# How long does it take for cherry eggs to hatch?



## trckrunrmike

The female laid some on some hairgrass and the gravel. There was a big group of them this morning but they disappeared somewhere, the mother doesn't have any eggs under her tail. I'm suspecting a fish ate it...


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## Safado

trckrunrmike said:


> The female laid some on some hairgrass and the gravel. There was a big group of them this morning but they disappeared somewhere, the mother doesn't have any eggs under her tail. I'm suspecting a fish ate it...


Cherry Shrimp don't really lay eggs per se. They carry them under their tail for around 25 days. If she has done this and no longer has them, they likely hatched. If there are a lot of fish, not many of the shrimplets will survive.


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## trckrunrmike

...I only saw the eggs yesterday then she kind of arched its backed and several eggs exited out of her body onto the gravel. Ok this is confusing me. Maybe they're in the filter?


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## ianiwane

I think your female just dropped the eggs. Probably not fertilized.


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## Georgiadawgger

I agree...probably not fertilized or she got stressed...I've actually seen "eyes" inside the eggs under my females...so they will carry them basically until they hatch.


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## weaver

I've read this before but I can't remember where... but how large are the baby cherries? Can they be easily seen with the naked eye?

I had two pregnant shrimp who went several weeks with eggs. Its a shrimp only tank (well, too many snails too) and I believe them to all be quiet healthy. About 3 days ago, I noticed the first female no longer had her eggs. Today, the second one was without as well. They both got pregnant at the same time too, so this seems normal. However, I have not been able to locate a single juvenile and I don't have very many serious hidding places. I have a small portion of java moss and a handful of several other stem plants but there is a pretty good view of all of the tank.

Anyway, another similar question, once the eggs are gone from the spinerrettes, they hatch immediately? (Or die of course).

Thanks,
Blake


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## shalu

The babies are a bit less than 2mm long. If you look closely, you can see them. You won't mistake them for anything else, well, except other shrimp. If you see something tiny but not sure if they are baby shrimp, then they are NOT baby cherry.


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## weaver

Well thats quite disheartening.


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## trckrunrmike

I'm not sure if cherry shrimp males are suppose to be pretty transparent. This is because 2 females seem to be ready to get pregnant but the male did impregnate a female that had eggs. The "male" is transparents and has only a thing strip of red on its side, not like the females where they are truely red.


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## shalu

yes, the males have much less color than females. If the eggs are dropped by the females, those won't hatch. Females usually drop the newly hatched babies directly after 3-4 weeks, not eggs. I have seen it with my own eyes, not with cherries, but crystal red shrimp. I witnessed baby shrimp dropping out of the underside of mother shrimp. 

Here is a pic of a baby crystal red, 10 seconds after dropping from the mother. the blurry image in the background is the mother.


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## trckrunrmike

Wow those are small. Today I caught my male shrimp on the top of the female. Was it mating?


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## shalu

They are probably foreplaying. There is strong evidence/literature suggesting that they actually mate with bellies facing each other, not with male on the back.


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## mette

shalu said:


> There is strong evidence/literature suggesting that they actually mate with bellies facing each other, not with male on the back.


i saw this tonight. male was crawling on her back first, then got underneath. once he got vent to vent with her, he shook/vibrated his abdomen and tail for 30 seconds or so, and they finally settled into a sort of hug. the only real point of intimate contact between them was about at the place where the cephalothorax joins the abdomen, which makes sense i guess. i think that the genital openings are down around the latter pairs of walking legs. they stayed put and just picked at each other a little. i checked back about 10 minutes later and they had dismounted. also, all the yellow gunk in the female had moved from the ovaries in the cephalothorax to down around the swimmeretes. so i guess i have some muffins in the oven, then. these shrimp are pretty cool.


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## TheOtherGeoff

shalu said:


> .
> 
> Here is a pic of a baby crystal red, 10 seconds after dropping from the mother. the blurry image in the background is the mother.
> picture[URL]





HOLY CRAP thats a good camera you got!!


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## trckrunrmike

You know what I dont get? There are 3 females and 1 male in my tank and they still haven't got teh pregorz


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## trckrunrmike

WOO HOO One of the bigger shrimps is pregnant


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## trckrunrmike

Hmm I could see the baby's eyes even when they are eggs still!


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## BlueEL

You should see the babies in the next few days. roud:


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## trckrunrmike

w00t they hatched! I was vacuuming my hairgrass when I noticed something moving was going up the python then immediately stopped it. I never knew they were so small. I just hope I didn't vacuum any out.


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## Lotus

Yes, they're very small! When I first saw babies they'd go behind a strand of Java fern and I wouldn't be able to see them.


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## trckrunrmike

Is it normal to not see the shrimplettes for days? Because I haven't seen mine since the day they hatched. Either I pythoned them all out, neons ate them, or they went into the canister.


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## BlueEL

All those things are possible. Check the canister see if any in there, if not then most likely neons ate some of them. I heard people just leave them in canister and let them grow up from it. then release them after a month or so.


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## lumpyfunk

not to worry though, I have never seen one of my shrimp with eggs or even any baby shrimp. Never the less my population is definatally growing!


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