Pregnant Cleaner Shrimp?

[webbl19]

Anyone have any expirence with a pregnant cleaner shrimp? I have 2 cleaners in my tank, one of them has a noticably larger belly, i guess that is thier belly? Little feet under their tail area. Looking really close at her i feel like i see a bunch of clear tiny balls inside there, assuming to be eggs. Really hard to tell. It also has a little white to it and seems more fluffy or full, while the other is more of a yellowish belly.

Not really sure how they reproduce, maybe they just grow eggs and the male fertilizes them after they hatch?
Can you tell the sex of these things?

First pic she is on the left. Second pic she is the one in front.

 

[sbash]

Yeah, this is one of the best parts of having cleaner shrimp. They are technically hermaphrodites, so they can both be pregnant (i.e and impregnate each other) at the same time.

Eventually they will release the fry (are they called fry? either way, baby shrimp) and it will feed the tank. Unfortunately none will survive, but that is all part of the ecosystem.

I have only been able to witness one birthing in the many years I have kept these creatures. It was pretty neat. I just saw a fog (kind of) start spreading, and the fish went nuts! Upon closer investigation they were very very tiny shrimps... <1mm... Very cool to witness...

 

[Antics]

It's a very cool thing to observe! I've always kept them in my aquariums because my Anthias would go nuts.

 

[webbl19]

I guess i will have to keep my eyes on the tank for this. Hopefully i get to see it happen. Only fry ive ever had were some guppies years ago.

 

[Salty1962]

My Cleaner's and Peppermint's would release fry every few weeks. Corals loved it!;Woot

 

[ThunderGoose]

Maybe I need a second cleaner shrimp! Very cool!

 

[webbl19]

This is old now, but I never saw any babies and I'm down to 1 cleaner. The other one completely disappeared. Dunno what happened to it. Woke up one day, checking out the tank and only saw 1 set of white feelers or whatever they are.

 

[Dom]

Why not isolate it within the tank to protect the youngsters until they can survive in the tank?

 

[Cully]

Same experience here. Saw her/him climb t the top of the scape and flutter hundreds of eggs. Was free broadcast feeding for the tank. Fish went nuts.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Very cool!

 

[CrashTestBennie]

Currently have both my cleaner shrimp with eggs in their pleopods...pretty cool. I can't wait for the egg supernova!