Sexy Shrimp

[keithrett]

Well my sexy shrimp spawned last night and I was able to catch the larvae using airline tubing and a light. They are now in a five gallon tank inside a 10 gallon tank. (10 gallon is filled with tap water and a heater to keep the temp stable) This kind of caught me off guard and I didn't have my bbs hatchery set up but I should have some tomorrow night. The tank's sides are covered to limit light and the bubbler is keeping the water moving. I've seen LisaP's thread on the topic but I wanted to know if anyone had any updated info. (lisa's thread is from 05)

Thanks
Keith

 

[jayelblock]

Hey Keith,
the gravid female I showed in my other thread also released her larvae last night, so you and I are in exactly the same spot! This will be fun to see what kind of progress we make.

I was not very prepared, but I scooped up the babies and put them in a 5g with an airstone and a heater. I've only got about a gallon of water in there, so I'm not sure if that's enough or not. Of course, I didn't have any bbs hatched, but luckily, I had some decapsulated cysts in the fridge. If you haven't tried it, you should learn how to decapsulate brine shrimp cysts. It's pretty easy, and makes hatching much cleaner. No shells, and the unhatched cysts are edible. I learned from this site:http://www.ventralfins.com/misc_articles_decap_bs.html#heading3
(I hope it's okay to add this link. It's not commercial.)

I'm also getting most of my information from Lisa's old post. There's a bit of useful stuff on MOFIB, but not that much. So, I guess you and I will be figuring it out as we go along...

 

[keithrett]

Congrats on the baby sexy shrimp! It is very neat that we are on the same schedule. Best of luck and keep me updated and I will do the same.

 

[keithrett]

Well that didn't take long. It appears that quite a few of my sexy shrimp larvae are dead (or on the bottom of the tank and not moving much) I think its due to the temperature of the basement where the tank was. (heater must not have kept it warm enough) I'll have to set up the tank in a warmer spot next time. There are still a good number left but my bbs haven't hatched out yet and I'm worried that they remaining larvae won't make it without food. That my update. Any good news on your end?

 

[jayelblock]

Bad news on this end too. I believe mine are all dead as well, and my bbs still haven't hatched. I haven't inspected the tank carefully, but I didn't notice any twitching when I put a strong LED flashlight on them.

I guess we'll try again in a month. sigh.

 

[keithrett]

Well I may have overestimated the casualties earlier. A lot of the larvae seem to be more active after the addition of the bbs, even some of the ones that sit on the bottom seem to be moving more.

Here is the happy couple next to their host maxi mini

Here are the larvae in the shallow container I put them in after collection last night, haven't cleaned out the dead larvae so there is less than there appears.

 

[jayelblock]

Good for you! I'm not sure why mine all died...perhaps the water in my main tank wasn't ideal. Did you siphon out tank water for your larvae, or put them in newly mixed sw? Also, how much water do you have them in?

I'm cleaning all my equipment and spraying all sides of my 5g black today, in the hopes that I'll be better organized when the next spawn happens.

 

[keithrett]

I used water from the parent tank. I have them in very little water, less than half a gallon. I had them in a 5 gallon originally but I would have had to put so many bbs in to the tank to achieve the 5 bbs/mL. Only problem I see is that having them is such little water might be hard to keep the water quality decent. Ill keep you posted. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can from this batch so that I will be better prepared for the next round.

 

[jayelblock]

Any update on these babies?

 

[t11t5]

This is awesome

 

[jayelblock]

Hey Keith,
any updates or reports on your successes and failures? I have another gravid female, and would love to hear about any progress you made.

 

[Tabasco]

Following along here. Looking for which shrimp I am going to add to my reef. These seem great, just wondering how often you notice a spawn? One of the things I would love is to get some regular spawning to help feed the coral.

Your frequency of spawning information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jayelblock]

Hey Tabasco,
I have 4 females and two males, and I get a larvae release about once every 10 days or so. I believe that is typical: 10-15 days after the female molts (according to PaulG on MOFIB). If you haven't done so, check out the Thor forum on MOFIB. They have a bit more information.

 

[Tabasco]

Excellent! Thank you. How do you sex them? Are they hermaphrodites like cleaner shrimp? Do you have corals in your tank? Do they bother them?

I have checked that site out, they have alot more information about other species. It is very helpful though. I have found that the site does assume alot of basic knowledge, which is fine, it seems more geared toward sharing information as opposed to a "how to" site. However, when trying to get rooted in the basics, like how to sex, kindof gets skipped over.

 

[jayelblock]

They're easy to sex. The males have a solid white "saddle" across the hump on their backs. The females have a saddle with a dot below. Also, the males stay very small--about 1/2"--while the females get bigger and plumper. Females also have an extra set of skirts over their swimming legs to protect the eggs, but those can be hard to see.

this is a female:

this is a male:

You need at least one of each, but they like to live in harems, so I have two females for every male. They are completely safe for all coral and other reef invertebrates, and they are pretty good little scavengers too.

 

[Tabasco]

Jayelblock-Thank you so much for taking the time to share that information and the pics! I think I just finalized my shrimp selection! And I love the harem idea.

Keithrett-Sorry to highjack your thread for a little bit, was for a good cause. Hope your rearing experiment is going well!