Describing baby ghost shrimp

[HomaridNoob6]

I've never had ghost shrimp up until recently, and I'm wondering what the babies look like. I saw a buncha tiny things hopping around at the surface today, thought they were mosquito larvae at first, but theyre so small theyd make a pinhead look big. I was about to do a wc, Ive been leaving the filter off lately and just doing 2 small wc's daily water parameters have been staying great surprisingly. Ever since i noticed a shrimp carrying what looked to me like eggs i've left the filter off.

If someone has amazing photo skills, and obviously a camera to match, i cant imagine trying to get a picture of these tiny things, I would love to see a photo of baby ghost shrimp.

also, if they are baby shrimp, any advice on feeding?

I almost forgot, its a 2.5 gall unheated tank (stays in the high 60's) with 5 ghosties in it, and a buncha rocks and some java moss, i hardly ever see the dang things.

[troy]

Sounds like ghost shrimp babies.The ghost shrimp babies won't grow legs for about a week. They can probably get some food from infusoria or something that is in java moss.

[HomaridNoob6]

Hmm, there might be a problem there though, the java moss is about 6 inches underneath them, and they just seem to hang at the surface.

should i cut a few pieces off and let them float around maybe?

I've been looking more closely and it kinda looks like the adults are coming to the top and eating the babies, so i might not even get a chance to worry about feeding them.

[troy]

That would probably work. It seems weird that the adults haven't been eating the babies.

[HomaridNoob6]

? it kinda looks like they have been eating them. But honestly I personally can't confirm that they are baby shrimp, it could be something else entirely.

[Jellygirl]

Hi there,

I have a couple of different shrimp in my tanks.

Here is a picture of a baby cherry red shimp that I found in my floating plants.

I estmate that the shrimp is about half a centimeter in length.

[HomaridNoob6]

nice pic, thanks :) I'm gonna try to get a pic of the things I'm talking about, theyre nowhere near that developed, or large. I doubt I'll be able to without an electron microscope lol. I can try i guess!

[troy]

When cherry shrimp hatch they are already mini versions of their parents. Ghost shrimp are in 'larval' stage before they actually look like shrimp.

[HomaridNoob6]

these must be baby ghosties then, larval was the word i was thinking of the whole time to describe them, i originally thought they were mosquito larvae.