peppermint shrimp fry--anyone have any luck raising them??

[slowECUdiver]

well, i won't go into a whole lot of details, but i'll give a little background on the tank. the tank has been setup and running for a few months now, at least 4 months i believe. it's a 10 gallon that sits next to my bed, with a 4" SB, about 10# LR. inhabitants include: 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 ghost shrimp, 3 scarlet hermits, 1 turbo snail, 1 large astrea snail, several strombus and stomatella snails, and 1 bi-color blenny. rest of the tank is macro algae (3 kinds) and 9 small zoanthid frags/colonies.

Earlier this week (Monday night) i did a fairly big WC on the tank--about 3-4 gallons and the total water volume is only 7-8 gallons. Last night (10/4/06) i noticed a peppermint shrimp molt stuck to the intake on my HOB filter--no biggie, my 4 shrimp molt all the time (i dose iodine every few days, a few drops at a time).

This morning--i feed the tank some flake food when i wake up and everyone comes out for breakfast. i notice something funny with one of the peppermint shirmp, so i feed some more in hopes of getting him to the front glass for a better look. to my surprise, it's carrying hundreds of eggs!

what are my odds with what's already in the tank of sustaining these fry if and when they do hatch? is my peppermint shrimp that's carrying the eggs doomed to a death upon the hatching of the eggs?

any and all advice is welcome at this point, as i don't have a definitive plan of action...yet.

Thanks in advance,
eric

[Mr. Guitar]

Peppermint Shrimp are awesome when they hatch!!!!!!!!!!! I wish my filter didn't kill them. DANG IT!!!! hahaha. When they do hatch your fish will eat them. If you want to...Set up a small tank just for them but put a sponge filter pad over the filter intake. If you don't the small shrimp will die. You're Peppermint Shrimp won't die after giving birth to the baby shrimp. They just leave them alone. The baby shrimp are translucent and very very cool to watch. Keep an eye on your tank to see if they hatch.

[dc]

If you have 2 it will seem like one of them is always carrying eggs. You can raise them, but it's very difficult to do. I mostly just consider it free food for the fish and corals.

[slowECUdiver]

thanks for the responses. while i've had the two in this tank for a couple months, i have never seen either with eggs. the same goes for the three i have in my 75 gallon tank...tho those three are more elusive as there's more caves and rock-work for them to hide out.

i'll keep an eye on the tank to see if and when they hatch.

anyone have an idea of what the incubation period is for peppermint shrimp? one week? two? several?

thanks,
eric

[leena]

The day before you shrimp spawn you should see the egg mass change to a lighter color, almost tan. They will spawn at night, you can get the larvae out of your tank by using a small light above the surface to attract them and then scooping them out. If you put the adult in a smaller container to spawn remember to add an airline... the adult may be fine, but once you add a few hundred larvae its a different story.

Predation with these guys is pretty high... giving them lots of places to hide (throw some algae in the tank) seems to help, but they will still snack on each other.

[slowECUdiver]

well, the tank has 3 different kinds of macro algae and lots of nooks to hide in. i might try the flashlight trick to scoop some fry into the HOB filter that's filled with chaeto. since i just noticed the eggs within the last few days, any one know how long it will be before i see them hatch??

thanks,
eric

[Mr. Guitar]

It will take up to a week or more for them to hatch.