shape
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Ten shrimpy pics

Wow, kenny, huge drama!! General shrimp hospital indeed. Keep us posted. I hope the best for the poor shrimp babies.
 
Well, either it was astonishingly good timing or the trauma caused some eggs to open.

I've caught four live swimming babies so far, though it is kind of gruesome to keep her body around.

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Wow this thread is crazy! Ghost shrimp- BUT WAIT, they are pregnant! And now they are attacking other mama shrimp. Mama dies, but BABIES LIIIIVEEE.... lol Love it!!

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Well, I certainly got my 33 cents worth in entertainment.

There are still 15 or so eggs glued to dead mommy so it ain't over yet.
 
@ treefrog - I LOVE LOVE LOVE your salty tank! Toby the goby and Lenny the blenny are adorable. I am particularly partial to gobies
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@ Kenny - and I thought I had drama during the day today! You''ve had a whole "2,000 millimeters under the sea" saga going on! It''s terrible about the mother shrimp but wonderful that the eggs still hatched.

@ DF - being the resident koi expert I''m sure you can deliver a cautionary tale to me about how highly addictive koi are! We have a big backyard but I''m not sure I''m up for the maintenance that a pond would demand. A girl can dream though
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I''ve been following this thread since the first post, all the way from work, on the 2 hour commute home and then at home...

Two decisions have been made since reading this:

1. We were supposed to have shrimp for dinner tomm. I told everyone to forget it! No more fish or shrimp for a long time!

2. We were going to raise fish after we were married. I can''t take the heartbreak from these posts, imagine if that happened if they were my fish. I''d be an emotional wreck all day.


Great thread!!! It''s been so captivating looking into this other world and such care that goes into it!
 
Bubbles were too fast.
I was afraid I was going to rip her tail off with the strong current, so I used a clothes pin to slow the airflow down.
I don't want to break my egg-holder.

Two more eggs have hatched.
There are probably 30+ babies now.
I'm worse than Octo-dad.

The white lines that the bubbles make at this shutter speed are pretty.
Ya know, this pic looks like a science project. Hahaha.
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slowbubble.jpg
 
Kenny,

This is wild, you''ve been launched in baby shrimp maintanance. What a good daddy you are! I love your photos and thread.

We also got involved in baby bunny fiasco, when DH nearly mowed over a nest- what a crisis, on the phone to wild life management,measuring ear size, viability, the damage we may have done. A three alarm crisis, but all survived. Got a new nest under my lavendar and iris, actually watched mom try and hide the nest - we will be careful of the little dears, but shrimp, oh my lord! - I am going to become a vegan.
 
Date: 4/21/2010 8:20:14 PM
Author: kenny
Bubbles were too fast.
I was afraid I was going to rip her tail off with the strong current, so I used a clothes pin to slow the airflow down.
I don''t want to break my egg-holder.

Two more eggs have hatched.
There are probably 30+ babies now.
I''m worse than Octo-dad.

The white lines that the bubbles make at this shutter speed are pretty.
Ya know, this pic looks like a science project. Hahaha.
9.gif
Go Shrimp Daddy, I th
Date: 4/21/2010 8:20:14 PM
Author: kenny
Bubbles were too fast.
I was afraid I was going to rip her tail off with the strong current, so I used a clothes pin to slow the airflow down.
I don''t want to break my egg-holder.

Two more eggs have hatched.
There are probably 30+ babies now.
I''m worse than Octo-dad.

The white lines that the bubbles make at this shutter speed are pretty.
Ya know, this pic looks like a science project. Hahaha.
9.gif
Go Shrimp Daddy!

Kenny I think what you ''ve done is amazing.

Well done!
 
This thread is really somethin'
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The drama!
 
Date: 4/21/2010 8:20:14 PM
Author: kenny
Bubbles were too fast.

I was afraid I was going to rip her tail off with the strong current, so I used a clothes pin to slow the airflow down.

