Hawaiian Red Shrimp...my turn.

[frugalfish]

A fun day for me today. As I was checking on my Hawaiians, I noticed what I thought at first was one of them in the process of molting/shedding, but instead it turned out that I caught a female in the process of dropping her EGGS! It was very exciting and I can't imagine the odds of that happening. All I do know is that I'm stoked! This also surprises me, because I thought I was going to lose them due to a serious nitrite spike that occurred will I was away on vacation...3PPM. I'm amazed at these shrimp. It took all week to stabilize the tank and I took no losses(thanks Stability). Heck looks like I may be expecting free floating larvae! I got a few good photos with my cheapo digital camera, so I hope I can figure out how to post the picks one of these days. Sorry, but I'm one of those lame computer people. Lastly, I keep approximately 50 of these shrimp in a ten gallon tank, salinity is 1.012-1.014(depending in avaporation), and temperature of 80-82F. They are also fed spirulina on odd days at most. Now I just hope to see some little larvae in the near future. Ta!

Here she is...



Oh, and thanks GMB for the offer of help, but I guess I figured it out.

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi Frugalfish, Congrats on your pregnant Hawaiian Red! I too hope you'll get a chance to see larvae in the near future. I was fairly recently privy to the same egg dropping process (with Red Cherries though), and yes, isn't it something to have been able to observe it?

About posting pics, you need to download your pics to a hosting website first. From there, you copy the url of the jpg (the picture) and place image tags on it when you post, so that the picture will show on this site. If you need more specific step by step instructions or need suggestions for free hosting websites, feel free to PM me, and I'll try to walk you through it.

-GB

[frugalfish]

I have yet to observe any of my different shrimp I have do anything other than crawl around and graze, so being able to see this was special. This female also does not hide like I've read so many others doing. She is out and about and seems to have found a liking to the sponge filter in the tank. Also she seemed to be getting harassed and was fighting off other shrimp (excited males?) for sometime after becoming egg ladden, perhaps that is another reason the females tend to hide. Things have calmed down now and they're all back to crawling and grazing.

[Mustafa]

Congrats! Nice looking female.

[LiquidBee]

Congrats..

I'm still waiting for my eggs to be dropped...hopefully I'll be lucky like you and see it happen (crossing my fingers)

Maybe you can post a picture when you see the larvaes..

good luck

[GunmetalBlue]

Hey Frugalfish, that's really nice! Hawaiians sure have pretty looking eggs. Would you by any chance care to show your tank setup too? Your option, of course, not meaning to pry .

Thanks for sharing; please keep us updated on her progress and her hopefully future larvae.

-GB

[frugalfish]

Nothing exciting , but here's your request GMB...enjoy.




Ten gallon tank.
One 15W fluorescent fixture on timer.
Salinity is 1.012-1.014 depending on evaporation.
Sponge filter which is going at a medium flow.
Heater keeping temperature at 80-82F.
Rocks.
Substrate is CaribSea's African Cichlid Mix which is a fine salt-n-pepper gravel.

Oh, ya. and approximately 50 or so Halocaridina rubra.

[GunmetalBlue]

Thanks! Haha, don't be so modest, that's a terrific setup. Nice arrangement of rocks with lots of nooks and crannies. But I notice they love hanging out on the sponge!

-GB

[chlorophyll]

That is a beautiful setup. Good looking algae growth. I really like it.
Thanks for sharing, and nice berried female too!

Did you mention before how long this tank's been running?
And what photoperiod you got your timer set at?

[frugalfish]

Thanks for the kind words on the set-up. I enjoy the simplicity of the tank and now that the rock is getting covered in a nice green algae it is looking even better. I thought about adding more rock to create more darker areas, but I like it the way it is...clean. The sponge filter is a little big for the tank, but I seem to always over filter my tanks...safe then sorry. The shrimp find the sponge a nice haven. It has deep grooves that run horizontally and are the perfect size for them to crawl around in and hang out, which is what the female pictured above is doing all the time. I run the light for 10 hours a day and the tank has been running for 7 weeks.

[frugalfish]

Well, unfortunately the female dropped all her eggs. So no luck this time, but hopefully the next .

[GunmetalBlue]

Aww, that's too bad, but you have plenty of future opportunities, so yes, better luck next time!

-GB

[theshrimp_123]

Good looking female. Congrats!

[LiquidBee]

Woo..Woo...when I got home to feed my shrimps today, I saw some free floating larvae...

I count about 5 of them....if I look closely I can see them trying to swim around...I'm so excited.

I also saw the mother with about 8 or so more eggs on her.

The larvae are about 1/20th of the adult....I tried to take some pictures but the digital camera would not focus on them since they were so small... Hopefully I can get some pictures for you all to see.

Yeappie

[LiquidBee]

Here....try to following pictures, they're not clear, but that was the best I can do


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/uchenb02/ ... pg&.src=ph
(in the middle, you can make out the shape of it real good, has other adults in the picture for size reference - different distance though)

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/uchenb02/ ... pg&.src=ph
(Right in the middle, hard to see with the glare)

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/uchenb02/ ... pg&.src=ph
(in the middle, picture kind of blurry, not focused)