When do Phyta fail at being fruitful and multiplying

In Waking Mars, the two mobile species (Phyta and Cycots) are an important part of the Martian lifecycle. Their main purpose, of course, is to be eaten like the mobile snacks they ar– er, I mean, provide nutrients for other species as part of the great Circle Of Life. One by-product of the Circle Of Life is Compost, which you can use to fertilize soil, improve the life growing in said soil, and increase the Biomass in the cavern. Acquiring large amounts of Compost involves leading many Phyta or Cycots to the dinner table of a Larian.

Since this sort of activity leads to a dearth of Phyta, you breed more Phyta by giving them a seed. This makes the Phyta produce some sort of Phyta-cocoon, and after 10 seconds or so, a new Phyta pops out.

The problem I'm running into is that sometimes, the cocoon doesn't pop out a new Phyta – the cocoon just decays, leaving me with nothing to stuff down the ravening maws of other Martian life. (I'm seeing this particularly in caverns that have maxed out their Biomass at level 5.)

Why aren't the Phyta reproducing when I feed them, and how can I make them start breeding again?

Best Answer

I mentioned this in a previous answer, but I will bring an excerpt of it here:

Phyta and Cycots will stop reproducing once Biomass Level 5 has been reached. When this happens, they will continue to eat seeds, but their eggs will just "dissolve" rather than hatch into a creature.

This is to prevent overpopulation, but if the Biomass Level goes down to 4 or less, the creatures will immediately start populating again until level 5 has been reached. Other than that, those species should continue to populate so long as they are kept "well fed" with seeds.