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.

The Blue Jelly babies are now about nine days old and are starting to be a bit less timid so I often see one skipping about the tank and going on a big adventure to explore their surroundings. SO far, I have managed to count eight of them all being visible at the same time so I am hoping that I have a few more that were just hiding at that point, but even if not I am very happy with having eight little beauties running around in there.

They don't seem to have grown very much over the past nine days, but they do seem easier to spot so maybe they have grown a little. It will be interesting to compare their size against the new Blue Jelly Shrimplets that we are expecting in the next few days as well as comparing the Blue Jelly Shrimplets size with the Tiger Shrimp babies.

The good thing is that I have finally managed to get some fairly decent photos of them now, well as good as I can with my point and shoot camera (seriously regretting selling my SLR and macro lenses now). All the same, I have some good images that show the tiny little critters.

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.