[Overgrowth]

So I just got back home from a 3 day school field trip, and I looked in the tank and found some baby CRS! YAAAAY! (I promise I will post pics but my phone ran out of power Before I went on the trip I counted 3 berried females but I don't know how many actually laid eggs because all three are berried again. However, I know my best looking female did have hatch her batch because she was berried first and she has a TON of eggs now (there are at least 30). As for the tank, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the copepod/seed shrimp population has EXPLODED. They're literally everywhere and it's so nasty. The good news, however, is that the blackout period did wonders for my plants. The sea of algae on my moss tree has disintegrated, and I can finally see and enjoy my fissidens again. Additionally, the brown sludge that had taken over my HC has melted away too, and the HC looks better than ever.

So, on to the mystery.

I don't know why, but I found a molt with a few yellow eggs stuck to it. I have no idea how long they've been in there, but the other shrimp haven't eaten them yet. I have two questions for you guys:

1. What do you think happened?
2. Do you think the eggs are still viable?

 

[james1542]

Look at them under a microscope, if you can see a eyes and things and any movement they are viable. It could be that the female molted before they all hatched, they could be bad eggs, but usually those break down in a few days, and the female removes them.

You could either A) leave them and hope for the best in which case they might hatch out, or net the molt and keep it in an area of high flow, to give them a better chance at hatching. OH and those copepods are probably helping clean up the algae on your moss and plants, that brown sludge is probably their favorite-diatoms.