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one of my female ghost shrimp has those green eggs under her tail area.

i have her and around 11 of her friends in my tank with:
10 guppies(8 females)
1 vartius platy(male)
4 cherry barbs(3 females)
3 red eye tetras
8 neons

the tank is a bare bottom, with alot of java moss.

so what should i do, or rather what will she do.


edit: also a betta tessyae if it makes a difference.
also will anytihng eat the eggs or babies etc...

Everything will eat the babies but the other shrimp. If you want babies you will have to move her to a fishless tank with some java moss or similar cover until she releases the babies. The eggs should hatch within a week and she will carry the babies around under her tail feeding them herself for another week or 2. When they get too big or she thinks they are safe from predators she will release them one at a time. Usually they do so while standing on something above the substrate such as a rock or piece of driftwood. From then on the babies will live just like miniature adults. Even a little bowl with a sponge filter and enough light to keep moss alive will work to raise them beyond food size. They are really tiny when released and always eaten by any fish that see them.

hi, i have lots of fern in my tank and a few of ghost shrimp larvae did survive the fish. I think if you have a lot of fine leaved bunced plants, some may live. The biggest problem would be molting. Do provide some hiding places too small for the fish to fit into but available to the shrimps.
hope it helps

I think my dilemma kind of applies to this thread... I bought a female ghost shrimp and read that they often drop their eggs when they move into a new tank. I've noticed that she is still carrying about 4 or 5 little green eggs with her, and they have two black dots in them. Are those their eyes? I'm worried that if I separate her to have the eggs, she will just drop them in the new tank out of stress. There is java moss in the tank right now and I know that one platy fry has been surviving in the tank so far, (not sure if it survived today's water change though!) so I wonder if there is any chance that the baby shrimp could possibly survive?

Also... this may not be the place to ask, but what does it mean if you can't see the ghost shrimp digesting its food? Most of my ghost shrimp have that brown/green area that you can see where it moves its food around, but on one of the shrimp, I can't see that area and it seems to be actually clear. Is something wrong with it? Will it starve? I have such a strange mix of ghosts! One is even missing an eye. =/

The pottery that growls!

Ghost shrimp are suppose to be clear enough you can see them digesting their food. When they turn dark or chalky it's considered to be a sign of bad health and the shrimp will die soon. Some people though have had chalky ghost shrimp survive for months or even a year that way so noone is sure.

Occasionally in a tank with cover baby shrimp will survive but it's by far no gurantee. Those that have baby shrimp survive in their tank usually can't replicate it and someone else with a very similar setup, even more cover, and the same fish may lose all their shrimp. Try it if you like but just because you add tons of plants or cover that the fish aren't suppose to get into doesn't mean you'll end up with baby shrimp.

You can wait to move a female until she's ready to drop her babies anyway. If they manage to survive the stress of being moved to another tank and there is predators in that tank they will often hold onto their babies for a much longer period of time. Until they start dropping some because they don't all fit under their tail. You may be able to wait until you can make out not only eyes but legs and tails of the babies and then move the female and some of the tankwater she is currently in to the tank or container you want to raise the babies in. That way if she does drop them they'll be ready to survive on their own anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try moving her later on then. The eggs are still green and only the eyes are visible, but when I first bought her, I think they were just plain green eggs, but I think she had a couple more!

As for chalky... now i'm scared! One of my shrimp is starting to turn a little more white. I thought that maybe they do that when they're about to molt, but I didn't know it meant they were going to die soon! I'll keep an eye out for that little guy then.

The pottery that growls!

Like I said noone is entirely sure what the reasons are for chalky ghost shrimp. They may get slightly less clear before molting but it usually isn't that noticeable. I had several ghost shrimp that turned chalky white to slightly tan and they lived and continued to reproduce for months. The rest of the ghost shrimp which were all from the same breeding group stayed clear. The ones that turned darker though never became clear again. They were permanently that way. All the shrimp born in my tank have remained clear and now most of the originals have died off so I have no more chalky/tan shrimp.