Shrimp breeder system

[mnat]

Does anyone have a setup for breeding shrimp? I have two very pregnant cleaner shrimp that I would loan to someone if they had the proper setup. I can't do the setup right now and the larvae are just becoming fish food at this point.

 

[Phish313]

Same here, I have two cleaners and they always have eggs. Was thinking about trying to raise some but I heard it was rather difficult and not worth the trouble. I shined a flashlight in the tank one night and saw a cluster of babies swimming around - pretty cool. But by morning they were nowhere to be seen.

Nelson

 

[Rbu1]

What is the proper environment? I have a 12 gallon nano that has been up for 2 months for my son. Nothing in it but some snails and a peppermint that I cant find......

 

[Phish313]

Never tried raising them, but did do some reading on it. They should be removed from the main tank. Fish will eat the eggs and the others will be sucked up in the filter. Just use an air pump. I think they need to be kept together though so that the other shrimp can fertilize the eggs once they are released. I think they need to be fed baby brine shrimp too.

Nelson

 

[mnat]

We have not tried to raise the larvae ourselves becuase while pepermint shrimp are considered by some to be relatively easy to raise, cleaner shrimp larvae are not so simple. they need to be fed rotifers and newly hatched brine shrimp intially from what I've read, which both need to be fed phytoplankton.

From some of what we've read, they can be raised in the same tank as the parents are kept in, but any fish or crabs will eat them, and the most successful way to try to raise them is in a kreisel, a rounded side and corner-less tank which keeps the larvae suspended in the middle of the tank, away from bubbles and corners.

I have brine shrimp and phytoplankton cultures going, and would be happy to help anyone who is interested in trying this to set them up, but I have not tried to raise the larvae as yet becuase I (1) don't have a kriesel (2) don't have a rotifer culture going and (3) don't have the energy. Right now, my energy is going into trying to teach our mandarin to accept enough frozen food to keep him in a 30g tank. If you would like to try, from what we have observed the larvae are released after dark approximately twice a month by the "mother" into the tank, I'ld be happy to try to capture some of the larvae for you so you can give it a shot. As it is right now, the fishies and crabs eat the larvae.

I have not heard from anyone in the club who has successfully raised them, if you have done so, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[Phish313]

I might give a shot one day, they all end up dying anyway. I Spend too much time on my other tanks to get involved right now.