I don''t want to break my egg-holder.


Two more eggs have hatched.

There are probably 30+ babies now.

I''m worse than Octo-dad.


The white lines that the bubbles make at this shutter speed are pretty.

Ya know, this pic looks like a science project. Hahaha.
9.gif

I''m sorry. I know it''s quite irreverent, but this pic had me laughing out loud!

This thread has taken quite a turn!
 
Best Thread Ever....Seriously.
 
Date: 4/21/2010 10:07:32 PM
Author: taovandel
Best Thread Ever....Seriously.
I heartily agree. Kenny.....you are simply.....the MOST.
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It''s not even 7:00 am and I am not out of bed yet. But I am hugely anxious to hear how all the little shrimplets are this morning.

So how goes it Shrimpy-Dad?
 
Sheesh... you stay away from the computer for an evening and all he** breaks loose! Poor mama shrimp.
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Out of respect for mama shrimp and these orphans, I think we could use a special moment...

Dearly beloved, today we gather around this aquarium to mourn the passing of dear Shirley the Shrimp. Shirley was not just any crustacean. She was a virtual family member of a much larger universe. A universe known as Pricescope. Not only was she a family member of this special place, she was also a member of a much higher role in society... a mother. And not just any mother. A mother that... desp... (sniff, sniff) ... despite being brutally and shamelessly attacked by a severely depressed post-partum shrimp... a mother that even while laying mortally injured (sniff, sniff) mustered every last bit of energy she had (sniff, sniff)... to care for her 15 unborn translucent little crustaceans. She fought to the end, never giving up hope. She didn''t go out for a swim or even eat following her attack. That would have been too selfish. Instead... (sniff, sniff) instead... (sniff) instead, she used every last milligram of her energy to care for her unborn children. Her heroic efforts to save her unborn translucent little crustaceans go far and above what is expected of a mother shrimp. Although mourning is a natural process that will take time for each of us to get through, it is for these efforts that we also take this moment to celebrate. For without crustaceans like Shirley, there would be few examples of heroism, of strength, of dignity, or of selflessness. Shirley the Shrimp, although you''ve gone on to a much larger aquarium with warm, clear water, we take this moment to recognize you not only as a crustacean... or as a mother... but as a friend.

Shirley the Shrimp, the efforts of both you and your caretaker kenny are the efforts that will allow for another generation of shrimp to succeed. May they each be half as strong and as honorable as you both. May you rest in peace.

Treefrog
 
Amen to that Treefrog. Mother Nature can be a wonderful thing when seen up close and personal.
 
Amen, Sister Treefrog.
Thank you for your touching tribute to our brave heroine of Shrimpdom and motherhood.
May she rest in peace.

It is over.
Shirley has given up all her eggs.
The macabre science experiment was a rousing success.
I woke up to 21 new wiggling orphans.
Add them to the 7 that had hatched before I went to bed means there are 28 shrimpies carrying Shirley''s proud courageous genes into the future.
Shirley is gone but surely an abundant legacy remains.

I''m glad I moved her away from the airstone''s violent bubble stream.
I was afraid I''d wake up to an aquarium of ground up shrimp meat.

Seriously, this project is one of those amazing little surprises of life.
I felt so good after transferring the 21 little ones to the nursery.
I can''t quite articulate it but it is an event that simultaneously holds a both meaning for me yet silliness and absurdity.

Sure, she was just a 33-cent shrimp destine for the mouth of some Oscar, but she had a story to tell.
Thanks to the Internet she has done just that, both the absurdity and the meaning.

Now friends, we have an unpleasant matter to address.
How shall we handle our loved one''s remains?
She left no instructions and her children are too stricken with grief to talk, and besides we have no translator.
Our institution offers burial, cremation, the feeding of her to goldfish which we prefer to refer to "Burial at Sea", then the economy package aka The Swirling Porcelain H2Ofuneral.
What shall it be?

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Our heroine, sans eggs.

