View Full Version : Berried Shrimp behavior
wendamus
01-28-2009, 5:02 AM
I've been watching my berried RCS -- I have plenty that have hatched now, and there are various ages of babies around the tank, which makes the whole tank a blast to watch.
I took some odd pictures. I know the females 'fan' their eggs, but lately I've seen a couple going around with their eggs hanging out. I don't know if that means they're just thrilled to be in an invert only tank, or if it means the eggs are hatching, or something is wrong?
Here's some pics. I would have thought it was a stressed female dropping her berry, except that it's the most nonstressful tank ever, plus I saw two females do it within a few minutes of each other. (You can tell them apart because one of them has yellow eggs, and the other has green eggs.) What's going on?
(P.S. That gorgeous purple bridgsii acting as an armchair for one of the RCS is one of the ones I got from msjinkzd, isn't (s)he gorgeous?)
nice pics! good lookin ram there too hehe. I have a few green berries myself and I've always wondered if it's inherited.
I hope my own purple brig grows up lookin as nice as yours does.
msjinkzd
01-28-2009, 7:16 AM
Does that egg dangling only happen when they are at rest? And then they start fanning and turning them again?
The green and yellow eggs are both normal. The snail looks great btw!
wendamus
01-28-2009, 3:37 PM
Does that egg dangling only happen when they are at rest? And then they start fanning and turning them again?
Yes, I'd say it's mostly when they're at rest, although occasionally they'll leisurely travel a bit with them hanging out, then stop again. It's really strange!
Yadokari
01-28-2009, 5:06 PM
An overabundance of eggs happens every now and then. I have witnessed this occur multiple times, I have yet to see any fall off the mother before they hatch though. Just consider yourself happy to have such fertile shrimp :-)
More babies for youuuuuu!
Hollygirl
01-28-2009, 8:01 PM
That snail is beautiful and your shrimp are adorable!
wendamus
01-28-2009, 9:05 PM
Woohoo! Although now that they've started breeding, it's obvious to me that I'm quickly going to have more shrimp than I know what to do with! Luckily, I have guppies, so I can just continue to fill all my tanks with overflow shrimp and I'll have cleaner tanks, and happier guppies.
wendamus
01-28-2009, 9:05 PM
That snail is beautiful and your shrimp are adorable!
Thank you! I can't take any credit for the snail, it's all msjinkzd's good work, but I am VERY happy with how beautiful he turned out.
southerndesert
01-29-2009, 7:37 AM
I too have seen this with some of my younger smaller females and as mentioned there just seem to be a few to many eggs for her to hold tightly, but all should be fine. Shrimp do drop eggs from time to time, but rarely in my experience.
wendamus
01-29-2009, 10:44 AM
I've got mine in an invert only tank now. If they happen to drop an egg, is there anything preventing eggs from hatching if the shrimp don't carry them around? I don't think pond snails, ramshorns or bridgsii's would eat them, so wouldn't they just sit around on the bottom of the tank and eventually hatch?
wendamus
01-29-2009, 11:38 AM
nice pics! good lookin ram there too hehe. I have a few green berries myself and I've always wondered if it's inherited.
I hope my own purple brig grows up lookin as nice as yours does.
Pik, this reminds me -- if we're gonna meet for the first meeting of the SoCal inverts club next month, would you like to swap some baby shrimplets to increase genetic diversity in our colonies? I've read that's a good idea. My colony is pretty new (at most two generations), and I think yours is too, but since you're inconveniently graduating soon, I thought I'd ask now.
sounds like a plan, but I got my shrimpies from rachel. If you got them from her as well, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? :p Or would the swapping still help? dunno honestly.
wendamus
01-30-2009, 12:08 PM
sounds like a plan, but I got my shrimpies from rachel. If you got them from her as well, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? :p Or would the swapping still help? dunno honestly.
I didn't know Rachel when I got mine -- I discovered her invertie bounty and greatness later. :-) Mine came from a Stockton seller on aquabid.