eggs?

[d1anonly22]

i went yesterday to petsmart and bought six ghost shrimp, i got home and realized that four of them seem to be carrying at least 10 eggs each, do the lay eggs or is it something else they have on them?

 

[gzeiger]

Those would indeed be eggs. They don't "lay" them like fish, but will carry them in those swimerettes under the tail until they hatch. The eggs are visible before they are fertilized, so you have to look closely to see if what you're seeing is eggs carried internally (commonly referred to as a "saddled" shrimp) or externally ("berried"). The eggs carried internally will be fertilized the next time the female molts, and afterward are carried externally. She will constantly move the eggs around; it looks like she's juggling them.

There are two species of shrimp commonly sold as "ghost shrimp" in the feeder tanks. If you have Palaemonetes vulgaris, they require brackish water for the eggs to hatch, and you'll just lose them. More likely you have Palaemonetes paludosus, which is commonly found in drainage ditches here in the south and has been introduced to California. These will develop in fully fresh water, but if you want to raise them you need to be extremely careful about the construction of the tank. The larvae are tiny and will be eaten immediately even by small fish like neon tetras or guppy fry. They are weak swimmers that will be sucked into any HOB filter intake, and they tend to hang on the top of the water where they are vulnerable.

To raise them I would suggest a species tank with a sponge filter or even unfiltered with plants. A 5-gallon bucket can even work, but a community tank will not.

 

[d1anonly22]

so what about a 55 gallon that dosent have a filter yet?

 

[d1anonly22]

so i just put in the aquarium salt, how long should it take for the ghost shrimp to hatch.