Walstad Tank

[incognito]

Hi,

I’m new here. I got my cpd nearly a month ago.
I put them together in my 2.5 ft walstad tank in my apartment balcony.
Sadly till today, they are not yet breeding. I feed them frozen daphnia more than enough daily.
They get along fine with cherry and yamato shrimp.
Maybe they’re eating the eggs. I don’t know. I had since moved them safely.
Sexing is a tedious task. Looking at the aquarium like some nuts for hours.
I guess, i have 2 male and 3 female.
Water perimeters is a mystery. I never tested the water. I mixed the cheap soil with some crushed corals. Since the bucket regime is pretty tiring, i only change 10% of the water twice monthly. I also planted some elodea to soften the water naturally. I aim not to do any water changes for at least 6 months.
My aquarium receive direct sunlight from 8am to 12am and indirect sunlight after that. The temperature can reach up to 35 Celsius but they’re ok. Seems to be doing fine except no fry.

[tedr108]

I can almost guarantee you that your CPDs are breeding. It is the shrimp. I used to get almost daily fry until I got shrimp. Now I get zero fry — the shrimp love to eat the eggs. Take the shrimp out and I’m sure that all will be fine. That’s not to say one or more of your CPDs won’t eat the fry before or after they hatch. However, I was able to rescue fry from my main tank and was able to raise them to adults.

In general, you want to have a separate breeding tank. Put some males and females in it for a couple of weeks, then remove them. You will get many more fry that way.

During the summer months, I would rescue the fry from my main tank and actually put them in an outdoor tub with floating plants (and some anacharis). The little guys just raised themselves — no feeding at all. When they got big enough, I put them in the main tank.

Sexing is rather easy for adults. In the 2 pictures above, all 4 fish are males. You see that fin on the bottom closest to the tail? It’s orange-black-orange-black. On a female, it will basically be a combination of orange and clear or opaque.

[incognito]

Thanks for the advice. I totally agree with you.
But i have no more place to separate the males and females. I just let them be and hope for the best.
I’m just worried about algae. Since no shrimp to keep them at bay.
Females are pretty aggressive toward the male. Maybe due to their size are much bigger.
How long does it take for them to have some fry? Anyway, here’s a pic of my aquarium.

At night.

During the day.

[tedr108]

I understand your concern about algae. If you have a place to put the shrimp, however, you only need to remove them for a week or so. Once the fry hatch, you can put the shrimp back in.

As far as how long it takes for the CPDs to start having fry… A month is plenty of time, assuming they are even remotely happy. Like I said, I’m sure yours are already laying eggs. Many people like to have some sort of moss (like java moss) in their breeding tanks, but it looks like your CPDs have plenty of good places to lay eggs in your fine-leaved plants. I made some “spawning mops” out of green acrylic yarn, which my CPDs seemed to use.

Anyway, try removing your shrimp for a week or so. I think that you will see fry in a few days. Remember, however, that you may have a hungry adult CPD who enjoys eating eggs and fry. I know that most of mine were being eaten. I was just able to rescue some here and there. Keep a sharp lookout for fry, they are easy to miss. If your adults are well-fed, it is more likely that you will get fry.

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