1st Berried Shrimp! What to expect?

[blubird101]

Hello! I just spotted my first berried shrimp, I'm so excited!! I'm curious though, what's the timeline like? How long do they take to hatch?

[sliphorn]

Hello! I just spotted my first berried shrimp, I'm so excited!! I'm curious though, what's the timeline like? How long do they take to hatch?

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About 30 to 35 days, then they will be in the larval stage bobbing around the water for about 15 days and then they will become miniature guys that crawl around. I believe it is called the benthic stage and at this stage they will hide in rock piles and such.

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[Varanus]

Another thing to keep in mind is that its not unusual for first time super shrimp moms to drop all or most of their eggs. So don't worry if it does happen, she'll do better next time.

[Dch48]

Yes, benthic means bottom dwelling and applies to the fully formed shrimp. The larval stage will float around for a while.

Some shrimp, such as Cherry shrimp, skip the larval stage and hatch as miniature versions of the adults. It seems that the ones who spend their entire life cycle in fresh water do not have a larval stage.

[Varanus]

You also will likely rarely see the babies right after metamorphosis, as they tend to hide and also tend to be very still. But once they (I presume) molt once more, they will begin acting just like the adult shrimp despite still being far smaller.

[blubird101]

Aww I hope the mamma shrimp does well! Anything I can do to make sure she keeps them?
Sounds like I'll just have to keep an eye out haha since I assume it would be hard to tell if they've hatched or if she's dropped them until they've grown a little. Lets just hope for more berried females in the future!

[SuperProofer]

Not much you can do to help. Just try not to disturb them, don't shake the tank or do any decor or water changes (unless there's some sort of emergency). Keep the environment as status quo as possible. Hands off and wait.

Shrimps gonna do what shrimps gonna do.

[SuperProofer]

I noticed when mine hatched. They bob around in the water for a while before they go hide. But they are like tiny little specs of pepper so have a magnifying glass nearby.

[blubird101]

Cool, thanks for all the help!

[Opaela]

I'd also advise you that if you really want some eggs to hatch when shrimp mother dropped eggs, you can pick them up and put them in a separate container. Otherwise, it will get eaten by the mature shrimp. If the eggs are 3 weeks into hatching, it will probably hatch at the end.

[blubird101]

Hmm...interesting haha. Okay, if I happen to spot them if she drops them I'll give it a shot

[blubird101]

So I was checking on mamma Opae today, and I got concerned because it looked like she was holding her eggs away from her body, I was sure she was gonna drop them they looked so precarious! But, because I was looking so close at the glass to see her eggs, I noticed that I have 4 little baby shrimp just bobbing around, and after further reading it seems the eggs may be "dangling" while they hatch! On closer inspection, it looks like some of the babies are hatched and just holding onto mamma.

By my count, that's only 21 days, so I'm surprised they came so fast! Might be the water, I keep a heater in there so its always 80-82 degrees, so maybe warmer water encourages faster egg growth *shrug*

Either way, so excited! Lets hope I get more berried females soon!

[Opaela]

That's really fast. Mine took about 30 days to notice the body growth and another week or two til release. My temp was 70ish. I guess temp does play a role here.

[blubird101]

I counted about 17 babies, and I see a shrimp that has some eggs so I'm not sure if its another berried shrimp or mamma with some leftover eggs. How many days do you think it takes for them to fully drop them all?

And yeah! Crazy, I was so surprised haha. I originally had the higher temps because I wanted to take advantage of the brackish water and try to breed nerites in there as well, but that never worked out. I just kept the heater in after that.

[Opaela]

Usually the eggs will take a couple weeks to fully drop. The leftovers are probably bad eggs that will drop next time she molt. At least that's my exp.