Attempt at Raising Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)

[Vitaly]

Anybody here tried this...and more importantly succeeded? I have had numerous spawns in my tank over the past several months. Tonight, after watching two spawns on consecutive nights...I decided to give it a try.

I have read a few articles and it seems that the success rate is not to high. I would be happy to hear any comments, suggestions and experiences that anyone may have.

Here is a picture of them in my display that I took tonight. Its not great...but they are pretty hard to focus on.

Thanks!

 

[Luis A M]

Didn´t you search the forum?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=847960&highlight=peppermint+larva
and 2nd part:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...did=851511&highlight=larval+peppermint+shrimp

 

[Vitaly]

Luis A M...thank you for the links. I have read through those threads and some similar ones. Albeit, those threads contain a lot of great, detailed information and photo's...but it was not what I was looking for.

Rather, I was just asking if anyone has any specific tips or tricks for success (tank set-up, density, feeding, etc). I have read a lot of articles, mostly by Kirkendoll...but wanted to hear what others were doing.

Thanks again.

 

[ksteiny]

Have you read the book "How to raise and train your Peppermint shrimp" by April Kirkendoll. Lots of good breedind info.

 

[drmaz]

I would also recomend the book "How to raise and train your Peppermint shrimp" by April Kirkendoll. I read it from cover to cover ( more then once ) and now I am running I company in Brisbane Australia making a good living from breeding Lysmata vittata (a close relivative of Lysmata wurdemanni) Good luck with your raising attempt.

Stan

 

[Luis A M]

I got my dedicated copy right from the author´s hands,nice person and nice little book!
Stan,you have any good pic of vittata?How you tell them apart from wurd.et al.?Do they show transversal saddle marks?What colour are the eggs?

 

[drmaz]

Hi Luis

I will take some picks today and post them up. Yes L. vittata do have a transversal saddle marks ( I think this is the stripe across the middle back of the abdomen, is that right?). The eggs are a bright green turning to a light brown before hatching.

Stan

 

[drmaz]

Ok I've got some pics of L. vittata, I haven't posted pics before so lets see if I ca do this right.

This is one of my brood stock

Same shrimp close up

and another veiw

This guy is a youngster ready for sale he is about 3 months old

Sorry that some of the pics are a bit blury bit I'm still getting use to my new camera.

Stan

 

[drmaz]

sorry Luis I forgot to answere your Q about how to tell L. wurdemanni and L. vittata apart. I'm not an expert on L. wurdemanni as we can not get them here in Australia, but from the pics I found on the internet. The Antenna seem to be more red in L. vittata and the abdomen are slightly different please see the pics below. But may be someone out there could help us out with some more details.

Lysmata vittata

Lysmata wurdemanni

Stan

 

[Luis A M]

Wow,Stan,vittata is gorgeous and your pics are very good!
Stripes are very well defined and contrasted.Vittata=striped.
I understand that the two peppers usually showing in east Asia lfs are vittata from Oz and boggessi from USA (pale colour,no saddle marks,dark tail)
I asked about the egg colour because I once bred some peppers from Asia that looked very much like wurd.but had tan colored eggs.I see a yellow mass in your pics,is that food? You say the eggs of yours are bright green...
Shame they don´t come to this part of the world

 

[drmaz]

Luis,

Thats interesting vittata means striped, does it? That yellow mass you can see in the corner of the first pic is a bit of the stem from Caulerpa distichophylla, it is normally a nice green colour but this is an old bit that is dieing of. It is one of te local Caulerpas from my area ( I'm about 20 mins from the water ).

"Shame they don't come to this part of the world"

Is funning you should say that, as I am currently going through the process of getting an export permit.

 

[purplehaze]

drmaz: Congrats on you L. vittata breeding success..
If i might ask..what is you survival rate and mean larval duration time?
BTW, the last picture you posted is not wurdemanni, its L. ankeri.
L. wurdemanni has a green gonad/eggs

 

[FuEl]

To me there seems to be a visual difference between L. wurdemanni and L. vittata. Perhaps in the striping pattern. The larvae also look very different.

The larvae look very different from that of L. wurdemanni. The larvae seem more "humpbacked" compared to other Lysmata larvae I have seen. And look how big the eyes are in proportion to the rest of the body! L. vittata larvae seem more forgiving towards stronger aeration. Their pereiopods are shorter and don't seem to break that easily compared to other species.

A short video clip. Some L. vittata larvae with Stenopus cyanoscelis larvae.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUNl4Gr6Nso

The larger shrimp has been a juvenile shrimp for a week, the smaller counterpart only for 5 days. Both shrimps are 52 days old. Notice for L. vittata juveniles the striping is not that pronounced as yet. For the U.S peppermint shrimps (L. boggessi or L. wurdemanni depending on what mine is, have'nt had a clue), they seem to develop their stripes within few days of settlement.

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10084869#post10084869 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
I see a yellow mass in your pics,is that food? You say the eggs of yours are bright green...

Sorry,I meant the yellowish mass inside the shrimps:lol:

 

[purplehaze]

Fuel: After how many days do they have the prolonged 5th pereiopod..or if you know at which zoeal stage?

 

[Luis A M]

Indeed,vittata larvae seem stockier,shorter legged than other peppers!.I can not see the stage clearly,but it looks like an advanced larva.And colour is different too.
Are vittata available in Singapore lfs?.I heard this,but also boggessi are the commercial peppers in east Asia.

 

[FuEl]

Hmm purplehaze I have no idea as I had no chance to document their entire larval development. The larvae were passed to me when the long pereiopods had already developed. I just raised them to settlement out of curiosity and out of the few larvae (5 I think) that I received all of them managed to settle out without any problems.

Hi Luis, I have not seen any L. vittata in Singapore LFS as yet. However I do believe I have seen both L. wurdemanni and L. boggessi around. Adult shrimp do look quite different to my eyes. L. wurdemanni somehow seems more streamlined and they don't seem to get as big as L. boggessi. I might be wrong but that is what I seem to have observed so far.

 

[drmaz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10087824#post10087824 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by purplehaze
BTW, the last picture you posted is not wurdemanni, its L. ankeri.

Well that dose not suprise me, There is alot of mislabled pictures on the net.

 

[drmaz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10089641#post10089641 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
Sorry,I meant the yellowish mass inside the shrimps:lol:

I think it is food as I had feed them brine shrimp, just before I took the pics.

Stan

 

[drmaz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10089732#post10089732 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by purplehaze
Fuel: After how many days do they have the prolonged 5th pereiopod..or if you know at which zoeal stage?

To be honest I only got my microscope last week( before that I was just using an eye peice) and I wasn't paying much attention to what zoea stage they were at and at what point in time these changes happen.

I have another batch due next week so I will document them from start to finish.

Stan