Vicki
Anemone
:lol::lol::lol: Just kidding..... These babies aren't for sale at ANY price. They're priceless; at least to me.
At the PSAS (Puget Sound Aquarium Society) Holiday Party in mid December of 2007, I had three Peppermint Shrimp tanks setup and running. The wild caught parents were in the larger tank and then I had two small tanks with captive bred babies in them. There were two that had 'settled' to the bottom and looked like miniature shrimp in one tank and one that had settled and another still in the water column in the other tank. These babies are considered 'F1', being they are first generation from wild caught parents.
Shrimp carry their eggs with them until they're ready to hatch. When the female decides it's time to release her babies, she usually swims to the top of the water and with several swishing motions, releases all the babies. The parents then quickly start eating them as well as any other critters in the tank until all the babies have disappeared.
I've been lucky to capture enough of the babies to attempt raising them. So far though, I've only been able to raise to maturity three F1 Peppermints. It's not an easy task as the babies remain in the water column for several months before they do the final molt to become real shrimp. You can't imagine how difficult it is to siphon the bottom of the tank and do water changes with these tiny and clear babies.
Shortly after the PSAS party, I noticed that my slightly over three month old F1 'baby' Peppermint was carrying eggs. On Christmas Eve, she presented me with around 100 babies! I had 'goose-bumps' all day long as I was such a proud GrandMa of F2 (second generation captive bred) babies. I still get goose-bumps when I think about it.
This group of babies are doing remarkably well; at least in comparison to the previous ones I'd tried to raise. My F1's didn't settle until they were 10 to 12 weeks. On January 21, 2008, the first of the F2 babies settled! Unheard of and certainly unexpected to see one tiny Peppermint (about the size of a large mysis shrimp) running around on the bottom of the tank! He was only 4 weeks old! There are a total of five that have settled in the batch so far, and they're only seven weeks old! There's probably another 15 or so that hopefully will make it too!
I have two more batches from the same parents at various stages, though the youngest batch doesn't seem to be doing too well. But, there will be more to try to figure out what is the best way to raise these darling little shrimp. So far, I just consider myself VERY lucky!
I've tried and tried to get some good pictures of my babies, but just can't seem to get my camera to cooperate. Plus, before they settle, they're almost transparent and very difficult to see even with the naked eye.
In the first picture below, you can see two of the babies that have settled and behind them, toward the bottom back, are a number of blurs of babies that are still in the water column.
In the second picture, center is a settled baby and behind him there is a little clearer blur of several that are still in the water column. They kind of remind me a miniature Sea Dragons and spiders.
The third picture shows one settled Peppermint and quite a few in back of him that haven't settled yet.
Again, sorry for the blurry shots, but they don't hold still when you're trying to take a picture. I hope these are good enough to give you an idea of what they look like.
Vicki
At the PSAS (Puget Sound Aquarium Society) Holiday Party in mid December of 2007, I had three Peppermint Shrimp tanks setup and running. The wild caught parents were in the larger tank and then I had two small tanks with captive bred babies in them. There were two that had 'settled' to the bottom and looked like miniature shrimp in one tank and one that had settled and another still in the water column in the other tank. These babies are considered 'F1', being they are first generation from wild caught parents.
Shrimp carry their eggs with them until they're ready to hatch. When the female decides it's time to release her babies, she usually swims to the top of the water and with several swishing motions, releases all the babies. The parents then quickly start eating them as well as any other critters in the tank until all the babies have disappeared.
I've been lucky to capture enough of the babies to attempt raising them. So far though, I've only been able to raise to maturity three F1 Peppermints. It's not an easy task as the babies remain in the water column for several months before they do the final molt to become real shrimp. You can't imagine how difficult it is to siphon the bottom of the tank and do water changes with these tiny and clear babies.
Shortly after the PSAS party, I noticed that my slightly over three month old F1 'baby' Peppermint was carrying eggs. On Christmas Eve, she presented me with around 100 babies! I had 'goose-bumps' all day long as I was such a proud GrandMa of F2 (second generation captive bred) babies. I still get goose-bumps when I think about it.
This group of babies are doing remarkably well; at least in comparison to the previous ones I'd tried to raise. My F1's didn't settle until they were 10 to 12 weeks. On January 21, 2008, the first of the F2 babies settled! Unheard of and certainly unexpected to see one tiny Peppermint (about the size of a large mysis shrimp) running around on the bottom of the tank! He was only 4 weeks old! There are a total of five that have settled in the batch so far, and they're only seven weeks old! There's probably another 15 or so that hopefully will make it too!
I have two more batches from the same parents at various stages, though the youngest batch doesn't seem to be doing too well. But, there will be more to try to figure out what is the best way to raise these darling little shrimp. So far, I just consider myself VERY lucky!
I've tried and tried to get some good pictures of my babies, but just can't seem to get my camera to cooperate. Plus, before they settle, they're almost transparent and very difficult to see even with the naked eye.
In the first picture below, you can see two of the babies that have settled and behind them, toward the bottom back, are a number of blurs of babies that are still in the water column.
In the second picture, center is a settled baby and behind him there is a little clearer blur of several that are still in the water column. They kind of remind me a miniature Sea Dragons and spiders.
The third picture shows one settled Peppermint and quite a few in back of him that haven't settled yet.
Again, sorry for the blurry shots, but they don't hold still when you're trying to take a picture. I hope these are good enough to give you an idea of what they look like.
Vicki
. Just kidding. Thats awesome Vicki! Congrats, and keep it up. What are you feeding before they settle out?
