melev

Saturday night, just after lights out... I was in the kitchen with the overhead lights on. The reef was already heading into sleep mode, but I noticed my Peppermint shrimp was out and about, very active. I'd noticed a few days ago that she was carrying eggs, and I had a feeling she was getting ready to release them. I'd not witnessed this in a very long time, and quickly dashed off to get my camera to capture the event.

The tank light was off, so I relied on the flash. Starting off with the macro lens, pictures were taken yet the flash didn't bother the shrimp at all. She was doing laps around the 60g, and my lens chased her. To get focused shots, I endeavored to keep the lens perpendicular to the tank as much as possible.

You can make out the babies.

Knowing the moment was imminent, I turned off the flow in the tank. The Mp40 wES Vortech was powered off and the ball valve on the return feed was closed. At this point, I opened up the App that allows me to access the Radion fixture so I could turn on the light, but again the software didn't communicate with the light when I wanted it to. The software stated some firmware was updated, but I'd done that previously so I quickly exited the application and reopened it to turn on the light. No luck, and my time was up. The shrimp jumped up into the water column and released all the babies with a few quick thrusts of her tail.

I looked at the tiny shrimp go every direction, but knew they were attracted to light. Placing a piece of clear acrylic I had handy on the top rim of the tank, I stood the Orphek Azurelite upon it to shine down into the tank. The shrimp quickly gathered into that beam of blue light, and I took more pictures. I switched from lens to lens trying to get some decent shots, and dealt with flash reflections off the glass. In this first image, the fingerprint on the glass gives you a sense of scale.

The two dots are the tail section. Most of these in the next image are facing downward.

I was still excited about my luck in realizing what was transpiring that night, as it had been many many years since I witnessed this before, and that threw me off my mental game when it came to taking pictures. The Azurelite and a larger white LED floodlight were useful, but I totally forgot I had a 3-meter remote flash cable I could have used to light my subject from above or from behind. With the weak light I employed, it was hard to get them in proper focus. I couldn't turn on the main light because that would have made them scatter everywhere. A single point of light kept the collected in a nice cluster, but a remote flash would have captured them far better.

I'm sure I'll get more chances in the future.

Itty bitty bits of life would drift and jerk their way in the water. The adult peppermint shrimp soon were in the midst of them, no doubt being a tad cannibalistic in nature.

After about 25 minutes, it was time to restart the pumps to provide the necessary flow in the aquarium. About 90 seconds later, not a baby could be spotted. I wasn't planning on trying to raise any; they'll end up being live food for the reef if the filtration doesn't get them first.

With some preparation, shrimp fry can be tank-raised to maturity if one was so inclined. Providing the proper foods is part of the process, and making sure that they are safely protected from any filtration system, including during water changes, are challenges in themselves.