The wait is over! Found a berried shrimp!

[Super Jess]

I think they move, then I wonder if it's Mom moving her swimmeret. I hope they are doing ok! They are still attached even though I can see eyes and tails, and they get bashed around as she scampers about on the rocks

[Super Jess]

They are definitely moving, and with increasing vigor. A good sign!

[Super Jess]

The first shrimp baby is free and floating around! Hooray! The rest are still attached, but seems like the time has come.

[i<3Opae]

Get the onesies ready!

[Super Jess]

Hahaha it looks like it has a ginormous brain!

[Super Jess]

This morning a second larva freed itself and is floating around the tank. The last four are all still attached, and mom keeps trying to push them off with her legs and flaps her swimmerets wildly, to no avail. Hatching started three days ago, and I had no idea it would take this long. I guess it's not surprising no one sees berried females in the wild, if this extended hatching time is the norm. It certainly puts the mom in a very vulnerable state.

[Mf1]

That’s a great picture of the first hatchling swimming on his own!

[i<3Opae]

Some moms do it relatively faster, like within a day, but yeah some take their time. Sounds like you got some babies that like to hang on for a bit longer.

[Super Jess]

Today five larvae are free, and just one is still hanging on. Whew! Another berried shrimp looks like the eggs are ready to pop any day now, and it will be interesting to compare how long they take to hatch.

[Super Jess]

Tonight the last larva finally freed itself, and hatching is over. Four days! If I was that shrimp momma I would head for the cave and hide out for a week or two

[i<3Opae]

Haha right? They’re hero moms!

[Mustafa]

Hahaha it looks like it has a ginormous brain!

That's its yolk sac, basically it's breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks in between. That's the reason why these larvae don't need food. The larvae of almost all other species require microscopic food and usually die off in an aquarium setting.

[Super Jess]

It's been a week, and the larvae are all still happy and healthy as far as I can tell. They seem a bit more substantial, if not noticeably bigger, and move about with more purpose instead of just floating gently up and down. They curl their tails around and do loop-de-loops all around the tank. The egg sacs a.k.a. "ginormous brains" have shrunk somewhat now appear more proportional to their bodies. All the larvae are bright orange, which makes them easier to pick out in the tank.

The big shrimp that was hanging on to a single egg seems to have dropped it at some point, but one of the bright red shrimp has a new clutch of about 6-7 eggs, so yay!

[Super Jess]

Today the first two larvae have managed to use their legs and cling to the wall of their tank. They are still very tiny, but look much more like real shrimp now. The other four are still bobbing around with their heads down, but I imagine they will catch up in the next few days since the hatching took 4 days to complete. I managed a closeup of the first shrimplet, and then a photobombing adult shrimp provided a useful size comparison.

[Mustafa]

Awesome pictures! Thanks again for the update!