My new setup (newbie to brackish tanks)

[Dylan]

Yes there have been and continue to be lots of babies! My shrimp have pretty much reproducing non stop.

It is very difficult to take good pictures of the young as I don't have a macro lens, though I may get one soon.

I have a small cloud of newborn shrimp currently and very near them a small cloud on much, much smaller white things (they are definitely moving around too) - I'm wondering if these are newly hatched snails?

[Mustafa]

That's awesome to hear! Those small white things aren't snail babies. Not exactly sure what they are, but they occur sometimes in my tanks too. Completely harmless.

[Dylan]

Two pictures of one of my gravid females.

The small young shrimp love to hang out in the limestone rocks and are a bit camera shy.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the update! Yes, the baby shrimp tend to live hidden. Not a surprise given their snack size.

[shanster66]

Your tank looks amazing, great job. I want to try and breed as well, glad you were able to!

[Dylan]

So to update: I have not seen any snails for quite some time now - there are 2 that have definitely passed as they have not moved at all. I hope they are just in the sand-bed - which is why I haven't seen one.

The shrimp are all doing fine and are thriving - they have not stopped reproducing - I currently have (at least) 5 females carrying large clusters of eggs and a cloud of newly hatched babies. I do see some smaller shrimp from time to time but they typically disappear when I come back with my camera.

Will post some more pictures soon.

[Mustafa]

The snails are there. They are burrowing snails, so until you have a sizable population of them, you won't see many of them venturing out of the substrate.

[Dylan]

Attached is a picture showing some of the full size and smaller shrimp.

[i<3Opae]

3 berried shrimp in the lower left corner! Wow

[Mustafa]

3 berried shrimp in the lower left corner! Wow

And three more in the sea fan. I think he's doing alright with his tank.

[SuperProofer]

And three more in the sea fan. I think he's doing alright with his tank.

I think it's 4.

[Mustafa]

And three more in the sea fan. I think he's doing alright with his tank.

I think it's 4.

On closer examination it seems like it's actually 5.

[Dylan]

Thank you - yes they just keep on Keepin' on!

Attached is a picture from this AM with gravid females and tiny shrimp on the sea fan.

[Dylan]

Almost a year now of having the shrimp tank!

To touch on a common theme here - Aside from when I was cycling pre-shrimp I have never fed the tank any food. The only thing I've put in since adding the critters is distilled water to top off.

[Dylan]

Finally saw a snail yesterday! It was definitely larger than all the snails I put in.

There is another cloud of shrimp newborns and I have several (5+) gravid females.

I was looking thru my emails and I originally stocked the 10 gallon tank with 40 Shrimp and 20 snails. I'd estimate there must be 100+ shrimp now of various sizes and I have no idea how many snails as they are always in the sand.