I have been watching a very berried female for the past 63 days and the eggs finally hatched this morning. I was getting worried that maybe the eggs weren’t fertilized but I didn’t think she would hold onto them or they wouldn’t last that long if they were no good. The water temperature has been hanging around 65 degrees. The last couple of females only took about 45 days to have their eggs hatch, but the temperature was closer to 70 degrees then. So apparently temperature does play a role in the incubation period.
As of tonight they are still clinging to the mother. I would think over the next couple of days they will become floaters. Then I will be able to get a count of how many she was actually carrying. She was very loaded with eggs but she always kept them up very tight to her body so it was hard to estimate how many there were. I’m very happy and relieved that they finally hatched.
Thank you for posting this! I noticed my first two berried females six weeks ago and have been excitedly counting down the days. During that time, four more have become berried but no signs of hatching yet from any of them. I’ve been wondering about unfertilized eggs too, so I’m extremely relieved to hear it can take longer to hatch. Makes sense since it’s winter in my neck of the woods and the house is a bit cooler than the rest of the year.
Holly, your doing something right if you have that many berried females. This is only my fourth berried female and it took almost 2 years before the first one berried.
It definitely seems like the hatching takes longer during the colder months. The others hatched in the fall and the water temp was around 70 deg then.
This morning I expected to see some floaters when I turned on the lights but they are still hanging on to mom. Even the release part of the process seems like it slows down in the cooler water.
First floater showed up at 7:00pm. He is looking healthy and making his way around the tank. It took my other females two to three days to release all their fry. So by Monday I should be able to get a good count.
I have no idea how long it takes. The tanks babies never changes. Every day it looks the same. Old ones grow up and new ones are born. It looks the same month after month. Too many to track.
Vorteil your tanks are amazing! I’m very jealous of all the greenery and the number of babies you have.
Holly, yeah don’t worry it will happen. The cooler the temps the longer it takes.
Update: there are 8 floaters in total tonight and I saw the mother and she still has about 14 more babies hanging onto her. This is going to be a good size batch. She was a trooper during this whole long process. She had a ton of eggs and they were always held real tight to her body. I’ve seen other females that looked like they would lose their eggs at any minute but not this one.
Well I think I got the final count for this female. She had 24 babies! I didn’t see her today to verify they are all released but the other day there was only a couple left so I’m thinking this is it for her. She did a great job for having that many fry.
This was the fifth female to berry in this 5 gallon tank and they have had a total of 76 babies. It took 1 year and 7 months for the first berried female to show up but they are doing great and I’m very pleased with the tank.
Vorteil wrote: ↑Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:06 am
I just read recently gestation is 38 days.
Mine took 40 days from first seeing the eggs until they were released. It then took another 28 days for the larvae to morph. Only half made it. (3 out of 6). At least that's the most I have ever seen.
I now have 2 more females that just started carrying. They appear to have about a dozen apiece.
I wonder if they don’t make it or if you are only seeing a few at any one time. I originally had 33 shrimp and I would only see about a third at any time. The only time I saw all of them was when I fed them. Now that the tank is mature with lots of algae I don’t get to see all the shrimp even when feeding. Also the babies are so small they are very hard to see. The only time it is easy to see them is when they are floaters. Maybe I’m being optimistic, or naive, but I always make the assumption that I’m only seeing about a third to a half of them.
I don't know. I saw 6 floaters every day for 28 days but then it was 4, then 2, then none. I have only ever seen 3 baby shrimp at any one time. They stay in or on the macroalgae nearly all the time. Sometimes they will venture out into the gravel and rarely swim around. I know what you mean about not seeing all of your shrimp. Before the hatching, I had 16 adult shrimp of various sizes and almost never was able to actually count more than 12. The tank is only one gallon and there is a piece of lava rock they can get behind or even under at the edges. I have also seen the smaller ones, including the new babies, go into the holes in the rock. There are also the 2 clumps of macroalgae that they get behind, under, and even inside of. I'm almost certain there are only 3 new shrimp though and I know there aren't 6. Maybe some died in transition or molting the first time.
