Baby shrimp??

[GobyMan]

So tonight about 3 hours after the lights go out I look in my 5 1/2 gallon with a flashlight and what do I see.....a virtual snowstorm. First I thought my calcium had precipitated, since I have been raising it toward the 500 ppm level over the past few days...then I noticed my cleaner shrimp running all over the tank catching the "snow"....after looking a little closer I realized what it was...babies...

 

Now, I just added an emerald crab today, but I figure these are shrimp fry...I ran and got my camera and snapped off a few shots.....I think I remember reading that mortality is pretty much zero, am I right? If nothing else I guess I may have a nice future supply of zooplankton...

 

Another question came to me then, in a 5 1/2 gallon, will I have a problem with nutrient load from all the babies??

 

 

[flaunt]

cute babies! they do look like little shrimps, but is it possible they're baby hermits? i've heard hermit crabs just "chuck" their young into the water, but i don't know about shrimp... you said the cleaner shrimp were "catching the snow." did you mean they were eating the babies? would they cannabalize on their own young? hmm... anyway if they are baby shrimp i thought i had heard a lot that it's nearly impossible to keep them alive (or maybe those were baby hermits-maybe both!), anyway this isn't very helpful i guess, but you might look around online for info about how to raise baby shrimp. if i remember right i saw a book for sale online once that was all about how to do that. good luck.

[NanoReefer53]

mmmmm...that's some good coral food u got there Just leave them in the tank, your montiporas will thank you

[fishymissy]

Do you have fish in the tank? If so, most of the larvae will be eaten by the fish. The filter or powerheads will take their toll too. But some just might survive! (I have camelback shrimp larvae in my tank that have managed to go though several metamorphisis')

Anyway, don't worry if they all die off, something in your tank will eat them.

[Sahin]

They are infact little shrimp babies.

I had the same thing occur in my tank with my cleaner shrimp. None survived though. Mostly got eaten.

 

Now my shrimp does produce eggs, but there is not male to fertilise the eggs.

 

They look exactly like the ones my shrimp released in my tank shortly after I bought her.

 

I called up the LFS but they said none will survive so its not point trying to save them etc.

[printerdown01]

Yup, it was your cleaner shirmp! These guys often spawn in captivity. If you want to see them grow I suggest buying a hatchery kit like they use for guppies (or simply a plastic box with holes poked in it for circulation). The cleaner will eat its own kids... As will everything else in your tank: corals, hermits, emeralds, fish, ect. If you have a fuge you could throw a bunch in there and hope one survives... But they do make an EXCELENT food source in your tank! In fact many public aquariums use cleaner shrimps in the fuges so that they will spawn and litter the tank with zooplankton. -either way congrads!

[GobyMan]

Thanks for all the info everyone!! I'm now wondering if this was a one time deal, or something I can expect again. I think I remember reading that cleaners spawn pretty regularly, like every three weeks...I guess that would be a nice source of food. I haven't added a fuge, I will probably just move everyone from my 5 1/2 into a 10 or 7 bow and then use my 5 1/2 as a fuge down the line.....

 

Guess I don't need to feed the tank today

[mxpro32]

i tried to raise baby shrimp not that long ago but they only lived for about two weeks. they did get bigger and started turning red though. i was feeding them fresh hatched brine shrimp. i removed them from the main tank so they wouldnt be eaten. i bought that book somebody mentioned and it tells you how to raise peppermint shrimp, but it said cleaner shrimp are nearly impossible to raise in captivity and only a handfull of research labs have been succesful.