# Rcs



## ffemt89 (Mar 22, 2012)

Hey All,

I ordered some RCS from James here a while back, awesome transaction btw, they are what I would say are juvies as I assume they get bigger than what they are now. My questions are:

How old do they have to be before they "saddle"? As I noticed today what appears to be eggs along the back of one of them

Even though they are saddled are they old enough to actually reproduce?

What do I need to do to help them with the breeding process??

Chive On,

Alex


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## Corywm (Jan 18, 2011)

RCS mature pretty small and fast. If you're seeing saddles ou'll probably just see eggs in a week or two. Basically the best way to breed them is to offer up a ton of hiding places. Once they feel safe, they get down to business 

Lots of live plants like java moss, water sprite etc help. As well as some small rock caves. Then just follow up with some high quality foods. Make sure there are no fish in there to harass them.


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## BSCfootball16 (Aug 8, 2012)

Corywm said:


> RCS mature pretty small and fast. If you're seeing saddles ou'll probably just see eggs in a week or two. Basically the best way to breed them is to offer up a ton of hiding places. Once they feel safe, they get down to business
> 
> Lots of live plants like java moss, water sprite etc help. As well as some small rock caves. Then just follow up with some high quality foods. Make sure there are no fish in there to harass them.


I'm about to get some of these shrimp too! What kind of "high quality foods" are you talking about?


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## Bob-O (Jan 28, 2012)

Just my experience with this subject. If you're seeing saddles you should have some pregnant shrimp soon. Just keep the water quality up. Regular water changes. Java moss helps this too while also providing a hiding place complete with food for the babies. The females like to hide in the moss as well after molting which is when they're ready to breed. I bought 40 RCS and put them in my heavily planted 90 gallon tank. I have no idea how many RCS are in there now. They're in there with hatchetfish, cardinal tetras, rummynose tetras, lemon tetras, sterbai corys, otos, pond snails, MTS and assassin snails, and are breeding readily. Surprisingly to me, the rummynose go after the baby RCS far more than any other fish, yet the shrimp population is booming thanks to a few good sized bunches of java moss for them to hide in. I feed the tank spirulina flakes in the morning, freeze dried blood worms in the evening along with a couple algae wafers. Shrimps don't seem to be picky eaters. I used to give them a blanched spinach leaf every other day, but they stopped eating it and now just clean plant leaves, moss and forage the substrate. I love RCS. They are very active and fun to watch, couldn't be easier to breed. Absolute joy to have in the tank. Just keep the water quality up and provide some hiding places and you'll be fine. Java moss is great and as my java fern is slowly spreading across the left side of my tank I'm seeing more and more shrimp in there. Cheers mate! I wish you good luck in your new found shrimp adventures.


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

I believe WC's should be kept small, less than 20% weekly I do mine every other week. Mine are doing great in my liquid rock water. This tank became the low light planted tank and is pretty jammed with plants now.


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