# Shrimp Babies?



## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

About two days ago I noticed these teeny little balls jumping around in the abdomen of one of my shrimp.. I'm thinking maybe she was laying eggs and is now carrying them in her swimmerets? If that's the case, how long until they hatch? This picture is from today.. it was tough to get, she's mostly hiding! I know my guppies are likely to eat most of the babies, but I'm really hoping at least a couple will survive and my population will slowly be able to grow. I think I only got two females out of my original nine!


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

All Dwarf shrimps hold the eggs there, basically their gestation time. It will be around a month before they become free swimmers. If you have enough plants and moss for the shrimplets to hide you might have a few survivors...guppies are pretty vicious though.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Would having a couple of moss balls in the tank help? I can't seem to find any other moss locally. This is how my tank looks at the moment...


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

I would try and get as much ground cover as possible. This will give the little shrimp-lets places to hide from the guppy predators. This could consist of plants or even rock piles. Better yet move the guppies to another tank if possible. The other option I could suggest is buy a tank divider and have fish on 1 side and shrimp on the other side. You have a couple weeks before the babies are about. Nice looking set up.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Ok, thanks. Maybe I could just get some temporary fake plants... or maybe I could put them in my new 10g temporarily.. hmm..


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

a handful of moss would be great. u can always put yarn in ur tank.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Well, I don't know what happened, but today my shrimp only has one egg in her swimmerets. No shrimp babies for me.


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

It could have been her first batch of eggs (all the dwarf shrimp I've had drop there first batch), the next time she berries she should be able to hold onto them (just learning how to take care of them).
I have a moss ball in my tank, the shrimp love picking at it. Definitely recommend to get one. (Just remember to squeeze it out like a sponge filter once a month)

That large rock looks like it's porous enough for babies to hide in;

Here's a photo of a 3day old blue shrimp (Plant is only 2"tall, less than 1cm of plant in pic)








Good luck with the next batch!


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

They may be hiding in the tank. Shrimplets may turn up in time.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Ah, ok, that makes sense.. she is only about 4 months old. And thanks for the picture, that's awesome! I hope I can get some Blues some day too (for my other tank of course).


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