My opae berried, she dropped? Or....what's this?

[MrsT]

I owned 6 of them 10 months ago in a 3 ltr tank with a horn snail. None berried ,sunlight over exposure 2 got killed and left 4 of them. Salinity below 1.010
I never feed them.
The tank was covered with a thin(see through) cloth tied with rubber band around it.

1 month ago because of lots of gas built up under the bed of thick Coral crush. I rescaped by remove half of the bed thickness. And 90% water change. I never wash anything other than using my fingers to rub off the front glass algae. There are still gas building up just surface and it made my chaeto float too, nothing serious.

This time I never use clothing to cover the tank top but I use the original tank cover that came with it when I first bought the tank. The cover is not tight but breathable. I have not top up r.o water since then due to the lack of evaporation . The tank is place indoor now with 12 hours lighting daily.

After the re scaped done I added another 6 opaes in. That made a total of 10 in the tank now. 1month past and I got 1berried female.

I am so happy but puzzled at the same time.
Can I know what's right thing that I have done?

1) is it because of tank maturity?
2) the tank cover
3)adding more tank mates
Or
4) the 90% water change?

Some close up pic. These are the closest I could get. She loves this spot a lot.

[Varanus]

I can see a few possibilities, but the more stable tank conditions is probably the most important. If they got enough sun to kill two of them then I imagine that the survivors were too stressed out for a while to consider breeding. Its also possible that with only four in the tank they were only males or only females and thus no breeding.

[MrsT]

Thank you for your respond Varanus. I think you are right.
At this moment I should be happy, I am happy its just feels odd because back to my earlier question

1) I don't think my tank is matured enough, it has more Brown algae rather than green.

2) The tank cover does control the over evaporating process, thus lesser top off r.o water, lesser disturbance. I used to top off frequently last time when the tank was covered only with cloth.

3) 1st batch ,out of the 4 ,there is 1 female. Possibly like what you mentioned they are stress.

4) 90% wc , resulting in breeding I thought it happens only to Crystal shrimp?

I'm just so..confused

Further update:
Today is her first day berried.
I dare not disturb the tank but earlier I saw a few of them attacked/harrassed her?
I looked closely, half of her eggs gone. Is this normal behaviour of opae bullying the berried one?

[Varanus]

Actually ideally at least it doesn't take that long for a tank to mature. I and many others had shrimp breeding within three months of putting them in the tank. I don't think it matters either whether the algae is brown or green.

What do you mean by harassing? Usually supershrimp ignore each other unless they are competing over food or males are seeking females that are ready to mate. Not sure what to make of it seemingly happening at random, but I don't think her carrying eggs would be the cause.

But as for dropping eggs, sadly that is a common thing for first time opae mothers. Its not unusual for them to drop all or most of their eggs, but they tend to be more successful the next time they berry. I don't know if anyone has a theory as to why this happens beyond that the shrimp mothers have to learn how to hold onto their eggs more effectively.

[MrsT]

Oh I'm relieved. So it's normal to have berried for my case then? Haha thank you

I attach pics. Seemed that mid portion of her eggs gone.
I just don't know why others like to disturb her. I have no choice but to interrupt them a little. I lifted up a bit of lava rock so she can hide underneath.

I know it's not a good idea but I just want her to have a place to hide at least right now until the rest are settle down with her being berried.

[Varanus]

Having hiding places is something berried females like in general. They don't need them but they seem to take advantage of them more than non-berried shrimp, to the extent that many won't know just how many berried females they have unless they feed the tank and everyone comes out at once.

[MrsT]

Never in my mind that berried could happen within a year. I'm always not that lucky when it comes to shrimp.

I guess I'll just have to pray that she will be able to carry them in full gestation period. Apparently she loves the new hiding spot beneath the rock.

Its amazing how others able to breed them without hiding spot.
Thank you Varanus.

[AnotherKevin]

There are still gas building up just surface and it made my chaeto float too, nothing serious.

My guess is that this gas now making your chaeto float is probably just oxygen produced by the chaeto and by microscopic algae.

[AnotherKevin]

I wouldn't worry too much about topping off evaporated water disturbing the shrimp. I have to add water every week or two, and they don't seem to notice. In nature, they get pretty much the same experience whenever it rains.

What seems to bother them is water movement, which probably feels like a predator chasing them.

[MrsT]

Yes I guess so, something like photosynthesis going on. Only when the light is on. As long as my lighting is beaming from the top there's no worry. I find it weird at first then I found out it only appear on algae and green area so that must be it.
My light used to beam from the side and bubbles appeared a lot beneath the gravel, not only that, it seemed to stayed stagnant there forever. Which was why I rescaped it.

[MrsT]

I wouldn't worry too much about topping off evaporated water disturbing the shrimp. I have to add water every week or two, and they don't seem to notice. In nature, they get pretty much the same experience whenever it rains.

What seems to bother them is water movement, which probably feels like a predator chasing them.

Each time I top off, they went crazy. I supposed it's because my tank is small so the effect was severe compare to bigger tank.
I prefer small tank because I tend to move them around, I have a kid so the precautions is there .
Oh thank you for responding and advice AnotherKevin,

[MrsT]

Guess what guys...I think she's planning to drop them, only left like 4-5 eggs attach. View pic below.
Anyway, thank her that I get happiness for a day at least . Better luck next time.
I'm gonna go back to my usual which is....what I'm pretty good at...."doing nothing" haha

[MrsT]

Sorry guys to bother you all again. I converted it to gif .
Can I know what's this? It does not have any tail dangling upside down. It moves up and down, sometimes stay still at chaeto .
Does dead eggs from opae float? Has anyone face something similar?
I have look around, I only saw one. What's going on?
Or is this some kinda mosquito larvae?

[Varanus]

I'm afraid I have no idea, its just not detailed enough. Can you discern any features from it at all?

[MrsT]

I'm afraid I have no idea, its just not detailed enough. Can you discern any features from it at all?

Thank you Varanus for reply.
it's just round orange dot, no tail. It's not moving already, I saw a few more but they are black dots. I'm thinking these might just be the dead eggs.
Hoping someone can confirm that opae dead eggs do floating on surface .