K
KarenB
Being new to the hobby, everything fascinates me. I think we had the tank up a month when the first emerald crab spawned, and I watched with jaw agape at the tiny little miracles floating about, attracted to the flashlight beam.
We have four peppermint shrimp, and I knew some day we might have little shrimp fry. For the past week I've been watching closely two very "pregnant" peppermint shrimp as their eggs have gone from green to amber and, in the past few days, white. Tonight under the actinics, I actually got to see the new babies being born.
And what a sight it was! I watched as the mother to be fanned and fanned the eggs. She's been doing this for a couple of nights in a row. I expected the fry to float free any moment. Mother was anxious, first under the rock, then on top, then back under, fanning as she paced. What I expected and what actually happened really took me by surprise.
She went back underneath the rock. At this point my nose is against the glass, and I'm looking for some sign that the fry have floated forth. In the blink of an eye she'd made a diagonal path toward the top of the tank and actually jumped out of the water and then quickly came back down and under another rock. Suddlenly the water was cloudy with tiny baby peppermint shrimp. Wow!
Of course, all the fish had a feast, but for a short time I did get to appreciate the brand new tiny little lives.
We have four peppermint shrimp, and I knew some day we might have little shrimp fry. For the past week I've been watching closely two very "pregnant" peppermint shrimp as their eggs have gone from green to amber and, in the past few days, white. Tonight under the actinics, I actually got to see the new babies being born.
And what a sight it was! I watched as the mother to be fanned and fanned the eggs. She's been doing this for a couple of nights in a row. I expected the fry to float free any moment. Mother was anxious, first under the rock, then on top, then back under, fanning as she paced. What I expected and what actually happened really took me by surprise.
She went back underneath the rock. At this point my nose is against the glass, and I'm looking for some sign that the fry have floated forth. In the blink of an eye she'd made a diagonal path toward the top of the tank and actually jumped out of the water and then quickly came back down and under another rock. Suddlenly the water was cloudy with tiny baby peppermint shrimp. Wow!
Of course, all the fish had a feast, but for a short time I did get to appreciate the brand new tiny little lives.