My new project.

Post by **Mustafa** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:34 pm

Sounds like success to me.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:34 pm

Sheesh. I was doing a head count and noticed that the female is once again carrying eggs!

She just finished letting go of the babies only three days ago. I had no idea that shrimp could become ovigerous so quickly following a hatching. Guess the tank conditions are to their liking.

I have also noticed that a few of the baby shrimp have already gone through their first molts. They have colored up nicely and are spreading out around the tank. Things are looking good.

GunmetalBlue · Post by **GunmetalBlue** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:02 pm

Hey Frugalfish, keep up the good work! Not too many people here have Bee shrimp; it's nice to have them documented.

Incidentally, Tahitian Moon sand is one of my favorite substrates - it's not too fine, so there's less compacting. Texture is really nice.

frugalfish wrote:I have also noticed that a few of the baby shrimp have already gone through their first molts. They have colored up nicely and are spreading out around the tank. Things are looking good.

Lookin' very good. Pretty exciting stuff, eh? The times I've seen those teeny-tiny baby molt casings (so small and light, it swirls with the current), I've wanted to fish them out and get them bronzed, like baby shoes.

-GB

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:55 pm

frugalfish wrote:Sheesh. I was doing a head count and noticed that the female is once again carrying eggs! She just finished letting go of the babies only three days ago. I had no idea that shrimp could become ovigerous so quickly following a hatching. Guess the tank conditions are to their liking.

Are you sure it's the same female? I'm sure you have a few other females in there. Usually, it takes a little while before they start carrying eggs again...at least in my tank.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:05 am

Mustafa wrote:Are you sure it's the same female? I'm sure you have a few other females in there. Usually, it takes a little while before they start carrying eggs again...at least in my tank.

Yes, I am 100% positive. I only have one pair of these shrimp. I have found that it usually takes at least a week to ten days for my other shrimp to begin carrying again after dropping young and that's why I am so surprised at this shrimp. At first I thought it was strange that she molted so quickly after dropping the young and then very strange that she would be carrying again so quickly. It's now been a little over a week and she is still holding so I will assume these eggs are fertile. Strange as this is, I can't say I'm not happy it's happened.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:49 am

frugalfish wrote: Strange as this is, I can't say I'm not happy it's happened.

Haha...of course you should be happy. Not like it's a bad thing, I was just a little surprised. This could actually mean that they are getting lots of protein rich food for such rapid egg production.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:07 pm

They're growing up fast.

Here are a few pics...

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I will be so happy when I finally get a "real" camera and can take better shots.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:25 pm

Thanks for the update!

Real camera or not, you're taking good pictures with whatever you have already. Those little bee shrimp look nice, and so does the sri lanka dwarf.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:21 am

Unfortunately this morning I found the sole female dead. She was only about a week away from dropping her second batch of young. After doing the usual testing of water parameters (which revealed nothing abnormal) and seeing all other inhabitants behaving normally I can only conclude that I have nothing to conclude. However to go with the bad news is the good news that there are still 20 young shrimp form her first batch that are by all accounts doing fine. Her legacy lives on.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:28 am

Sorry to hear!

As you have probably concluded yourself already, shrimp can die of "old age" or rather an accumulation of stress. Even if your current water parameters are fine, you do not know what the shrimp went through before it got to your tank. "Sudden death" is not uncommon with imported, store bought shrimp. Now you have to wait for your young to mature. If all survive, 20 adults would make a nice breeding colony.

Good luck!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:59 pm

I'm thinking that constant breeding must be stressfull for these shrimp. I've noticed that my best breeders seem to be the shortest lived. Anyone else observed this?

Post by **Mustafa** » Tue May 09, 2006 8:10 am

I have not really observed that, but then it's also hard to observe such things if you have a ton of shrimp. It's hard to single out a female and observe her over a period of time. Plus, if anything dies in my tanks, it gets eaten immediately by the hordes of shrimp.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:35 pm

frugalfish

How are the Bee Shrimp Youngsters Doing ?

Do you have any updated Photo's

John

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:28 pm

Unfortunately I lost all but six of the juveniles and only one of the original adults(a male) is still alive. The deaths were a result of me being away on a long vacation while a severe heatwave hit at home. The good news is that half of the remaining juveniles are female and two are carrying eggs. Actually one of the females is releasing her young today.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:36 pm

That is good to hear.

atleast, the second half of your post.

Bee Shrimp are hard to come by, atleast around these parts.
So, any success is good to hear about.

Please keep the updates comming.
John