shrimp eggs

[Brianemone]

hey

has anyones cleaner shrimp had eggs before that have survived??

mine has just appeared with them today sort of yellowy green under the swimming mechanism things

what precautions should i take?

if nothing happens at least my fish will get a feed of shrimp eggs

[lduncan]

The chances of cleaner shrimp growing full size are virtually nill. I believe that people have managed to raise cleaner shrimp to about 14 days (from memory, I may be wrong), but there is a point where the larvae metamorphise into the adult form, none seem to survive past this point. They are still tiny at that stage.

Anyhow, the larvae are good coral food.

Layton

[Brianemone]

yeah

it seems they have a very long larval stage, i know that hollywood or jansens had some that they raised to a certain level (at least someone told me that)

the last molt from the larval stage is apparently the one that finishes the survivers

well i guess time will tell who gets to eat them

[RnB]

was interested so looked it up

links look good

I had originally considered setting them up as a breeding experiment a couple years ago but didn't feel I had suitable equipment or space to pull it off. But, I did do some pretty lengthy research on them and had gotten to the point that I felt confident at least in giving it a shot.

Also, working at a public aquarium I've been fortunate enough to have access to various breeding setups as well as a wealth of knowledgable people in the industry who are eager to swap ideas and experience.

For those that have an interest, may I suggest the following book. It has some solid fundemental information on breeding pepermint shrimp which, although easier than cleaners, will give you an idea of what protocols will be necessary.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...m%2FShrimp.html

Also, try googling "Breeding skunked cleaner shrimp" and see if you can find a paper by Joyce Wilkerson. It's extremely informative and comes with microscope captures of various larval stages of the shrimp. So far it's the best info I have been able to find on the web.

I think this might be the site but the link is not active for whatever reason. Perhaps at a later time it will be back in service.

http://www.reefsuk.org/CaptiveBreed...anerShrimp.html

Overall, the issues with breeding these shrimp are not impossible to overcome, they just take a bit of work and a lot of trial and error. Unfortunately for us, most of the people that have had success are commercial breeding facilities and since they have a financial stake in their time and effort they are not real eager to offer suggestions to outsiders.

One major issue is how fragile the frye are believed to be. Some of the research papers discuss that the mere act of bumping into a tank wall or rockwork can potentially damage them beyond repair. This is why kreisel tanks are frequently used by commercial institutions when setting up rearing systems because they afford the opportunity to keep the fry in suspension without any sharp corners or obstructions for them to get hung up on.

On the other end of the spectrum would be the standard 10gal barebottom with sponge filter and heater.

Somewhere in the middle would be a glass or acrylic tank with small scraps of acrylic siliconed in the coners to round everything off nice and smooth.

Next problem is food contact/concentration which is a delicate balance between getting enough food in the rearing tank but not polluting your water and killing everything off. This is why commercial facilties favor flow thru setups that allow a constant supply of filtered water to pass thru the tank as opposed to completely closed setups .

The frye need constant nourishment to feed their extremely large metabolisms so food concentrations will need to be pretty heavy. The frye are passive contact feeders which mean they basically tumble around until they bump into something thay they can grab onto. They do not need to swallow it whole, merely be able to grasp and hold it while it is eaten. In a nutsheel this means lot's of food of the appropiate size. Unfortunately, "appropiate" is very subjective where they are concerned. So, this is where the trial and error part really comes into play. Be prepared for lot's of time consuming attention to the tank or some kind of constant feed setup to keep them swimming in a steady supply of food.

Then there is the whole water quality issue which at their delicate stage of the game is like trying to diffuse a car bomb with your eyes closed. One breeder reported just doing a small, slow water change was enough to cause a large die-off in a few short hours.

[lduncan]

Probably best left for coral food at this stage.

Layton

[Brianemone]

well at this stage i think il let them be eaten,

but it think i might try and find some smaller food that they might be able to eat any one have any idea? i would think something that you would feed to sps or any coral with very small poylps would be the most accsesable and appropriate ideas????

[lduncan]

This is the major stumbling block for captive breeding of the majority of marine fish. No one knows what they eat during their larval stages. Places such as the Waikiki aquarium, and one other prominent research center (name escapes me at the moment) have spent years trying to figure this out. They have successfully raised flame angels (along with some other pigmy angel species) and more recently yellow tangs.

Currently it's completely impractical for commercial development, but good to know that it could be done if the need arose.

Layton