My success story

[Mustafa]

You have no idea how much I love your little "diary/blog" here. Keep 'em coming!

[tooth]

A berried female showed up today. I thought they'd take a break from breeding after the 2 month frenzy. This female is a little differently colored--almost a purple-red. I don't remember that she has bred before this.
All the new-hatched shrimp are now benthic. The tank looks a little bare without all the down-hanging heads in the middle of it.

[tooth]

I noticed a second berried female today. It appears they are not taking a break after all.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the update again! It would be great if you could catch one of the baby shrimp on camera one of these days.

[tooth]

This pic shows several different shrimp sizes. A couple of babies are at the top. Again, a poor quality pic from a phone, sorry.

[Mech]

you must be ticking all the right box's as your tank seems to be thriving! great blog

[tooth]

Thanks Mech. If I had a decent camera you could see the little smiling faces on the shrimp, I'm sure. Really, though, it is just as Mustafa says--no muss, no fuss, minimal requirements. These shrimp are tough little guys.
BTW, still no food added since start-up--2 years, 4 months.
Brad

[KenCotigirl]

Nice job Brad. You are a true success story. You have avoided all the traps that most of us fall into.

Ken

[tooth]

Hi Ken,
I owe it all to my innate superabundance of laziness. Effort=Pitfalls
Brad

[tooth]

Here is a pic of the banded female. She has carried 4 times now. The last time was just a couple of months ago. Please ignore the reflections.

[mcdaney]

That's awesome! More babieees!

[tooth]

Sheesh. Another berried female showed up this morning, for a total of 3 currently carrying. They don't want to slow down, apparently.

[Mech]

That's great news! I'm very jealous

[tooth]

The first 2 females to berry have now released their larvae. Looks like 30 or so for the both of them. It took about 4 days for all larvae to leave the moms.
Another berried female showed up this week, so I'm back to 2 berried females, about 2 weeks apart.
I get such a kick watching the larvae. They rise up and down the water column all day, maybe drifting sideways a little, but if one touches another it's like popcorn exploding. They zip apart, traveling many multiples of their body lengths in a fraction of a second. Wish I could move that fast.

[tooth]

A pic of a few of the new arrivals. Sharp eyes will notice the sheet of algae on the back of my tank has finally detached and fallen. I scraped the front 18 months ago--didn't grow back. The sides never grew so much as to be a problem.