My second berried Blue Jelly Shrimp has just hatched her eggs two days before I was expecting them. She has only been berried for 22 days, that is two days less than my first Blue Jelly. She was hiding inside the coconut cave, it seems to be the favoured place for my Berried Shrimps to hang out and they have not only passed their eggs down from their saddle to their Pleopods inside there, and spent a lot of time in there whilst berried, but they also seem to retreat back inside when it is hatching time.

I have managed to spot three tiny little shrimplets from this new batch, and I am surprised at the size difference between them and my first batch of shrimplets. I had not realised how much they had grown. It is not so much the length that has changed, it is more that the older ones seem to have bulked out and look more stocky in build, though I think they are also a little longer.

The first thing I noticed was a tiny thing floating at the top of the tank. I managed to fish it out and put in onto a piece of paper. Looking under a microscope (yes, I really am that obsessive), I could see that it was a larval looking shrimp, it had teh overall body shape, but no legs. AT first I assumed that it was a Ninja Shrimps shrimplet as they cannot survive in freshwater. I then noticed my Blue Jelly was just inside the cave and was looking paler than she had been looking earlier. That was when I saw two tiny Blue Jelly Shrimplets sitting just outside the Coconut cave and realised that what I had fished out must have been a Blue Jelly Shrimplet that had not fully developed for whatever reason.

With an expected due date for hatching of next Wednesday (27th March), I am trying to keep a close eye on my 2nd berried Blue Jelly. She kindly did some posing for the camera in a great position at the front of the tank allowing me to get some great photographs of the eggs and the developing shrimplets inside.

The eggs all still look quite a nice bright yellow colour, though it is clear to see small signs of red which from looking at the current shrimplets in the tank seems to be a coloured spot on their body just behind the head. They are too small to see their colouring properly but look like they are still mainly blue. The eyes are really clear to see, and once again looking at mum she has a definite and rapidly growing saddle which is the same as my first berried Blue Jelly.

Things appear to be going well, but I am keen to see if I notice the same level of colour changing within the eggs over the next few days as I noticed with the first batch of eggs. The eggs still look quite solid, and I had noticed that the last batch of eggs became almost transparent, so I am also keen to see if this happens again as we get closer to next Wednesday.

The two berried Blue Jellies are doing very well. I am checking the tank in anticipation several times a day in the hope that the eggs will have hatched or be starting to hatch. I am so excited about the little shrimplets as they will be my first ones ever. I have found that she is hiding more and more at the moment and often she isn't seen for hours as she hides away in one of the various hidey holes I have set up to help them feel more secure. I know she disppeared (as they all did) when her saddle moved down to her Pleopods, but I hope she stays out in the open to hatch them as I would love to see it.

I have notices as well, that as the eggs develop more, they are turning more of an orange colour which shows up more when she is near to the other berried Blue Jelly as shown in the pictures below. I have also been trying hard to get a good photo of the eyes inside the eggs which are becoming clearer to see each day.

My second female Blue Jelly Shrimp has finally lost her saddle (apart from one or two rogue eggs that have yet to move) and is now happily carrying her collection of bright yellow eggs.

When looking at mummy number one, her eggs seem to be showing some small shadow shaped inside so it looks like the babies are starting to develop quite nicely.

No signs yet of any saddles with the Tiger Shrimp, but I have only had them for a little over a week so it is quite soon to be expecting anything from them, though the tank is being littered on a daily basis with old shrimp shells (at least one or two each day) so there is good signs of growing going on in there and today's water testing showed that the water is keeping very stable and clear so all is going well so far.

With the (hopefully) imminent arrivals coming I am trying to get everything set up ready for the babies. With this in mind I have added a new plant, a round pellia as I read that its broad leaves are perfect for holding the tiny food particles for the shrimplets. After adding it to the tanks it has always had at least one of my shrimps on it so they are loving this plant already, just hope they leave some food for the babies.

I have been looking at some shrimps and snails on ebay for quite a while, but as I knew we would be going to visit family that live fairly close to  the seller I held off so I could visit them and chose for myself. I wanted to get some other shrimps that would be able to live with my beautiful Blue Jellies, but obviously don't want to risk any interbreeding between them. I fell in love with the Tiger Shrimps and the Ninja Shrimps but couldn't chose between them. Lucky for me I didn't have to as the Tiger shrimps will not breed with the Blue Jellies and the Ninjas need brackish water for their babies to survive so I was able to get some of each. So, I am know the very proud owner of five of each.

It is quite dangerous for me to go into aquatics stores, and going to Kesgrave Tropicals was a really bad move as they have a massive range of fish, snails and shrimps (and much more), and my wish list has grown longer and longer. I also walked away with some Candy Nerite snails (to go with my Zebra Nerites) and some Assassin snails (to try and rid my Platy tank from the infestation). They were all really helpful and friendly and made us feel really welcome. When we said we were on our way home from a visit to the area they made sure that the shrimps and snails were packed really well and would be as comfortable as possible for the three hour (plus stops) journey back to Brighton. On the way home I was already planning my next visit to them, though I may have to place an order via ebay in the meantime.

So, my Shrimp tank now contains five Blue Jelly Shrimp, five Tiger Shrimp and five Ninja Shrimp. Oh, and on top of that, one of my Blue Jelly Shrimp is now berried (pregnant) and happily wondering around carrying her eggs and a second female has got a massive saddle (hopefully she will soon also be berried), hopefully in the next few weeks my tank will have some lovely little babies running around.