Looking 4 archive April Kirkendoll's clean shrimp brdng chat
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Captive Propagation of Shrimp
by April Kirkendoll
(Internet Chat for Reefs.org 2/19/05)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
April Kirkendoll is a professional aquaculturist and marine aquarium hobbyist who has worked with shrimp for over 20 years. In 1997, she started Crunchy Critters, an aquaculture venture that specialized in captive-raised invertebrates. She raised Peppermint shrimp in commercial numbers and experimented with 2 related species of cleaner shrimp and 2 species of reef lobsters. She is the author of 2 books: How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp and The End of Cancer: Seeking A New Understanding To Defeat The Enemy Within.
=================================================
I have always been fascinated by sex. The sex lives, of animals, I mean. It doesn't matter if we're talking about birds or frogs or fish or any other beastie, I always try to get them to breed in captivity. My motto is: if it don't breed, it ain't happy.
If an animal attempts to reproduce in captivity, I consider it a sign that it's both healthy and happy. If it's not healthy, it won't have the energy to go through the motions. And if it's not happy — meaning that the environment you've provided doesn't "feel quite right" — then it will be too uncomfortable or stressed to think about sex.
So, if you're here to learn about breeding shrimp in captivity, it means that you are probably not a rookie aquarist. You've (hopefully) mastered the basics of aquarium-keeping, as much of your success will depend upon good water quality.
I am going to focus my talk on the Peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni, because, in my opinion, it is one of the easier aquarium shrimp to breed in captivity, and the larvae are "fairly" hardy. I put the word "fairly" in quotes because at first it may not seem that way, but once you get the hang of it, they are not too hard to raise.
I have experience working with other species of shrimp, so I may be able to answer some questions on other species later.
I am unsure of how advanced my audience is, so I am going to pretend that you don't know very much about Peppermint shrimp. Peppermint shrimp, like many marine animals, are hermaphroditic (which used to be considered unusual for shrimp). An individual shrimp can operate as both a male and a female. All you need to make a pair is to have 2 shrimp in an aquarium.
I'll address some differences for 2 other species in the genus Lysmata (such as the Blood or Fire shrimp, and the Skunk or Striped Cleaner shrimp) later, if anyone is interested.
You don't need to have an expensive reef tank setup and high-tech filtration equipment to raise shrimp. A simple 10 or 20 gallon aquarium with an undergravel filter can work for the parent shrimp. A bare (no filtration) 20 gallon tank will work for raising the larvae, although inventive people may try other ideas once they've mastered the basic techniques.
The spawning tank should have a lots of rocks and hiding places to make the shrimp feel comfortable. Peppermint shrimp breed pretty much all year around, so the "day length" and water temperature aren't too important. Just keep them constant.
I usually keep my lights on a timer set for 16 hours of daylight. The water temperature is usually around 80 degrees.
The next thing after a good environment is to feed them well. They may spawn even if you are feeding them only once per day, but the larvae you get will be very few and weak.
You get hardier larvae if you feed their parents at least three times per day with high quality foods.
Mating usually occurs immediately after one shrimp molts its shell. The actual mating takes no more than a few seconds. The shrimp acting as the male will swing under the shrimp that just molted. Later that afternoon, the newly molted shrimp will have a new batch of eggs attached to "her" pleopods (aka "swimmerettes").
Because the shrimp are both sexes, both shrimp will eventually carry eggs.
The eggs take about 10 days to 2 weeks to hatch, depending on your water temperature. AS the eggs get closer to hatching, they will start to turn a grayish-silver color. If you shine a flashlight on them, they will reflect. That reflectiveness is the individual eyes of the larval shrimp within the eggs.
The eggs always hatch at night after the lights go out. You can hand-collect them with a small siphon made of airline tubing, and a flashlight. The larvae are attracted to light and will gather in its beam. Siphon them gently into a cup or bucket and transfer them to their larvae tank (discussed in a minute).
If you like your sleep, as I do, you can invent a larvae collection device that uses a night light to attract the larvae to a safe area, where you can find them in the morning. In my book, How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp, I describe one idea. The Larvae Collector can even be used in a reef tank system, so you can collect larvae without disturbing the rest of the tank.
The simplest larvae tank is a 20 gallon aquarium with no filtration, only a small airstone in one corner to gently circulate the water.
The first 2-4 inches of water in the larvae tank should be water from the parent's aquarium. That way the newly-hatched larvae experience no changes in their environment, other than location. Gently pour in the larvae so they don't bang the bottom or sides of their new home.
