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Eggs???
By fisher from the fisher department, Section Diaries Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:50:41 PM PST Tags: (all tags)

Hi, I have just recently bought 2 Ghost Shrimp for my 32-gallon aquarium:)

In my aquarium I have...
-5 albino Corydoras ( 1 is just about, I would say 4 months old, 2 more are about 5 months old, and 2 other ones that are about 1 year old)
-1 spotted sailfin plecostomus ( about 1 and a half inches)
-4 swordtails ( 1 male and 3 females )
-2 guppies (1 male and 1 female)
-3 sunburst platys (all females)

My question is. Do my Ghost Shrimp have eggs? They have little black dots near the little legs that they walk on. They also have them inside of them too.

My second question is. How long will it take for the eggs to hatch?

My third question. Do the eggs have to be fertilized?

My fourth question is. What are my chances of saving any baby Ghost Shrimp in my 32-gallon aquarium with all those fish in it?

Last but not least. How many baby shrimp do they have in one brood?

Thanks for all of your help:)

Happy Holidays!
Fisher

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Eggs??? | 5 comments (5 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Neat! Your female would be "in berry." (none / 0) (#2)
by unclescott on Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 07:32:29 PM PST

Female Crayfish do that too. They carry the fertilized eggs around for a couple of days, the young hatch and take their (not so good) chances in the larger, hungry world.

You have obviously taken good care of them. That's a feather in your hat! It is an aquaristic rule that if we can give our aquatic charges conditions somewhat close to what they have in the wild, they will reproduce.

If yours youngsters are to survive, you would have to remove the female to (oh no! ANOTHER) tank where there were lots of plants, hiding places and soft algae to eat! Momma needs to be removed after she drops them. Since they will eat all kinds of fishfoods, with space, they are supposed to be easy to raise.

Their young in your community tank, would be greeted with the same affection as their tankmates would greet the young of their cousins, the brine shrimps. Even their parents are "fond" of them. :0

For a lot more, check out:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Ghost+Shrimp+breeding&btnG=Search
Interesting that the first entry documents two cases of them eating livebearer fry.

This should have some good stuff too:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Ghost+Shrimp+eggs&btnG=Search

They also go by glass shrimp and river shrimp. Probably search for the freshwater species, as opposed to the brackish or marine ones
Also look for them under genus names like Palaeomonetes. There are others.

Puffers and a lot of larger aquarium fish love them. They in turn will eat small shrimp such as those cherry shrimp, brine shrimp and Daphnia.

Here is a photo of a female crayfish in berry. The eggs probably vary by species with them and maybe also with the shrimp. You can see how they are attached to the female's swimmerets under the tail.

http://www.smartcenter.org/smartcenter/CRAYFISH2.HTM

Aha! Googling for glass shrimp eggs - here you are!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2567&password=&sort=1&cat=533&page=4

Do they resemble yours Fisher? If so, you now face another decision which has got to feel similar to deciding whether to separate a female guppy out. If you isolate the female glass shrimp, give her lots of food and leave lots of shelter for the young. Remove her as soon as you can after the young leave her. Feed them well or you may get one big cannibal. ;)

All the best!
u.s.

Yes It looks like that: ) (none / 0) (#4)
by fisher on Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 09:32:12 PM PST

My answer to your question is... YES:) My 2 ghost shrimp look like that:) So does that mean that mean that I have to give them a different tank for them so the babies survive? Should I buy a 1 gallon aqaurium with under gravel filter and heater for the female ghost shrimp if I want to save the babies? Thanks for you help. Also do ghost shrimp have to have filter and heater? How long can Gjost shrimp last without both of those? Thks again:)

Fisher

[ Parent ]

Yes, it looks like you would have to get another (none / 0) (#5)
by unclescott on Thu Dec 23, 2004 at 07:51:17 AM PST

place for the female and her offspring - if you want survivors. Otherwise her tankmates will vote them out of the tank.

A heater is probably not necessary for most of them. They come mostly from American waters. An airstone or sponge filter would be good and you would probably get a few more to grow up.

Several times visited Ruth and Ed Warner's place. They are/were full killie breeders in the Midwest. I was struck with how they used those plastic dish washing containers, one buys and puts in their sink, for young fry. One couldn't see the fry from the sides, but overhead monitoring was easy. Uneaten food and dirt was a snap to spot. The dishpans (obviously bought in bulk and never used for anything but the fish) were easily bleached or at least scalded. When not in use, they made one nice handy pile, ready to go. (There have been long threads on the fish mailing lists over the virtues of sterite.)

I think you could make do with a one-gallon tank. I'm sure that space and expense issues come into play. Not wanting to mess with your affairs too much, but more little shrimp will survive if they have more shelter to get away from Momma - and you feed her well and get out ASAP after the eggs hatch.

How many grow up has a lot to do with how well you feed them, do partial water changes and - maybe - how much space you give them. If you already have the one-gallon, I'm sure, that in your shoes, I would go with that. If you are going to buy a new home for them and you have the space - and your parent's blessing for the project - you might consider a 5.5 or 10-gallon tank. They don't cost that much more than a one-gallon tank or even some bowls. They might give you more bang (and some more cannibalistic sibling shrimp) for your buck.

You might check those pages recommended by Google and see what "they" recommend for baby glass shrimp food. (I can see you - or me if this were my project - wiping algae off the side of other tanks and shaking the algae off of the paper towel in with the babies.) However I would bet a limited supply of crushed up flake food would do fine. Spirulina flakes, given their preference for algae, might be best.

Oddly, if you have a plant "gunky" with algae, that not so lovely plant might be a windfall for your shrimp. :) They are such opportunistic feeders, much like guppies, that they shouldn't be hard to feed and the plant should look better.

When they get some size, they would probably love frozen baby brine shrimp or those "decapped brine shrimp" after those have been hydrated. Do feed those in moderation though.

All the best!

[ Parent ]

Re: Eggs??? (none / 0) (#1)
by Scott Lockwood on Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 04:57:46 PM PST

I have multiple shrimp like this in each tank - I've never had babies that I am aware of.

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker

Yes they did. Knowing a little of your care (none / 0) (#3)
by unclescott on Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 07:52:51 PM PST

and feeding, your shrimp have been feted well. Their many tankmates probably ate the little ones. :( You don't have the jungles like a couple of my tanks (yet).

Although, if you have had those shrimp in there for much more than a year, they may have been reproducing their numbers in a sort of an equilibrium. A year old glass shrimp is an old one.

As an aside, I was privileged to have Scott and Reza visit about a month ago. (I do wish the fishroom were in less disarray. They were very gracious.) They looked at a couple of tanks where the plant mass was several 100 times that of the few fish in there. Scott turned to Reza and noted, "Maybe we don't have to thin that tank out."

I think that many aquarists have had fish like zebra danios spawn in their community aquariums. Danios will scatter more eggs than livebearers will drop fry. That works in nature. In the close confines of a community tank, both the Danios, certainly the Corys, and maybe everybody else, got a snack.

All the best!
unc;e

[ Parent ]

Eggs??? | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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