my experience keeping CRS and/or Neos, remineralized RO water in these conditions = crazy breeding activity.  There must be something i'm missing. 

 

Thanks for any feedback in advance! 

 

-D