# Cherries dropping eggs



## Lexingtonmax (Jan 26, 2011)

Hi all, a couple of weeks ago i got some cherry shrimp from a gtaa member. everything has been great so far, since I got them they have settled in nicely. everyday 1-3 shrimp molt and all the females are now saddled BUT this morning I notice one of the female was berried. the eggs where not attached to her swimmerets, they where hanging down off of her stuck together, she's walking around with them trailing behind her - she is guarding them though. and just before i posted this i noticed a small clump of eggs on the other side of the tank, these eggs are yellow where as the eggs hanging off the female are a greenish colour. I have no idea what is happening as this is my first experience with shrimp. anybody have ideas?


----------



## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Berried (pregnant) females drop eggs from time to time. It happens if a female berried for the first time and if something wrong in a tank. 

Cherry shrimps are quite undemanding and there is no need for special care. 
Make sure that you tank is good for them (filtration is decent, there are some algae for shrimps to eat) and wait. Your other female shrimps should give you babies


----------



## Lexingtonmax (Jan 26, 2011)

I have to admit i freaked out a bit this morning... i've been anticipating this the moment i got them home.

I think the problem is the fact the she is a first time mother. she is not the largest female i have and when I got them they where so much smaller. everything seems fine, I have had no deaths and they are happily grazing on the algae, they are molting everyday/every other day and in the last few days i have noticed matings/attempted matings.

before i put the shrimp in i had a batta male and a few black neon tetras, then I moved them. a week after I got the shrimp I noticed a small clear thing with 2 tiny eyes. I had no idea what they where, turns out they are fry. they too are growing nicely and i saw them this morning so I'm sure the water is perfect... i'll check anyway


----------



## Lexingtonmax (Jan 26, 2011)

*Update*

since the weekend I had two females drop their eggs and one of my shrimp died. I did a 30% water change and fasted them for a couple of days. Today I watched one of my females shed (the second time I've seen this happen) and just now I finished watching her berrie. So far she has them tightly packed under her tail and staying hidden in the java fern.

Hopefully now that I've tweaked my care schedule they will continue to breed successfully. I'm thinking it was a mini ammonia spike, due to over feeding.

Hopefully my experience will help future Cherry shrimp owners.


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Usually, when a shrimp is stress too much, she will drop her eggs. It's a survival instint. Chemical changes in the water is also another factor. So do things slowly and it should work out for you.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## Lexingtonmax (Jan 26, 2011)

*Update*

Today, I worked all afternoon on my tanks. I moved the four Black Neon tetra fry into my other tank to grow out some and then I cleaned out the shrimp thank they where in.
It's heavily planted and it made cleaning the bottom difficult. but I decided I had too because a few days ago I noticed one of the shrimp dropped another clutch of eggs. while cleaning I noticed yet another dead shrimp - at this point I decided to give my Betta it's tank back (the shrimp where never going to breed) well it was at this point right when I was going to net my Betta when I saw it.... A tiny tiny clear baby shrimp attached to the front of the tank. What is going on!?!?!

I haven't seen any of the females carrying eggs, could they have dropped most of the eggs and carried a few? or could some of the eggs that weren't eaten have hatched on their own?

This has been a weird/confusing/stressful tank to keep. Any ideas on how this tiny baby (probably born today) came to be?


----------



## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Lexingtonmax said:


> This has been a weird/confusing/stressful tank to keep. Any ideas on how this tiny baby (probably born today) came to be?


They are 2-3mm long, almost transparent. 
They are usually visible only when they are moving.


----------



## patricka (Mar 24, 2011)

I have the same problem but I'm not worried... I don't play around with the tank, I let them be and I don't feed much... sometimes every 2 days sometimes once per day but never overfeed. they usually finish everything in 2..3. hours.

my first female is berried and I did notice few eggs in my java moss but I also notice 3..4..5 eggs with her.

now I've had this tank for about 2 months and what I also notice is 1...2 tiny shrimps. so I think that females getting berried the first time may have just few eggs and not some 20+... that's where the tiny shrimps come from in my opinion.

so I say don't play around with the tank that much you seem to change often just clean it once well, wash the filter and let it go for 2 weeks... that's what I do, then a water change, rince filter and let it go again for 2 weeks...

again my female lost eggs but this will just happen all the time with new females getting berried so get used to it


----------



## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

Hi Lexingtonmax,

I wouldnt give up so soon if I were you. I remember it took a while for me to get my first cherry baby as well. I would do an ammonia/nitrite reading. I think you may be over feeding and that's the issue. Shrimp dont need as much food as fish do and the leftover food will cause a spike. Also when you do water changes I dont think you need to stir up the gravel at all. I only do water changes on my shrimp tank once every two/three weeks and I just scoop out the water from the top. That works for me and everyone finds out what works best for them but I think for shrimp, you need to keep the water conditions as stable as possible and cherries aren't picky about their water conditions. Maybe too much water changes, stirring up the gravel too much and too much food. Let me know if you want to keep on trying. I have some cherries you can have for free. 

Goodluck!


----------



## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

laurahmm said:


> ..........
> Also when you do water changes I dont think you need to stir up the gravel at all. I only do water changes on my shrimp tank once every two/three weeks and I just scoop out the water from the top. That works for me and everyone finds out what works best for them but I think for shrimp.......


I just want to mention that *stirring and cleaning gravel or sand looks important *for me.
Gravel should be moved from time to time, otherwise gases from decayed food leftovers and poop will be accumulated in there and pollute you water badly. It's even more important if you have a sand as a substrate.

You can not care about that if you have a planted tank, plant roots will do that job, or you keep assassin or MTS snails, they will move gravel/sand for you as well.
However, if nothing disturb your substrate, you need to do that.
After a month of non-cleaning a tank even with medium bioload I have bubbles coming out of a substrate and noticeable smell of *marsh gases*.


----------



## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

Thanks for the correction Igor!  I forgot I have plants and MTS in my shrimp tank so never experience that problem. I have MTS snails also if you need.


----------



## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Great thread !

Igor, I have a question.

I have a 10 gallon CherryShimp tank and I have quite a few.

I see babies and eggs all the time. But I would think I should have more shrimp. I guess they are good hiders.

Back to my question; can you give us a routine of how you keep your tanks?

how much water changed and how often. When do you do it? seems like one female is always berried??

how you change the water,siphon it? prevents loss of shrimp getting sucked up while doing the water change.

The amount of food and how often?

good things to have in the tank, like java moss or almond leaves (shrimp seem to like eating it)

thanks for any info


----------

