# Amano shrimp laying eggs??



## Guns286 (Sep 17, 2009)

Ok, I've had my Amano shrimp for awhile now and I've never seen what I'm about to describe before. One of them swam up to the filter output tube (highest point, underwater, in the tank) and started "brushing", what looked like sand particles, from underneath itself, with its legs. The fish gathered below it and sucked up as much of it as they could. Their mini "feeding frenzy" is what brought this event to my attention. 2 or 3 other shrimp swam up there and sat next to the first shrimp. I dont know if this was coincidence, or something else. It happened about 4 hours ago and there are still a couple of them up there. Would the shrimp just go up there and release her eggs into the water like that? I had always thought they would lay them secretly, under driftwood or rocks.


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

normally they hold their eggs for some time (a few weeks) in their little legs until the eggs are mature enough

the eggs my female amanos carry get quite big before she relases them probably 2mm but they need brackish water to survive. 

If your shrimp is still young i suppose it's possible she hasn't gotten the hang of caring for her eggs yet. 

you can find lots more info on one of the shrimp specific sites like planetinverts.com or petshrimp.com

cheers-k


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

Shrimp dont lay eggs. They keep them under their tail untill they hatch.

Amanos cant breed in freshwater though, the larvae die. She could have been releasing the larvae or dropping eggs if she was stressed or didnt like the water conditions.


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## Guns286 (Sep 17, 2009)

The water parameters are good. The Amanos always seemed to do well in the tank. I dont see why they would be stressed. If she was to release the larvae, would they be small, like a grain of sand? It "fell" in the water, as if it had weight. Could it have possibly been sand? I think the fact that the fish were so attracted to it means that it was something organic.


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## dthb4438 (Nov 12, 2007)

It was probably the dead embryo and they were eating them. My Amano's do this two or three times a year. I gotta give them an A for trying, but I never see any babies. The female get quite large and then she drops them and everyone eats them.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

What they said, without salinity the larvae will die.


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## Dwarfpufferfish (May 29, 2004)

The larva will live in freshwater for a few hours, but with fish in the aquarium they just become a snack! Either way, its good for the fish!


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## mossman77 (Aug 5, 2019)

I've successfully bred Amanos I'm a freshwater tank. Three of who knows how many survived.


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