Time for a shrimp baby shower!

[libertybelle]

So some of you may have seen my thread detailing my unsuccessful attempt to treat what I think was a bacterial infection in my cherry colony. The last post in that thread I had received a replacement order for some DOA’s which I kept separate from my main colony for a while until it became obvious they were suffering from the same problem as the original group brought into the tank. I stopped posting because it was just too discouraging to document. I actually dreaded turning the light on in my shrimp tank for months because I was always finding dead shrimp to remove. At the end of months of troubleshooting and treating and thinking things were improving for a couple days and then being proven wrong... I lost the whole colony except one female. She lived on, as the only shrimp in with my Pygmy cories for about 6 months after the rest of her colony was gone.

About a month ago I got up the guts to try again. Bought a couple males locally to see if she was carrying anything from that illness that would re-emerge when new shrimp were added. No problems, she was berried practically instantly. I’ve since added about a dozen more without any issues but can still tell which she is because she was the first (and only until a couple days ago) berried shrimp in the tank.

Now I think I see baby shrimp eyes in those berries! I feel like I want to throw her a party but my family would think I was even more crazy than they already suspect. So virtual party here, with people who share my crazy. Because this girl is a survivor and she so deserves to pass on her survivor genes!

 

[2sweetladyz]

Congratulations! I'm glad little Mama is doing well! Looking forward to pics of babies!

 

[Autumnsky]

Yay!!!!! Congrats!

 

[FishOwner]

Congratulations! I hope your baby shrimps will be beautiful.

 

[libertybelle]

Well I was out of town for a few days and I can’t tell who the original mama shrimp from my old colony is anymore because I had at least two berried when I left and I have two berried now. Not sure if she’s still berried or if it’s a new mama because I haven’t gotten a good enough look at how developed the eggs are yet.

Looking at the details of the markings from the picture I posted earlier, it looks like she is still carrying eggs, but it’s not like they wear name tags

I saw at least one clear perfect newborn baby sized molt floating around in the tank though, but I haven’t seen any babies yet!

Does the baby molt mean the berried mama I am seeing now is definitely new or do they sometimes take a few hours or a day to kick off all those babies? I’ve never had only one berried at a time before so I was never clear on the time tables!

 

[FishOwner]

The hatch times of the shrimplets vary, sometimes by a lot. The only berried shrimp I had that didn't drop her eggs released the newly hatched shrimplets over the course of a week and a half. 90% of the eggs hatched very quick but two eggs took FOREVER to hatch.

 

[Autumnsky]

Not a scientific answer, but I think I have seen at least 2 days maybe 3, at times it seems like more. I can tell by the sizes of the babies I end up seeing. Over the course of several days I see more and more tiny babies. Mom hides most of the time.

 

[Autumnsky]

Not a scientific answer, but I think its over several days, from the number of babies I see over a week. Momma hides a lot. So very possible it's a new mom you see. And as mentioned new moms drop eggs but less and less with experience.

 

[libertybelle]

I saw one mama hiding in a plant the last couple days and I suspected she was the one releasing babies. Good hypothesis because that one anubius plant is the only place I’ve seen the babies so far. I’ve seen three at one time now today and mama is no longer hanging out there so I’m guessing there’s many more I can’t see yet and she may be done releasing her babies.

I don’t have a macro lens or anything so this is as good a picture as I could manage so far!

They’re so tiny, but grow so fast! This is the first time I was able to get my camera to focus on one. It’s only been less than a day since I first spotted them and they look almost double the size already.

 

[Autumnsky]

I saw one mama hiding in a plant the last couple days and I suspected she was the one releasing babies. Good hypothesis because that one anubius plant is the only place I’ve seen the babies so far. I’ve seen three at one time now today and mama is no longer hanging out there so I’m guessing there’s many more I can’t see yet and she may be done releasing her babies.

I don’t have a macro lens or anything so this is as good a picture as I could manage so far!

They’re so tiny, but grow so fast! This is the first time I was able to get my camera to focus on one. It’s only been less than a day since I first spotted them and they look almost double the size already.

That one looks big!!! And a good pic too!

 

[libertybelle]

They’re still crazy tiny! The scale is deceptive because it’s one of the species of anubius with really tiny leaves! That lead it is sitting on is barely over 1/4 inch wide