# Test Tube Shrimplets =)



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Test tube shrimplets =)

I managed to artificially birth baby Blue Pearl Shrimplets from the dead female. This is the second time that I attempted to hatch eggs artificially from a pregnant dead female, and the first time I was successful.

The first attempt was with Tiger Shrimp eggs. That was a while back, several months, and I was unsuccessful in that attempt. I put the eggs in a mesh bag and hung the bag in the tank. Unfortunately the snails managed to get onto the bag and literally sucked the eggs out of the bag like you would eat oysters. This was several months ago. I have been fortunate enough not to have pregnant females deaths since (at least none I have seen that may have been eaten).

About a 2 weeks ago I discovered a dead pregnant Blue Pearl Shrimp. She had about 20 eggs in her. I do not know how long she had been pregnant for. I decided to give the "artificial hatching" another try. This time I opted to go with a separate container instead of a mesh bag for obvious reason. I was skeptical about using a jar due to lack of water flow, temperature drop, etc. I decided to give it a shot anyways.

I got a plastic container (one in the picture), which I frequently use for aquarium water use only (netting for packaging, etc.), so I know it is free of any chemicals/detergents that may contaminants. I filled the contained to the water level you see in the picture. I decided that during the egg extraction I would do it over the water filled container in case any eggs dropped. This way they would drop right into the water. Also, if I managed to get any eggs on the tweezers I would just dip the tweezers into the water and let them fall off.

I removed the female from the tank with a net. I gripped her with a pair of tweezers on the head of the shrimp. I paid careful attention not to squish the eggs when gripping the shrimp. She was "mushy" so I had to be very delicate when handling her. I knew that I had to remove the eggs from the body or else the rotting body would probably poison the eggs. Some may think that the eggs of a pregnant female shrimp are not firmly attached and they can fall off any moment when alive. Trust me, that is not the case at all. They are all held together with a slime/mucus/glue-like substance. This "glue" also attaches to the females undercarriage. It is not an easy task to remove the eggs when they are glued and attached to the shrimp body at the same time.

I had to be very careful during the extraction. I could not touch the eggs with my fingers because of the acid on my fingers. I also had to be delicate when removing the eggs, making sure not to rip the female apart in the process. If I ripped her apart then I would have had nowhere to grip with the tweezers holding the shrimp.

Once I had a firm but delicate hold on the shrimp with the tweezers I then used a plastic spoon to remove the eggs. Removing the eggs was very tedious. You have to gently loosen the eggs from the shrimp body. Patience is the key. Also, I decided not to attempt to individually separate the eggs from each other once. I left them in the mucus they were all attached to. I just wanted to get them off of the female.

After carefully removing the eggs I was able to get almost all of them off and into the water filled container. A very few eggs were still tucked inside of the shrimp and it would have been almost impossible to extract them with the tools I had.

I threw the female carcass away and inspected the eggs in the container. I carefully removed any leftover remnants of the female body. All that was left were the eggs stuck together with the mucus.

Now that I isolated the eggs and they were into the jar I ventured into the unknown. I came up with a simple plan... change the water every 3 days 75% and refill with tank water to the same level as before water change. Also, during the week I would use the dropper (in the picture) and spray the eggs in the water with tank water. Sort of refreshing the water and creating oxygen at the same time.

I stored the jar right next to the tank to try my best to get the same conditions. I never tested the temperature of the water so I do not know what it was in the container. I also placed a lid on top of the container to prevent the air from making the water too cold. I did not snap the lid on, I just place it on top with a small crack left.

I continually checked the container, changed water, sprayed, smelled, and observed the eggs over the past 2 weeks. The water smelled "funny" but the eggs looked o.k. I compared the coloration and shape of the eggs in the container to the eggs on the live Blue Pearl Shrimp females that were also pregnant. I did not see much difference in coloration or shape so I stuck to the plan. I did have thoughts of just dumping the container after smelling the water for foulness, but I figured give it a month and then see...

Well I went to change the water today and there were shrimplets!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I was shocked. I had heard of others successfully doing this, but I did not think I would get it to work.... I counted so far 7 shrimplets with about 10 more eggs left unhatched. In the picture below you can actually see the eyes in a couple of the eggs.

I feel proud =) I will definitely use this method in the future when I find a dead female that is pregnant.

Enjoy the pics

*Two Shrimplets









Two Shrimplets with group of unhatched eggs









Unhatched eggs with eyes









The jar and "dropper"







*​


----------



## FacePlanted (Aug 13, 2007)

Wow! That's cool!
Good Job. Thanks for detailing the process.

-Mike B-


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Very cool WOOD.
Good job and thanks for sharing.


----------



## Chuppy (Aug 5, 2007)

Now that is simply amazing


----------



## Six (May 29, 2006)

Very cool. Do you have some pics of your fish/shrimp room? The set-up must be amazing to have the space to do this!


----------



## MARIMOBALL (Jun 20, 2007)

Thanx for sharing this info. Last night one of by berried CRS died but when I saw the dead shrimp this morning the snails had eaten the eggs. That was some expensive caviar. BTW how long before the eggs hatch?


----------



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Six said:


> Very cool. Do you have some pics of your fish/shrimp room? The set-up must be amazing to have the space to do this!


Here is my journal:
http://www.planetinverts.com/My Shrimp Rack Journal by Wood.html


----------



## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Yea, I found a dead hinomaru the other day, and I'm starting to wonder if that was my berried hinomaru I've been missing for a while. Maybe the eggs got eaten up first? 

Or maybe it just dropped all its eggs or hatched all the babies...

Well, great story, Wood! Good to see that something like this IS possible; not that anything like this would be possible for me...


----------



## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Quick question:

How did you acclimate the shrimp afterward??


----------



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

erijnal said:


> Quick question:
> 
> How did you acclimate the shrimp afterward??


they were already acclimated because I was using the same tank water the entire time. So I simply netted the babies and put them right into the tank.

-Ryan


----------



## sayshrimp (Nov 5, 2007)

Gotta try that one day. Thanks for the information. It helps the new guy like myself out alot.


----------



## emorsso (Aug 17, 2006)

Dear Ryan,

Excellent article. Just curious, how often you spray the jar with the dropper? As in how many times per day.


----------

