Survival of dropped eggs

Shroob · Post by **Shroob** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:21 am

I finally found somewhere that sells red cherry shrimp, so I bought 10. I have had them for about 1 month or so. I think I have been unlucky with the male:female ratio, I think I have only got 2-3 females.

However to my problem, recently my biggest and redest shrimp's saddle became really noticable, however when I woke up yesterday morning and checked, I couldnt see the saddle, so thought she must be carrying them, but they wern't there, I also noticed she had moulted - and the area where her saddle was, was really noticable. (From searches I found they shouldnt moult why carrying). Now, later that day, I found a clump of eggs loosly attatched to some java moss.

It is similar to this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=2619&highlight=dropped+eggs

However, the difference is that my female shrimp is not tending to the eggs, abit upsetting, is that I can see her 'fanning' where the eggs should be, something I have not observed before, I think she things she still has the eggs. I have tried to put the eggs near the filter output to have some current flowing over them, but they just drop down to the bottom of the tank on the java moss 5 minutes later.

Is there anyway the eggs could still hatch, or is it a lost cause?

marusempai · Post by **marusempai** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:00 am

Put them in a net near the filter outflow, so they stay put and nothing eats them. They may have been dropped because they were infertile though, so there are no guarantees, but it is worth a shot.

On another note, it is possible she is fanning because she still has some eggs on her, just way up high where they're hard to see.

Shroob · Post by **Shroob** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:07 am

Never thought she still might have eggs...I hope she does, it will be my first ever success at breeding shrimps.

Suzie Q · Post by **Suzie Q** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:13 am

Good luck with her still carrying. I had every young female in my tank drop their eggs. It was so disappointing, but now I have lots of little babies and more waiting to hatch! It is so cool to see those little buggers running around!!!!

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:05 pm

Egg dropping/molting is not regular, but does happen. You may want to verify your water quality as molting can be a sign of stress.

Don't keep your hopes up, that the dropped eggs will hatch. Even if they were fertilized, it is most likely that they wont make it. I've read of some people having limited success putting dropped shrimp eggs in fish egg hatcheries (the bubble tube kind).

On the bright side, once your shrimp start the egg laying cycle, they usually don't stop, or slow down. With the fertility cycle of RCS' don't be surprised if you see a saddled female in the next few weeks.