IT'S A BOY...AND A GIRL....AND A BOY....AND A GIRL...!!!!!!

Tony

New Member
Well i've read that certain salt water fish and inverts can spawn in an aquarium but i never imagined it would happen in mine. I was doing my weekly water change and then My cleaner shrimp in my 12 g had about a million little offspring about half an hour ago. They didnt seem to last long as the rest of the fish were thinking it was dinner time and alot of them were getting sucked into the filter. But you could see them and their little tiny legs fluttering all over the place. They must have been about a millimeter or two long.
My wife noticed that one of the shrimp had a ton of fuzzy stuff on her abdomen and then when you looked really close you could see that it was at least a couple thousand little baby cleaner shrimp. At this rate im going to never have to buy cleaner shrimp again for ever. It seemed that when the carrier was releasing the eggs she / he were trying to catch them just as fast. Then it was all over. They are still carrying at a few hundred each. I will keep an eye out to see what will happen next.
This is cool!
TOny
 

Tony

New Member
I think it scared her when i was doing to water change and then she couldn't hang on to all the babies. There are still some there. I might try and get her in to a separate container in there so that if she does release the babies again i might be able to get some to survive. We'll see. But i doubt it. She might not like being caught. I dont want to cause stress on the tank.
Tony
 

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
It is very common for cleaner and peppermint shrimp to spawn in the aquarium but as you have seen the offspring usually end up as a tasty treat for the tanks inhabitants.
 

jay

New Member
Sounds like your Shrimp started a Party of their own in your tank. LOL
Baby anythings don't happen to survive long in aquariums. They usually end up being a quick snack for the other tank inhabitants. Tony, do you happen to still have any hanging out in your tank.
Consider yourself lucky, most people aren't even around to see those little guys b4 they become all eaten up.
By any chance, did you happen to take pics?

Jay
 

Tony

New Member
It happens so fast that you cant even catch a picture. the Other problem is that the babies look like dust on the water. little specks and they get eaten up pretty quick. They are currently carrying eggs undder their abdomen. they look lke they are going to hatch soon. Im going to try and catch some and put them in a separate container, but they are so small, it probaly wont do any good. Hopefully they can hide in some rock and survive.
:)
Tony
 

jay

New Member
Be sure to keep posting with updates...
I'm really interested in seeing how it all works out.

Cheers,
Jay :cool1:
 
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