Ghost shrimp eating her eggs?

[Anna76667]

Hello I am new to this forum so I apologize if I am posting this in the wrong place. I have a shrimp that I noticed 3 days ago was full with babies.( I have already had a shrimp have babies so I know what to do and when:) today I noticed she only had maybe 5 under her swimmets as I was watching she seemed to be reaching into them and pulling them out possibly eating them. My question is... Is that normal? The babies were not developed at all no eyes just pale green balls. I have searched online and can't find anything pertaining to this. So if anyone can help or has had this happen I would appreciate it. Oh and I have been monitoring my water ( like a good fish mom:) and it's perfect everything how it should be. Thank you

[korith]

Welcome to the forum! The good news, what you saw probably was the shrimp using its swimmerets circulating water over the eggs, this is normal behaviour. Now for the bad news, ghost shrimp need brackish water in order for the eggs to mature into adults. There are many types of shrimp that sometimes get sold off as 'ghost shrimp', a few do ok w/o brackish water. Many times they are sold as feeder shrimp as well. Another problem with raising them is ghost shrimp go through a larval stage. Here is more info on them http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/inv/ghostshrimp.php . If you really want to raise shrimp take a look at red cherry shrimp. They are easy to keep, have a wide temperature range and breed readily in freshwater. The red cherry shrimp don't go through a larval form so once they are released from the mother, they are miniature versions of the adults.


Just thought I'd add in sometimes shrimp do drop their eggs. Many times it is due to changes in the water quality/ph, especially when moving them into a new tank.

[DessieVB]

Hello, I am also new here. I have the same situation, I have a pregnant GS and she is in a breeding box. Last night she had a lot of eggs and when I got home from work she only had a few left. Can it be she is eating her little unborn babies? :(

[madagascariensis]

you both likely are witnessing either normal egg cleaning behavior or the mother shrimp assisting the larvae hatching. unfortunately
the larvae will need brackish water to develop so young shrimp appearing is highly unlikely.

[Aeonflame]

It depends on the species of "ghost shrimp" you have. There are some that complete their entire life cycle in fresh water. The ones I collect here are from closed freshwater ponds.