Rearing Cleaner Shrimp

[hillbillyreefer]

My cleaner shrimp had little ones last night while being acclimated.

Since I'm having trouble finding info on raising the fry I decided to start a journal.

The fry were released at about 10 pm, Sunday November 2/08. In about 1l of water. At 2 am they were fed a small amount of rotifers and a couple drops of live phyto. 12 hours later they are still floating in the container. I can't tell if there have been any losses yet, if there has been it's been minimal. I have no idea on the numbers but a very rough estimate would be 400+.

This morning a brine shrimp culture was started. Water is being mixed for a small 2 gal tank. In the tank will be a couple pieces of LR rubble, a small amount of chaeto and halimeda. An airstone will be used for circulation. Lighting will be provided by a standard 7w incadescent bulb.

Feedings today will be with rotifers and phyto. When BBS become available they will be fortified with selcon and phyto before being fed.

Any and all suggestions and tips are welcome.

[Marlin65]

Tagging along.

[Samw]

Any and all suggestions and tips are welcome.


http://www.reefsuk.org/articles/captivebreeding/breedcleanershrimp.pdf

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=726483&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2004/breeder.htm

"April Kirkendoll summed it up best in the chapter on rearing L. amboinensis (and my observations would be very similar for L. debelius) stating, "You can raise the cleaner shrimp larvae on newly hatched brine shrimp but you will lose significant numbers of them during the first week. Only the largest and most willing to grab brine shrimp will survive. You will get more to survive if you raise rotifers to feed them for at least the first one or two stages". "

[hillbillyreefer]

Thanks for the links and quote Samw. Looks to me like it's a futile effort, but I've got to try. I seem to be on the right track for keeping them going in the near future.

I've decided to leave them in the container they are in for a few more days. 1L of water, chaeto, halimeda and a small piece of LR. From my reading I've discovered that flow may harm the delicate larvae so the container will remain stagnant with several turkey baster water changes a day. Some will be lost to the water changes but they are so tiny it's unavoidable.

[hillbillyreefer]

Well that didn't end well. It looks like about 1/2 went through the first molt. Then they just sat around and perished. As the April Kirkendoll quote says "Only the largest and most willing to grab brine shrimp will survive. You will get more to survive if you raise rotifers to feed them for at least the first one or two stages". I don't think the preserved rotifers were good enough for them, the predatory instinct didn't kick in. The brine shrimp weren't available early enough, in high enough concentrations. There are several still alive but I'm guessing greater than 95% have died.

Interesting experiment though. With a little warning time to get cultures going before the larvae are shed I think far better success is possible. Not sure if raising to maturity is possible but longer than 36 hours should be. Maybe I'll try again in a couple weeks.

Does anyone know where to get rotifer cysyts of have a rotifer culture going at the moment?

[ElGuappo]

this is interesting tagging along.:biggrin:

i have been interested in trying this as my have eggs almost full time.

[Marlin65]

Well that didn't end well. It looks like about 1/2 went through the first molt. Then they just sat around and perished. As the April Kirkendoll quote says "Only the largest and most willing to grab brine shrimp will survive. You will get more to survive if you raise rotifers to feed them for at least the first one or two stages". I don't think the preserved rotifers were good enough for them, the predatory instinct didn't kick in. The brine shrimp weren't available early enough, in high enough concentrations. There are several still alive but I'm guessing greater than 95% have died.

Interesting experiment though. With a little warning time to get cultures going before the larvae are shed I think far better success is possible. Not sure if raising to maturity is possible but longer than 36 hours should be. Maybe I'll try again in a couple weeks.

Does anyone know where to get rotifer cysyts of have a rotifer culture going at the moment?

Florida aqua farms sells them. I can probably part with a culture in a few weeks. Your going to need phyto to feed them and they are a bit more particular than brine shrimp. If you don't feed them good stuff they won't have enough nutrition in them to raise your larva. PM me later if you are still looking.
They need to be life so they can identify them as prey.
The hardest part about raising shrimp is that they have a very long larva stage 150 plus days. Maybe try peppermints they are supposed to be a bit easier to raise.

[Marlin65]

Oh I see you are in Alberta.
You can buy them life online and have them shipped and there is lots of places that sell resting ones online. Your local LFS might have some to.

[hillbillyreefer]

Thanks Marlin65. After my last post a search turned up FAF has them. I'd like to find some cysts in Canada though. I'll do an order in the next day or two. Get a culture going and try again. I've been considering starting a rotifer tank all summer. I already grow my own phyto so feeding the rotifers shouldn't be a problem.

Anyone know where to get rotifer cysts in Canada?