ghost shrimp

I notice that one of my ghost shrimp had little things swimming on her underside and upon closer inspection she was pregnant. I didn't think in my ten gallon with my mollies that they would breed. Obviously I was wrong. So now she is in her own tank and I don't see any babies anywhere or under her. What should I be looking for? Any info would be very helpful

just wanted to say congrats on the babies......I'm no help, I've never bred them.

If she is in there by herself , then the babies will be in there hiding . Are there any plants or rocks ? Snails ? Gravel ? anything at all ? Crush some flake food into powder and mix it in the tank for them. They are REALLY SMALL ! Not micro of course , but when newly hatched , if they don't move you won't see them . If they are in a bare bottom tank ,,, then I am scratching my head as you should be able to see them .
When I raised them , I had a ball of Java Moss in there tank . When the babies got to be about a week or two old , they were easy to pick out on the green back ground .
Good Luck with them .
Ray

When they are first hatched, they are in the form of free floating larvae. They have a very short larval period which is about 24 hours. After that, they will morph in to the adult form.

The big question would be the species of ghostie you have. During the larval stage, some require brackish water and others fresh.

Congrats BTW.

I've never heard of any freshwater Ghost Shrimps that needed brakish to "develop" That being said , here are a couple links about them .Also , Plants and snails are good for baby shrimps as it gives them infusoria ( spelling ? ) to eat.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/inv/ghostshrimp.php


http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Live%20Food,%20Ghost%20Shrimp.htm

Ray

lifeisgood wrote:

I've never heard of any freshwater Ghost Shrimps that needed brakish to "develop"

There are several different species that are classified as "ghost" shrimp. They usually aren't distinquished in the pet stores.

For instance, there are some that are collected in the Florida grass marshes which are brack.

Keep in mind, just because they live in freshwater doesn't mean that other conditions aren't needed to reach maturity. Good examples are the Caridina Japonica and Propinqua to name a couple. Live in fresh but require brack to salt to morph into adult form.

Another good ghostie example is a red claw variety that is actually a little aggressive.

So that being said....

There are several different species that come with the "ghost" label.

you need to identify what kind are yours and good luck

I have no idea what kind they are. I bougt them to feed to my betta but he has decided he doesn't like them anymore so they went in to my ten gallon with my mollies. The lil tank that I put the female in just has gravel. I will check today and see if I see anything. The gravel is brown so it might be kinda hard to see them. I also removed the female when I noticed she was empty not sure if that was a good idea but didn't want her to eat them. Thanks guys for helping