My Ecosphere Rescue Story

[i<3Opae]

Here're some pictures: he mammoth pipipi snail and the eggs it deposited on the base of fake plant decor - kinda artfully arranged but gross to me at the same time. The odd thing is that these eggs appeared 3 weeks after I removed the male pipipi snails to another tank...

[Opaela]

I just found another female's belly is swollen today. I think it will get berried soon. So 2/5 females are pregnant within a month( pretty high prob considering their lifespan). It seems algae growth promotes breeding(maybe temperature too 70-72). I'm happy with the result, tho algae is a bit annoying to deal with.

[i<3Opae]

Very interesting! I don’t think I’ve observed the same in my tanks before, but then again, I didn’t see any chasing that many people describe as the “dance” either. Has the first female released her eggs yet?

[Opaela]

Very interesting! I don’t think I’ve observed the same in my tanks before, but then again, I didn’t see any chasing that many people describe as the “dance” either. Has the first female released her eggs yet?

I didn't notice any dance but I did see an unusually pale male before I found out my second female is pregnant. I might have missed the dance(they become pale when they are frantic). The first female hasn't released her eggs yet, since she only got berried two weeks ago(10 days). I'm kinda amazed at the reproduction rate. I wonder if all females will get berried before the baby shrimp is old enough to consume any algae. My tank might not be big enough to hold that many shrimp.

[i<3Opae]

The shrimp kinda works out the maximum number on their own. Given the size and population of your tank, you probably don't have to worry about overcrowding for a while. And if push comes to shove, just start another tank!

[Opaela]

Update one photo with two berried shrimp. If they end up breeding too many, I will just move some pale offspring to my two gallon tank and keep my 3 gallon one breeding. However, I wonder if shrimp will be susceptible to inbreeding(breeding with siblings) like us as humans.

[Opaela]

Found another pregnant female today. I also did notice one of my male shrimp is swimming frantically and becoming pale. He is still jerking around that pregnant female shrimp and the female is avoiding him like cancer. He sometimes hit her and leave and come back and leave.. repeat...

For now 3 out of 5 female shrimp is pregnant in my 10 shrimp 3 gallon tank... I strongly feel like they were fertilized by the same male shrimp mentioned above... The first berried shrimp is only 3 weeks into pregnancy.. None of them dropped eggs significantly(each still has about 15-20 eggs) What am I supposed to do with this many future shrimp!

[Opaela]

My first berried opae ula is my reddest and biggest shrimp in my tank and yet she is the worst mother of three. She started with 20 eggs, and now ended up with 2(after 40 days)...... I'm very frustrated by it because I cherished her the most and I wanted those big/red shrimp in my tank. I could save some of them but I failed to find those lost eggs.

At the end I managed to find three from my feeder and put it in a separate small sealed container... I didn't get my hopes up when I saved them because they were about 3 weeks old and still 2 weeks from incubating. Today I saw the eggs are moving( these three eggs stuck together and are trying to get away from each other). They look more like shrimp now as you can see from the picture. I'm amazed by their resilience to survive! I also hope that some other lost eggs can survive.. I am pretty sure they will incubate when leave alone, but you know these shrimp are ferocious eaters....RIP

The other two mothers are doing good. Each has about 10-15 eggs survived. They are still berried. And I found another berried female in my other tank.

The question I have is do you guys know when I should put these 3 shrimp back into my tank? I am scared that the adults will eat them alive, which are likely the result for those lost eggs... But I am scared that the dish bowl is too small for them..

[Varanus]

Once they become free floating larvae they should be safe to put back in the tank.

[Opaela]

Thanks, I put them back and they are good now(except for the first one, I got anxious and dropped it on my floor and lost it)....

[Mustafa]

However, I wonder if shrimp will be susceptible to inbreeding(breeding with siblings) like us as humans.

I wouldn't worry about about it. I have never observed adverse effects of inbreeding in these shrimp (or any other shrimp really) for over 1.5 decades.

[Opaela]

However, I wonder if shrimp will be susceptible to inbreeding(breeding with siblings) like us as humans.

I wouldn't worry about about it. I have never observed adverse effects of inbreeding in these shrimp (or any other shrimp really) for over 1.5 decades.

Ok, that's encouraging. Yet, I am still buying some other breeder's shrimp and try to mix them a bit with my current tank. I know it may sound really fussy, but I do notice personality difference between these shrimp and also they look a bit different too. The shrimp that I bought lately in ebay is a lot more active and their swimmerets and walking legs are a bit longer too. I am curious what causes that.