Why is My Shrimp Eggs Green?

Cherry shrimps tend to have yellow-colored eggs, but at the same time, the eggs could be green or orange. Green-colored eggs are found on shrimps that have a much lighter body color but sometimes, it could be a sign of Ellobiopsidae- a parasite that could affect your entire tank. Green shrimp eggs could mostly mean that your shrimps are inbreeding with different colored shrimps. This would result in faded colored shrimps. But however, green shrimp eggs could also mean that your shrimps have fungus.

When these little creatures are carrying eggs, it is quite visible to your eyes as you can see the saddle behind the belly of the shrimp filled with eggs that keep moving with the movement in the shrimps. Once the shrimps are close to having babies, they start ‘bearing’ the eggs under their belly, which is when they are referred to as ‘Berried’. 

Once the shrimp are berried, the eggs are more visible and you can see the color of the eggs clearly through the belly. 

In terms of ‘Cherry Shrimps,’ it is more likely that the shrimps carry yellow eggs, but sometimes, these shrimps are seen to carry green eggs instead. They look like regular shrimp eggs in terms of shape and size but happen to be more green tint to them than a solid green color. 

How long does it take for cherry shrimp eggs to hatch?

Cherry shrimps are from the family of Neo-Caridina shrimps. When they bare eggs it is quite visible to your eyes as you can see the saddle behind the belly. There are usually 20-30 eggs that take around 2-3 weeks to hatch.

What are the main reasons your shrimp are bearing green eggs?

There are 2 main reasons behind it.

Normal: First reason is that the eggs are totally fine, healthy, and completely natural and have nothing to worry about. As there are cases where even healthy cherry shrimps have been bearing light green eggs and not yellow. But however, these cases of green eggs in cherry shrimps are most common among mother shrimps that are lighter shade or translucent in color. 

Many of our shrimp-keeping friends and fish keepers have noted that these green eggs are common when the cherry shrimp are not pure solid color or translucent, having browner body color unlike being solid Red, or yellow. This loss of color in the mother shrimps is due to the potential link with shrimps that are Off-colored or brown in color.

Abnormal/fungus: if you notice that the shrimp eggs are not uniform in shape and have a little bit of feathered shape or uneven green protrusions that come out of the shrimp belly, it means that you might have some trouble.

This means that the shrimp is not necessarily sick, but could be a sign of sickness called Ellobiopsidae. It is a type of parasite that is found in the neo-caridina shrimps that is known because of its green color, which is otherwise confused with green-colored berried cherry shrimps. 

How to deal with Ellobiopsidae in your Cherry shrimp?

You can think of this as a common cold. This might come in as a parasite for 1 or 2 of your shrimps initially, but however, spread across your entire fish tank. 

You can separate the shrimps that have Ellobiopsidae and quarantine them. Quarantining the infected shrimps will potentially help us in curing or accurately dosing the shrimps with medication as a whole. 

I would suggest you make use of Seachem Paraguard for trying to cure the cherry shrimps affected by Ellobiopsidae. 

How to know if your Shrimps have Ellobiopsidae?

Look at the belly of the cherry shrimp and if you notice something feathery with a green tint on it, it is a sign of Ellobiopsidae you need to quarantine that shrimp immediately and treat it separately before it spreads across your aquarium.

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