She looks so peaceful.

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Actually now that I see her under this high magnification I'm wondering if there are a couple more green eggs in there.
What do you think?

I'd better put her back near the airstone.
 
Do you see eggs in there?
I want her decaying body out of this tank because it will foul the water for the nursery, but I do want to save all of her shrimplettes.

Edit, awww, I just notice her broken legs.
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Her eyes are beautiful, the color of red grapes.

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Are those eggs?

I'm going to leave her in there near the airstone for a few more hours, just in case.

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Yup, they were eggs.
Three have hatched so far, since the above pics.

You know, I hope when her 31 (and counting) babies grow up and are released into the main tank they take revenge on the murderess.
I should have destroyed her babies to stop the murder gene.
Now I'll never know which are which.
Now I wonder if the babies of the killer and those of the victim will start a family rivalry.

Hoping all the eggs were hatched, so the family could make the arrangements, I just took her out and louped her.
There were are at least four little pairs of eyes staring back at me.
I wondered what they thought.
 
Date: 4/22/2010 4:11:54 PM
Author: kenny
Yup, they were eggs.
Three have hatched so far, since the above pics.

You know, I hope when her 31 (and counting) babies grow up and are released into the main tank they take revenge on the murderess.
I should have destroyed her babies to stop the murder gene.
Now I''ll never know which are which.
Now I wonder if the babies of the killer and those of the victim will start a family rivalry.

Hoping all the eggs were hatched, so the family could make the arrangements, I just took her out and louped her.
There were are at least four little pairs of eyes staring back at me.
I wondered what they thought.
They looked like eggs to me Ken, bless you and bless Shirley Shrimp.....
 
aww Kenny, you''re so cool! I love the pics. RIP to mama shrimp.
 
Friends, I have made a gut-wrenching moral call, one that the world's most esteemed ethicists will be debating for eons.
I have removed the egg holder and laid her to rest.
Please respect her family's request that I not publish pictures of the services, or the opulent reception that followed.
No, shrimp cocktail was NOT served, but crispy gluten-free plankton crackers with a marvelous infusoria paté was.

I made the mistake of louping Shirley's carriage one last time.
There were still two pair of little eyes, full of fear, looking up at me but I decided that the good of the 60+ outweighed the right to life of the 2.
I shudder to confess that this die hard photojournalist could not bring himself to shoot those last two faces.

Shirley's corpse was breaking down quickly in the warm water and current.
Ammonia levels were climbing.
I could not allow the community's water quality to deteriorate any more.
PS does not allow discussion of religion so we must all come to terms with this in our own private ways.

But one thing's for sure; those two pairs of eyes will be looking up at me for all my days.

I am not proud of this, and I am ready to take my lumps from the community for it.
In retrospect I could have set up another tank for them but it is done.
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Next step, after going for a long walk to clear my head, is to optimize the 10-gal tank for rearing the babies (actually larva) and remove that net nursery.
 
This thread reminds me of Charlotte''s Web now. Yeesh.
 
Kenny, you did the right thing. Now go and bury her under a rose.

Lot of wit in this thread, but also a lot of pathos.

God Bless Kenny, Shirley and Shirley''s Shirmplets.

XX
 
I''m so happy I found this thread. I love what you did here.

I have to go to bed but maybe tomorrow I will tell you about how I have saved our massive freshwater fish from numerous disease states over the course of the last seven years. We lost three along the way but the rest of them are huge and old. Now, sadly, we have to give them up.
 
Date: 4/22/2010 10:31:29 PM
Author: Gailey
Lot of wit in this thread, but also a lot of pathos.

I've always thought that everything we bring up is really about something deeper.

The mundane has always stopped me in my tracks.

Edward Hopper once said, "All I wanted to do was paint sunlight on the side of a house."
 
You did the right thing. I keep my fingers crossed for the shrimp babies. What is the expected shrimp baby mortality rate?
 
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