berried queens

hi im gabby. my biggest and sexiest amano shrimp got pregnant and im gonna try to raise her kids

[frogbestfriend]

one of the biggest problems of society nowadays is that i am so so sleepy 

[amanomama]

long time no shrimp!!!!

i stopped posting here bc literally a week after the first batch was hatched they all died mysteriously. i think immediately following a small water change actually.. at that point in time i was also struggling with a really bad depressive episode so i was just wanting to give up on it anyway.

BUT!

recently i managed to clean my 10g after a couple weeks without a water change (bad i know but depression makes everything so hard) and right as i was about to finish up i looked in my tank only to see thousands of tiny zoes!!!!

i don't know which mama released them. they were EVERYWHERE. i had to scramble to get them all out bc my betta barbello was eating them and would have likely eaten himself to death if i hadnt intervened

this was him after all the chaos was over =_= he's fine now his belly was just so full of baby shrimps at the time... thankfully he didn't get bloated lol i was really worried...

anyway!!! all this happened nearly 10 days ago, and while ive seen a few dead zoes most of them are still alive and have grown considerably. I have not supplemened them with food at all this time but theirs a thick coat of algae on all the walls and they seem to be feeding well. theyre a bit orange in color which i think means they are full of nutrience

i am excited to see if i get any shrimp out of this... especially with this really hands off approach I've taken. i just adjusted their salt level a bit since it was a little low but i think they're doing well.

[amanomama]

all three mamas are berried now so i may just try to salvage some of the ones from the display tank as they release the larva

[amanomama]

its only been a week now so they still have over a month of Baby time to survive to metamorphosis

[amanomama]

not really sure what happened but basically all of the first batch died after i did a water change. theres like 3 still living u__u

[amanomama]

theres still a handful of them living and they look much bigger than before so theyre growing at least! i may just avoid water changes tho from now on

[amanomama]

not really sure what happened but basically all of the first batch died after i did a water change. theres like 3 still living u__u

[amanomama]

the babies are probably ready to start eating soon if not now. i think they should be ok since theres a lot of algae/diatoms in the tank but i still want to try supplementing with crushed flakes

[amanomama]

i had to remove big mama from the tank. i waitef 48 hours but she never released her eggs unfortunately. Shes in the display tank now so if/when she does release her eggs ill either have to catch them all with a light and a syringe or just leave them be ..

on the plus side, smaller mamas babies seem to be doing well! i just added salt to their tank, at 34 ppt. hopefully they continue to thrive! i dont think they are able to eat properly until they're 4 days old, so hopefully they do make it to that time and can start feeding on algae

[amanomama]

i like watching how different all the tiny creatures in that tank move. theres some harmless flatworms and a lot of copepods too... and the zoes have joined the ranks but they move so differently

[amanomama]

oh wow i can actually see her releasing them slowly. shes still so big but i think she just started. shes scratching at her tail with her hind legs and knocking the eggs loose a bit. its interesting to watch...shes doing this while grazing too. its cool to see how coordinated they are with their bodies and limbs

[amanomama]

they sort of remind me of this guy

[amanomama]

oh wow i can actually see her releasing them slowly. shes still so big but i think she just started. shes scratching at her tail with her hind legs and knocking the eggs loose a bit. its interesting to watch...shes doing this while grazing too. its cool to see how coordinated they are with their bodies and limbs

[amanomama]

hoping that the big mama releases her zoes soon so that the transition to salt wont be too late

[amanomama]

the first babies are here for real this time!

[amanomama]

my 3rd female shrimp is berried now...and the first two still havent released their eggs yet o_o

[amanomama]

the first batch of teeny tiny babies hatched today!!!! thank goodness i managed to get the mamas into the hatching tank! theyre so small, i can barely see them!

[amanomama]

i actually am reconsidering what the small bug like things in the tank are. they could be copepods. the way they move is so different from what ive seen from videos of zoes.

[amanomama]

the first batch of teeny tiny babies hatched today!!!! thank goodness i managed to get the mamas into the hatching tank! theyre so small, i can barely see them!

[amanomama]

my camera doesnt take the best shrimp pics but u can see the eyes in the eggs now so it means amano mama is ready to release eggs!