cleaner shrimp had babies what next?

[lizardlady58]

I have a pair of cleaner shrimp (lysmata ambionensis) in my fifty gallon tank. I noticed one was carrying eggs about five days ago so I moved it to a small two and a half gallon tank. No filtration, I wasn't sure if they babies could get damaged if I put a filter in the tank but I do have an airstone going and a small heater as well. I have done small (25%) water changes every day and have been replacing the water with the orignal tank water which is nitrate free and the same sg of course. I noticed tonight that the eggs were gone and swimming in the water were a whole bunch of tiny baby shrimp. They look a lot like tiny spiders. My rotifer supply is low so I have put in one day old brine shrimp nauplii. I also put a bit of nanochloropsis in the tank to keep the brine shrimp fed. I know they probably won't survive but I would like to give raising them a try. Anyone had experience with raising cleaner shrimp?

 

[psychic_alice]

no experience but this is what I've found in summary:
I'ts easy to get eggs but hard to feed the fry and is considered "not worth it"
...but whatever, now for the important stuff:
one guy successfully reared them on newly hatched brine shrimp, shell-less brine shrimp eggs and enriching with "bioplankton" that's all i've got, good luck

 

[bang guy]

What species of Cleaner Shrimp?
I've raised Lysmata wurdemanni successfully and I've had partial success with L. amboinesis. I have not had any success with Lysmata debelius. The problem isn't food in my experience. They are a lot easier to feed than most fish larvae. This is because they have the ability to grasp onto larger pieces of food and chew off smaller pieces. Artemia nauplii are OK but if they are more than a day old they become too strong for the Shrimp larvae to catch and hold on to. Flaked fish food actually works very well.
The difficulty lies in how delicate the feeding legs are on the larvae. One bump against the wall and they are damaged too severly to feed and will starve. The L. wurdemanni are easier because the larval stage is only about 45 days. The larval stage of L. amboinesis is over 90 days so that makes them a lot more difficilt. To add to this difficulty they will also eat their weaker siblings. Lysmata debelius are very uncoordinated as larvae and can't seem to chew as well as the other Cleaner Shrimp species.

 

[nyceltic]

Check this out: On fishchannel.com there is an article RIGHT NOW on how to make
Infusoria which can be used to feed hatchlings etc etc.
Might Help/ I hope they let me post this site. It's an informational educational web site, not a "business". ACtually it's a great site and always has alot of info I love to read !

 

[lizardlady58]

Well, I have put greenwater in the tank with the shrimp to feed the brine shrimp, but it was mentioned that the baby brine shrimp are too big to feed to the shrimp larvae after one day of age. I am wondering if they will still try to catch the larger brine shrimp. I will continue to put in day old brine shrimp (I decapsulate them myself) and hopefully the shrimp larvae can manage. I know it may not be "worth it" for many people but for me, it is an interesting endeavour (doesn't take much to entertain me lol) and thank you for your advice.

 

[bang guy]

If you're decapsulating your Artemia cysts then all you really have to do is add them to the tank. There's no need to hatch them seperately. Some of the persistent shrimp will chew through the egg and eat it directly, others will grab the shrimp when they "parachute" (when the shrimp has just popped out of the cyst.)
If you have a very low flow rate, I mean glacially slow, and point a light into the middle of the tank from above the shrimp larvae will swim toward the light and avoid the damaging walls. When the Artemia hatch they are also attracted to the light and will swim through the waiting Shrimps.

 

[fretfreak13]

This is interesting. I"m following along. =)

 

[lizardlady58]

Well, I think I had the air flow up too high because after three days I couldn't find a single shrimp. The idea of throwing in the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs sounds like a good one. The other shrimp now has eggs so I just might give it another try. thank you for your suggestions

 

[meowzer]

You didn't have the air flow up...they got eaten

 

[lizardlady58]

Well, I have set up another tub and put in another cleaner shrimp that has eggs about ready to hatch. The tub has water from the shrimps' tank so acclimating is much simpler. The tub holds about five gallons and is wide and low for maximum surface area. The air flow is low and they will be the only things in the tub (as usual). I think the idea of putting in decapsulated shrimp should work well and I will do that tonight. I am crossing my fingers.