Have some ghost shrimp in your aquarium and want to know if you can breed them? The answer is yes! It’s a little more complicated than raising regular (Neo)caridina dwarf shrimp, but breeding ghost shrimp is still pretty easy and can be fun for even new aquarium owners.
Find out everything you need to know about breeding ghost shrimp and how to raise the fry to be adults below.
Before we start, we’d like to make one important point: ghost shrimp don’t need brackish (half fresh, half marine) water to become babies. There’s a shrimp species that looks a lot like ghost shrimp and its babies do need brackish water to live, so it’s easy to see where the “brackish myth” came from.
The shrimp in question is the Amano shrimp, and it’s hard to breed them because the larvae need salt. That’s not true for ghosts, though! It’s easier to breed them because they can stay in fresh water the whole time.
As an aquarium hobbyist, few things are as exciting as spotting a pregnant ghost shrimp carrying a clutch of eggs But the eggs can be tricky to identify at first glance In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through exactly what ghost shrimp eggs look like at every stage, so you can successfully hatch and raise shrimplets.
An Overview of Ghost Shrimp Reproduction
Before diving into egg specifics, let’s do a quick overview of how ghost shrimp mate and reproduce:
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Females produce a batch of unfertilized eggs every 30-40 days, stored in a compartment called the saddle behind the head
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When the female molts her exoskeleton, it signals to males she is ready to mate
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If a male successfully fertilizes the eggs, they get moved under the female’s abdomen to incubate.
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Fertilized eggs take 14 days to hatch into tiny larval shrimplets.
Now let’s take a closer look at what the eggs look like during this whole process.
Identifying Unfertilized Eggs in the Saddle
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Unfertilized eggs develop a light green color and are stored in the saddle compartment near the female’s head.
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They appear as small fluid-filled spheres, almost like tapioca pearls.
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An unsaddled female may carry 20-30 unfertilized eggs at a time.
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These saddle eggs will get discarded after about a month if not fertilized.
Signs of Fertilized Eggs Under the Abdomen
Once the eggs get fertilized, they take on a different appearance:
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The fertilized eggs shift from the saddle to under the abdomen where the female incubates them.
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Eggs are secured on fine hairs on the swimerettes under the tail.
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Color remains green or light orange. Dark black eggs likely won’t hatch.
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Size is quite small, around 1 mm diameter. Often described as the size of a grain of salt.
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Closer to hatching, tiny black eye spots become visible in each egg.
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Count is typically 20-30 eggs but can vary per brood.
Be on the Lookout for Changes
As the female ghost shrimp tends to her clutch, you may observe:
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Fanning abdominal swimmerets to increase oxygen flow to eggs.
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Twitching legs to gently agitate the eggs.
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Rubbing eggs against surfaces to attempt to dislodge larvae as they mature.
When you notice increased movement like this, get ready – hatching is imminent!
What Do Baby Ghost Shrimp Look Like?
If all goes well, the tiny larval shrimplets will emerge after 14 days. Here’s what to expect when they hatch:
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Nearly microscopic in size, about the width of a human hair. Easy to miss at first!
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Translucent body with a slight orange/brown tint. No legs are visible yet.
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They dart around erratically with quick bursts of speed.
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Prone to getting sucked into tank filters if intake isn’t covered with a pre-filter sponge.
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High mortality rate due to getting eaten by fish or sucked into equipment.
Caring for Newly Hatched Shrimplets
To give your itty-bitty shrimplets the best chance of survival:
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Move the female to a separate hatching tank right before eggs are due. This prevents her from eating babies!
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Use an air-powered sponge filter to avoid too much current.
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Cover intake grates on any filtration with a pre-filter sponge.
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Feed infusoria, powdered fry food, or crushed flakes.
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Have plenty of moss or plants for nibbling on biofilms.
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Do not add the babies to the main tank until they grow to about 1/4 inch size.
Watching Ghost Shrimp Eggs Hatch is So Rewarding!
While it may take some practice to recognize ghost shrimp eggs, you’ll soon be an expert at identifying saddled females and peering at tiny larvae. I find few aquarium experiences as magical as watching a batch of eggs progress through their life stages. It’s proof that your tank conditions are just right for these fascinating creatures to thrive.
What do you need for breeding ghost shrimp?
Ready to start breeding shrimp? You dont need much to get started. In fact, without doing anything, you can get pretty good survival rates in a heavily planted area. However, raising the larvae separately is best because there is no chance that their parents will eat them. This will result in a much higher survival rate.
So, for the purposes of breeding, we recommend two tanks. You can make one into a normal community aquarium or just one for ghost shrimp. You can do anything you want with it. The other one, the rearing tank, can be as simple as a food-safe plastic tub. It doesnt have to be fancy (although it can be if you want!). It’s likely that you won’t even need a filter if you add a lot of plants because the larvae don’t have much life in them.
All you need for the rearing tank is:
- 5 or 10-gallon aquarium or plastic tub
- Plenty of aquatic plants, such as Java moss
- Air stone or sponge filter (with the flow rate turned all the way down)
There you have it! Most of the time, you don’t even need a heater because the ghost shrimp larvae do fine at room temperature.
Its best to give the rearing tank plenty of time to mature. This will make the water more stable, and lots of biofilm will grow for the larvae to eat. Dont worry if it gets algae, thats just more food!.
How do you tell the difference between male and female ghost shrimp?
In addition to the equipment, youll need a few ghost shrimp to start your colony. If you get 6-10, you can be pretty sure there are both males and females in the batch. At first, it might be hard to tell them apart, especially if the females aren’t carrying eggs yet, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly.
Female ghost shrimp are larger than males. There will be a colored spot behind their head called a saddle. This is where eggs are growing in their ovaries. Alternatively, they might carry fertilized eggs in their swimmerets.
pregnant ghost shrimp (hatching eggs)
Do ghost shrimps lay eggs?
Ghost shrimps lay eggs – they never carry the eggs inside their bodies and nourish them with yolks or through placental attachments. The eggs are fertilized externally by the male. As such female ghost shrimps bearing eggs are considered gravid, not pregnant.
What do ghost shrimp eggs look like?
In most cases, Ghost shrimp eggs look like tiny green balls, but they might also be orange in color. The only time you should be concerned about the color of the eggs is if they turn entirely black. This usually indicates that they won’t hatch, but there’s nothing you can do to save the offspring.
What does a ghost shrimp look like?
Female ghost shrimp are larger than males. They will have a colored fleck behind the head, called a saddle, which are eggs developing in the ovaries. Alternatively, they might carry fertilized eggs in their swimmerets. How do ghost shrimp breed? Most shrimp breed in a similar manner, and ghosts are no exception.
How do ghost shrimp hatch?
Female Ghost Shrimp carry their eggs underneath their tails. They use their other, smaller legs to fan oxygen to the egg clutch until they hatch. If the eggs the female Ghost Shrimp is carrying are fertilized, they will turn white and there will be black specs visible.