I think my harlequin shrimp is pregnant!

[Thespammailaccount]

Baby harlequin shrimp just born!

 

[MERKEY]

Baby harlequin shrimp just born!

Very cool...how did you siphon them? With a dropper?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Very cool...how did you siphon them? With a dropper?

Used a small mesh fish net and transferred them into a cup then reduced the water volume by straining them through a 53 micron sieve. I read somewhere that water bubbles from an air hose could kill them so I put them in a container with only about a 1/4’ of water so the water could get oxygen? Not sure what the heck I am doing? I do the same right after I hatch brine and they are able to live in the small water height without an airline. They are in the container bouncing around with the heater underneath with the heater in a pot of water. To the left is some newly hatched brine in a plastic bowl in a similar water height. Now I have to find some food fast! And my luck I had a culture of rotifers about two weeks ago but it crashed. Don’t have decapulated brine. Do have live phyto culturing. Do you think they will eat that till I get some rotifers?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Lol I knew something was different. The large female was huge and for the last hour or two she has been out of the cave which she does not do and up on the rocks and was completely ignoring the starfish I gave them and now she is back in the cave and finally eating the starfish

 

[Thespammailaccount]

These baby shrimp sure are tiny. They almost kind of look like shrimp even at this size I think I can see two eyes and their shape is similar to the adult kind of a curve shape

 

[Thespammailaccount]

if thats what you see- good probability. Harlequin shrimp typically will spawn after they molt every 18–24 days. Two hours after fertilization, they transfer their eggs into their abdomens giving them that round body. Depending on the size of the felame. they are capable of laying 200-4000 eggs which hatch in about 3 weeks .

Mom and pop and babies!

 

[G Santana]

This is a pretty cool thing to experience!!!
Hope you can raise them successfully!!!

 

[salty joe]

Too cool! Has it been done before?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Too cool! Has it been done before?

A few people have been able to figure it out but generally no

 

[Anchor]

Oh, you can decapsulate your own eggs using a bleach solution

 

[Wotarush]

I have two pair of harlequin shrimp. The largest female is probably two inches in size. The underside of her looks different. I think she is pregnant!? Was not fast enough to snap a picture of her underside. Gave the pairs a star and the harlequin female in question is now back in the cave. What do I do!? Anyone have any experience raising harlequin shrimp or what the female looks like when pregnant? Could not find much info online

She will carry a clutch of orange eggs, like any other Shrimp/Lobster, and these will be clearly visible, they will normally release at dusk/night, you may often see you fish, in the water column, eating the babies.

Hope this helps, my Harliquin regularly has eggs

 

[whitewaterman53]

Check out this website. Hope it helps.

Harlequin Shrimp – Detailed Guide: Care, Diet, and Breeding - Shrimp and Snail Breeder

Harlequin shrimps are the most striking crustaceans in the world, showing unique coloration and morphological features. They can keep your corals safe.

aquariumbreeder.com

 

[Charles Raabe]

A bit dated but hope this helps. Was never able to determine / obtain the correctly sized food to get the larvae beyond a week old.

Harlequin Shrimp

The care, breeding and raising of the Harlequin Shrimp

chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net

 

[Johnniebt]

Did they survive?

 

[Mahogany1985]

Hi everyone. sorry for the blanket message.

I'm a wildlife producer making a film for National Geographic. I have set up a film shoot with these amazing shrimps for the end of the month and we want to film them molting and mating amongst other things. It's not easy but I have read some really useful stuff, principally from Chuck's amazing page but also some studies from the 1970's by Seibt.

Hobbyists have told me that spawning and molting is more likely to happen at night but the published research seems to suggest that it might happen at any time of day and that actually these animals are DAY active, which is odd. We have 5 pairs all set up and ready to go. Our aquarist hasn't noticed eggs on them up to this point, but from Chuck's page the eggs don't look particularly obvious (silver, rather than bright orange like some). Until now they were kept well fed and happy but in quite small holding tanks (20cmx20cm). They've now been transferred into our much larger 70x50x40 filming tanks. could the small tanks have been preventing them from spawning till now? Apparently the females are huge now so they should be sexually active.

Basically my questions are:

1) Are there any tips you would offer to maximise my chances of filming spawning behaviour?
2) If the shrimp pairs are indeed not spawning, is there anything we can do to encourage them to? They have about one more molt until our three week filming block occurs.

Any tips in general would be so helpful. Thanks all and sorry for the long message!

James

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Hi everyone. sorry for the blanket message.

I'm a wildlife producer making a film for National Geographic. I have set up a film shoot with these amazing shrimps for the end of the month and we want to film them molting and mating amongst other things. It's not easy but I have read some really useful stuff, principally from Chuck's amazing page but also some studies from the 1970's by Seibt.

Hobbyists have told me that spawning and molting is more likely to happen at night but the published research seems to suggest that it might happen at any time of day and that actually these animals are DAY active, which is odd. We have 5 pairs all set up and ready to go. Our aquarist hasn't noticed eggs on them up to this point, but from Chuck's page the eggs don't look particularly obvious (silver, rather than bright orange like some). Until now they were kept well fed and happy but in quite small holding tanks (20cmx20cm). They've now been transferred into our much larger 70x50x40 filming tanks. could the small tanks have been preventing them from spawning till now? Apparently the females are huge now so they should be sexually active.

Basically my questions are:

1) Are there any tips you would offer to maximise my chances of filming spawning behaviour?
2) If the shrimp pairs are indeed not spawning, is there anything we can do to encourage them to? They have about one more molt until our three week filming block occurs.

Any tips in general would be so helpful. Thanks all and sorry for the long message!

James

Here is the main thread about the harlequin shrimp

I think my harlequin shrimp is pregnant!

I have two pair of harlequin shrimp. The largest female is probably two inches in size. The underside of her looks different. I think she is pregnant!? Was not fast enough to snap a picture of her underside. Gave the pairs a star and the harlequin female in question is now back in the cave. What...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Thespammailaccount]

when my female is ready to release the eggs she comes out of the cave which the male and is present in the middle of the tank for a few hours before lights out. About 30 mins after lights out around 11pm she climbs up the the highest point of the rock work flutters the appendages underneath her belly and release the larvae

 

[Thespammailaccount]

The female will molt a few days after giving birth. Right when the female is almost done molting the male begins to impregnate her by lifting her up and placing his underside against hers

 

[Thespammailaccount]

The female keeps the eggs underneath her under the appendages under her belly. They look like little rows of perfectly aligned dots

 

[Thespammailaccount]

When the female is almost ready to give birth she swells up because the eggs are taking in water and hydrating