Shanjing breeding tips...

2 of my 7 have taken to the water recently-and they both appear to be females with the volcano vent shape-very plump too-so i assume they are eager....here is a shot of their tank-its a 40 breeder

i have a lot of plants in the water section-it looks like this

im wondering if its too crowded for them to breed in-do they need a lot of room for courtship?
here is a (bad) shot of a male who wandered into the water section while i was shooting

Hi Paris,

My shanjing laid their eggs in a water area that was very crowded with elodea and java moss but i didn't witness the courtship that time. Eggs were laid almost exclusively on the elodea - those that weren't were laid on the gravel and rocks.

Best of luck with them!

I hope they lay eggs Paris. About a month ago a put a rubbermaid container (about 12x8x4 in) in the 50 gal breeder that I have 6 shanjings in. The setup is terrestrial with several inches of substrate, a pothos, and cork bark shelters. Previously I had a shallow water container (which was rarely used). I filled the rubbermaid container up with water and added a piece of fake driftwood (in order to avoid drowning) and lots of java moss. The animals seemed curious when I first introduced the larger water container and several even took a swim. Since that time however all have went back to hiding under the shelters. I am hoping as well that the container is not too small. Fingers crossed!
Chip

Over the last several days 3 of mine have been spending quite a bit of time in the water. The only plant that I have in there is java moss however based on Mark's comment it probably would not hurt to add some elodea. How are yours Paris?
Chip

took a lot of pics chip -look for 2 new posts soon....

[justin slate]

Cant wait to see the pics