Is My Cleaner Shrimp Pregnant

[Bomber]

just like the topic title says "is my cleaner shrimp pregnant" i just noticed it..one of my shrimps has like little greenish balls on under her back "legs" i dono what to call them..there looks to be hundreds of these little green ball's?

are they eggs..if so how can i make shour they hatch..all i have in my tank now are some snails, and a few blue leg crabs..i dono it this helps but they are in my old 25gl tank..

thanks!
billy

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, sounds like eggs. Unfortunately, raising cleaner shrimp is exceptionally hard as the babies only eat phytoplakton, rotifers, and the like and adding such suppliments in quantities alrge enough to sustain them tends to wrak havoc with your water chemistry... There's info around the net somewhere that I'm not familiar with, but if you can find it good luck

 

[Bomber]

ok well i went to my lfs tonight and we talked it over..and well prity much came to: why not try and raise the babbies..won't hirt anything..so we both did some research at the shop on the net..and we found a food that said was good for when the shripm hatch..and we found ways to help make them survive! i'am also going to take the male out of the tank and put him in my new tank (when it's ready)... most things we read said that if done good you can get around 50 survive! thats alot of cleaner shrimps!

so i'll keep everyone posted and let you know how everyhting goes!

thanks!

Billy

 

[Lynden]

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the animals found in a reef tank think a shrimp supper tastes pretty good. The filters and protein skimmers wouldn't mind them either.

To raise baby shrimp, you need a tank that is absolutely danger-free; so that means no live rock, no live sand, no skimmers, and no filters. You will also need to get them through the larval stage, which like Ski said is exceptionally difficult. That comes before the still extremely difficult settling and juvenile stage.

I hate to say this, but if raising baby Lysmata was as easy as you make it sound, then every aquarium Cleaner Shrimp in the world would be tank bred, and they would all cost $0.05 each, and they would replace Grass and Ghost Shrimp as the premier choice of live feeders.

And the trouble does not end there - you will need to keep them until they reach a marketable size. So that means if you have 50 shrimp, you will need at least five seperate full sized tanks (50+ gallons) to raise them in. So basically, you are right - it won't hurt anything - that is, except your wallet and your sanity.

-Lynden

 

[Ranger]

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the animals found in a reef tank think a shrimp supper tastes pretty good. The filters and protein skimmers wouldn't mind them either.

To raise baby shrimp, you need a tank that is absolutely danger-free; so that means no live rock, no live sand, no skimmers, and no filters. You will also need to get them through the larval stage, which like Ski said is exceptionally difficult. That comes before the still extremely difficult settling and juvenile stage.

I hate to say this, but if raising baby Lysmata was as easy as you make it sound, then every aquarium Cleaner Shrimp in the world would be tank bred, and they would all cost $0.05 each, and they would replace Grass and Ghost Shrimp as the premier choice of live feeders.

And the trouble does not end there - you will need to keep them until they reach a marketable size. So that means if you have 50 shrimp, you will need at least five seperate full sized tanks (50+ gallons) to raise them in. So basically, you are right - it won't hurt anything - that is, except your wallet and your sanity.

-Lynden

Yeah...uh... I was right about to say all that stuff . Lynden beat me to it tho

 

[l337dave]

I say go for it.

The hobby is progressing at a rate of knots, I have fairly recent books that advise on an undergravel filter as the best method of filtration. It wasn't that long ago (okey maybe it was a while ) that public aquariums were the only place to sea horses now they can be tank raised!

The 2 above posters are right, it probably wont get you anywhere but why not try? The more ways we move towards making this hobby self sustaining the better.

some more links for you:

http/www.reefsuk.org/articles/captivebre...eanershrimp.php

http/www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/...mp/clnshrpf.htm

documented captive breding:

http/www.breedersregistry.org/lamboinensis.htm


dave.

 

[Bomber]

ok thanks guys for both the positive and negative feedback! it's all good.. but just letting you know Lynden that my tank will be getting broken down.. i won't have a flitler on there, or skimmer, and there is crushed coral on the bottom not live sand..i know thats only part of it but still it's a start..

and to l337dave..thanks for your last post..i'am not saying it going to work either..but like you said it's worth a try!

thanks guy!

billy

 

[Lynden]

I'm all for trying new things, just don't be too disheartened if it doesn't work out.

-Lynden

 

[Bomber]

no i'am not going to be disheartened if it doesn't work out..this is just something for me to try..

the eggs now are not green balls anymore..they look like tiney black specks( is this the baby shrimp developing)..if so does this mean that she will lay the eggs soon??

 

[Lynden]

the eggs now are not green balls anymore..they look like tiney black specks( is this the baby shrimp developing)..if so does this mean that she will lay the eggs soon??

Shrimp will usually carry their eggs until they hatch, at which point they will be released into the water culumn (?). Now would be a good time to move the 'mother' to a seperate tank, and remove her after the eggs are no longer visible.

-Lynden

 

[Bomber]

This may be a very very stupid question..but i was looking at my tank just then..and it looks like the other shripm has "eggs" under him as well is this possible for both to have eggs? i only have 2 shripms, i had a third but i'am like 100% shour it's dead in ym tank i just couldn't find the body..

thanks

Billy

 

[SkiFletch]

From what little I understand about shrimp, it takes a good amount of time for eggs to develop to the point where you notice them, so its possible the dead srhimp was the male that was "responsible" . How long ago did he pass away?

 

[Bomber]

at least a few weeks! maybe longer

thanks

 

[Ter]

awesome thread!

 

[Eversurf]

Where are we with this?