Baby cleaners

[brighteyes_cm]

our cleaner shrimps had a double hatch well over three weeks ago, and to my surprise instead of all the babies getting eaten or dyeing, they have just gotten bigger, and bigger and more and more developed. i have done nothing to help them but they seem to have great survival strategies (living underneath my open brain and moon coral, and beside my colt coral) none of the fish can see them, and the shrimp never go near them, the crabs are too slow to catch the bigger ones which are now over 1/2 an inch long.

i know i shouldnt get my hopes up, but how long do they normally live? is there anything i can do for them without causing a major disturbance to my tank?

I'll try to post a pic once the lights are all on

[brighteyes_cm]

nobody even wants to venture a comment???

[Renzema]

wow you must have enough food for them.

I have a pair of harliquins that release babies about every month and the fry never live passed a few days.

if they are to 1/2", I think they will grow to full size, unless you have fish that will eat them.

good luck
JR

[brighteyes_cm]

heres one of the mid sized ones, man these guys are hard to photograph! theyre so fast!!

[icebear]

i just hope they don't turn out to be Mysid shrimp...it would be disappointing But if they are [Scarlet?] cleaner shrimp, that would be so cool!

[clownfishcrazy]

What type of cleaner shrimp are they? Pepermint shrimp have been bred in captivity. I only have one scarlet cleaner shrimp but every time it molts it has many bright green eggs in its swimmerets.

[brighteyes_cm]

i have 2 scarlet cleaners, and have not added any new rock or coral in order to have any other types of eggs brought in. i have seen them go from an opaque body to a red tinted body, this might just be reflecting whatever it is theyre eating though....

i keep waiting to wake up and find them all gone... instead they just get bigger and bigger, and now we've had another hatch that i think the bigger ones are canibalizing!

[PJ]

Congrats on the New Additioins to your tank.

pj

[salt creepette]

i have a couple cleaners, they always have eggs but i never see them 'have babies.' when do they hatch their eggs, do they look like tiny shrimps? does it happen fast or is it slow? what are my chances of witnessing it? I have a lot of fish that probably will eat them, though. what fish do you have brighteyes?