Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

today i witnessed something that would give any shrimp owner goosebumps. my largest female shrimp had her clutch of eggs caught on the java moss and was pretty much popcorning for a minute until i could see no more and helped her out. i believe it was the stickiness of the egg that got caught with the moss. she lost a good 3/4 of her eggs which was still caught on the moss. now, i've heard many good things about java moss but has this happened to anyone else before? and should i clump the moss so that adult shrimps can't maze around in them?

That is very interesting to hear. I am planning to also get some java moss and if that occurs frequently, I will reconsider about java moss. I initially thought that it would be the perfect hideout for baby shrimps.
So sorry that my reply doesnt really help you much =( but I was just concerned.

This is the first time I have heard about this happening. Sorry to hear about your shrimp's eggs. I have java moss in my tank and I hope this has never happened to my pregnant shrimp. I have not witnessed it as you did first hand But that does not mean it does not happen. My moss is dense and I have not seen the adult shrimps go through it but they do walk on it. It still is a wonderful plant proviiding shelter and food for the shrimplets in my tank. Please keep us updated on your situation as this is surprising to me!

I have never witness this, but I guess it could be possible.
Maybe some other members have had a similar experience and will share it with you.

Cheers,
Pedro

ok upon close inspection, i've noticed some hair algae
that may be the culprit since its so fine and has a sticking ability in its own right....i cant seem to get the bloody damn thing off w/o tearing out my java moss. any suggestions? if i want to remove the algae then im going to have to pretty much throw away all my java moss. i've read up on it and sources are telling me its one of the nastys and i can put nothing in my tank that will eat the algae w/o harming the shrimps.

If you are thinking about using a chemical treatment you can take out half of your moss and treat it in a seperate container. You can then treat the other half after you are finished with the first. Be sure to rinse the treated plant well to make sure there are no chemical residue.

Could it possibly be that you have hydra on your Java moss? Just a suggestion. I've never known algae to be very sticky.

I agree, treating it outside the tank is the best way to do it.

I had hair algae on some riccia. I moved it to an acidic tank and in a few weeks all the algae was gone. I'm not sure how Java moss does in an acidic tank though.