Lysmata amboinensis larva

Thank you all guys for the compliments:)
After the larva was 120 days and kept molting and growing,without settling,it was everyday a tough decision if I should change something to provide a "settling cue",or stay put and wait for the best:rolleyes: .The worse days were these last,cause the larva didn´t molt 5 days after last molt as it used to,nor after 6days.Larvae that fail to molt die.Finally it molted after 7 days presenting me with this surprise:cool:
Anderson,posso nao saber a sua idade,mas suspeito que voce nao e muito jovem tambem;)
Kevin,it is now a post larva (PL),which is basically a shrimp with a different colour.Some scientists object the use of "post larva" in this case,as they say there must be some larval structures retained,such as remnants of the "swimming legs"(pereiop.exop.)
but I find that this term is useful for Lysmata shrimps which transform in something different from adults.
FuEl,sure you do!What settling ages you had?
Travis,no problem you can read the story from the beginning now:D
 
Sorry,I´m working with the pic posting thing,but still find some technical problems:( You guys know a good place to store-upload pics?I filled up my RC library space.
 
Hi Luis, mine settled around 150 days if I did'nt remember wrongly. Same experience with you, larvae died one by one till there is a sole survivor. This sole survivor then proceeded to metamorphose into a shrimp. I remember someone here in RC (can't remember the nick) forgot about his L.amboinensis larvae and it too, managed to metamorphose into a shrimp in the absence of other larvae. Perhaps these guys are like superworms, which can only metamorphose in the absence of other conspecifics or when maintained in very low densities.

Waikiki had success apparently with the use of high volume flow-thru natural seawater. Perhaps this prevented the build-up of stimuli which could inhibit metamorphosis (pheromones, excessive physical contact with other larvae, etc) which could possibly otherwise impede metamorphosis (unlike closed systems) . Just a wild guess of mine. :rolleyes:
 
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Description of 1st day post meta while we wait for pics:)
Red dorsal larval marks mostly vanished into a pale back,except for a bold mark where the body ends.Uropods remain as in larva,red marks in exops and endops.A1 are boldly banded in red up to proximal half,the rest is colourless.A2 are colourless pointing to the rear.The "Y" mark close to the mouth is red (white in adults).Bold red marks at the base of each pleopods.
Each leg (pereiopod)is marked in red at the tips and in every joint,giving a red banded look.MP3 are colourless.There is only red pigment,no trace of white.
The PL swings sideways exactly like peppermints.Adults only swing their MP3 (the white"legs" in the front) and antennae.The PL looks very different to adults and makes me think it could resemble an ancient Lysmata stock more close to actual peppermints.
 
Luis, yo DA man!!

Woohoo! This is cool. You deserve it.

I can't wait until you mass produce them......hehehe

Best,
Ilham
 
White colour showed

White colour showed

unexpectedly on day 2 post meta.I wouldn´t think colour changes could come without a molt.Seems like the white pigment needed some time to develop.
Now the PL has a mid dorsal white band, still as a broken stripe,and white marks in the exopods as in adults.Also the telson and the MP3 are white.The antennae show a faint white colour.
Tha PL is 25mm long (1").
Thanks to people sharing my insane excitement about this shrimpy! :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9723058#post9723058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FuEl
Hi Luis, mine settled around 150 days if I did'nt remember wrongly. Same experience with you, larvae died one by one till there is a sole survivor. This sole survivor then proceeded to metamorphose into a shrimp. I remember someone here in RC (can't remember the nick) forgot about his L.amboinensis larvae and it too, managed to metamorphose into a shrimp in the absence of other larvae. Perhaps these guys are like superworms, which can only metamorphose in the absence of other conspecifics or when maintained in very low densities.

Waikiki had success apparently with the use of high volume flow-thru natural seawater. Perhaps this prevented the build-up of stimuli which could inhibit metamorphosis (pheromones, excessive physical contact with other larvae, etc) which could possibly otherwise impede metamorphosis (unlike closed systems) . Just a wild guess of mine. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I've had them settle out 2-3 at a time in the same tank, with about 30 other very late stage larvae in there with them. Its not about inhibition or chemcial cues with these guys.
 
124 days

124 days

L.amb124days3web.jpg

This is the last picture of the larva.
 
Luis this thread has been an amazing read. I've been fascinated with the idea of raising Amboinensis for years now but I'd always heard that research on settlement cues needed to be done.

I wonder if you might do the community a favor and perhaps write up the husbandry steps you took with this latest batch (food, rearing tank setup, water changes, etc) or maybe a lessons learned article?

Or perhaps you've already done something like this, if so I'd love to see it.

Thanks again for such a detailed account.
 
Thanks.Nice to know people like our work!:)
I think that this subject of settling cues was very exaggerated with shrimps.The thing is to keep them alive until they reach the last stage and then they will settle.This is why I dragged everybody with the larval stages,they are like stations in a train trip,if you know them,you know how you´re going.
I´ve tried many rearing protocols,what I did this time is in the thread.But try to find something better,raising one larva out of many hundreds is sure not the way :D
 
Mark Wunsch (Bangor) was the first to raise L.amboinensis in 1996 and he wrote his doctoral thesis on it.
Since his monumental thesis is hard to obtain,I will put his methods and results here.
He worked with three pairs of shrimps which produced six batches containing 2,150 larvae.Of these,he could raise only one to settling,after 142 days.Mine was 143!:eek1:
He gave detailed description of the earlier larval stages.Larvae were kept in 2L flasks with air and fed artemia and later mussel flesh.Every one-two days water was changed and the flasks thoroughly cleaned.His method was very laborious.Air bubbles in the round flasks produced a kreisel like water movement which helped to keep the larvae in suspension.
 
Interesting Andy, guess its not about the inhibition of metamorphosis if you did get a few to settle together at a time. For the people who tried and only got one to settle out of hundreds or even thousands of larvae, I can only continue guessing what else they did differently. :strooper:
 
Wow, great work! It has been my main breeding goal to breed this species but I have only been able to reach 54 days so far. I am building a simple kreisel which I hope will increase my chances when I try it the next time (I feel that this species expend too much energy on catching it´s prey).

It seems like people has a lone survivor in the end which outsurvives the rest of the batch. This was the case for me as well when trying to breed them in small numbers in small containers. There was a sole survivor in each container that outlived the rest by a large margin, unfortunately not nearly all the way though.

Is this only coincidence or do you think there is a reason for this?

Someone already mentioned this and I only wanted to add my observations of a sole survivor.

Could it be because there is not enough food in relation to water quality to support more than one individual? Is there some biological reason that they need to be alone to develop (que)? Could it be cannibalism?

I have no idea but would I like to brainstorm the issue with you guys.

If you could write an article and describe your setup/feeding regime/circulation etc on this it would be great!

/Peter
 
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No,even if the idea is catchy,it is just coincidence.It only shows that our rearing protocols are marginal and sometimes one lucky larva (or 2,or)manages to make it.It happens with larval fish too.
A good larval rearing technique must allow the survival of a decent number of larvae,say 50%.
Lysmata larvae eat dead ones but never prey on live Lysmata larvae.
I tried many times and my last survival record was 99 days.
I expect to be more successful next time,if my finding about hydroids proves true.
 
How will you minimize the chances of hydroids? Will you change water more frequently or use UV? Do you have any description on your setup or is this top secret? ;)

Do you think a kreisel/pseudokreisel could be a good idea when breeding this species?
 
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