Every day after that first day, you can slowly add a gallon of clean saltwater, using the airline tubing siphon to dribble it in. Any sudden changes of salinity or temperature are stressful and often deadly to fragile larvae.
We'll discuss what goes on after the tank is full in a few moments.
The best first food for Peppermint shrimp larvae is newly-hatched brine shrimp. The "eggs" and instructions are available at most aquarium stores. Other foods that they will take are finely ground flake foods or freeze dried foods.
Peppermint shrimp "reach" for food much larger than themselves, and they are able to "chew" on a piece of food, unlike fish larvae.
Once the aquarium is full of water, you will have to make small water changes, usually in conjunction with a bottom cleaning. Debris builds up on the bottom of the larvae tank, which degrade the water quality and may entangle the shrimp larvae, so it has to be removed.
I use a 3/16" rigid tubing attached to airline tubing for a tiny "vacuum cleaner". After siphoning off debris, I replace the lost water with new saltwater (dribbling it the same way as previously described).
So, don't be lazy. Keep the bottom of the larvae tank clean. Feed just enough newly-hatched brine shrimp to keep the shrimp from starving, but don't overfeed, as too many brine shrimp saps the oxygen in the water.
Once your larvae are 4 weeks old, they will be big enough to take adult brine shrimp. You can usually find live adult brine shrimp at your local aquarium store, but if you can't there are instructions on the internet (or in my book ) on how to raise your own.
If all goes well, the larvae will begin to metamorphose from those little aliens into more shrimp- like creatures. They will be completely transparent at first, so it may seem like they suddenly disappeared, but keep looking. After 3-4 days, they will get their first stripes and you may find them then.
SInce I mentioned other species in the genus Lysmata (Fire/Blood shrimp and Skunk/Striped Cleaner shrimp,
I really skimmed through this. There are plenty of details, but I will leave them for your questions. It will take 5-8 weeks for the larvae to metamorphose. When they do, they drop to the bottom and hide, even in plain sight.
I guess I'll finish that thought here. The Skunk/Striped cleaner shrimp start off life as males and gradually turn into females as they get larger. To make a pair, get a large one and a small one. AS the small one catches up in size, they will both eventually carry eggs, but the origianl female will do it more often. Fire/Blood shrimp are both sexes in the same shrimp, just as the Peppermint shrimp are but they are aggressive with each other.
They have a kind of Klingon relationship. (For those of you who don't know about Start Trek, that means they are rough with each other. To make a pair you must have 2 of nearly the same size. That way, they can box with each other, but they will be equals, and will soon back off and live together.
If one is smaller, it will be weaker. They larger one will chase it around and around the tank until it dies or gets far enough away.
AS far as larvae are concerned, Blood/Fire shrimp larvae are hardy likethe Peppermint shrimp. It is harder to observe the eggs on the adults, however. Skunk/Striped Cleaner shrimp have larvae that do not "reach" for larger foods. They prefer smaller particles of food.
A good first food for them would be a combination of rotifers and newly-hatched brine shrimp. But I could go on and on. I guess I should go to questions now, to see what folks are more interested in knowing.
This was a real crash course, and there are plenty of details lacking. The main detail, however, is what I call the flick-of-the-wrist stuff. Practice makes perfect.
I have no idea how long this talk is supposed to be, so I will turn this over to the question/answer part now.
Q: What type of light should be used on the nursery tank?
A: Not too bright. A single florescent bulb is plenty of light. Spectrum of light does not seem to matter. Blood/Fire shrimp larvae, however, do seem to drop to deeper portions of the larvae tank as they get older. They may require less light
Q: Whats the average # of fry and whats your average % that make it to adulthood
A: For Peppermint shrimp, 100-300 larvae. For Fire/Blood shrimp, up to 600 larvae. For your first 10 tries, you may get zero survival until you get the hang of things. After that it will increase. 20-40% is average.
Q: This past year I spent a lot of time with L. debelius zoeae and found that they only took pureed shrimp as a supplemental feed. I'm currently working on a planktonkreisel upweller that is designed to keep frozen shrimp in continuous suspension. Have you done any work with upwellers?
A: Yup. They work... but not well with nonmoving foods. Frozen foods tend to degrade the water quality quickly. They have all the correct attractants, but those same attractants pollute the water. Newly hatched brine shrimp work best because they are alive and stay in suspension. Supplementla foods have to experiment with. Certain dry foods work better than others. As a side note, I have worked with PLENTY of different supplemental foods. One that stays in suspension wellis "GoldenPearls", but its nutritional quality doesn't seem adequate. Shrimp larvae eat it, but eventually die. Good Luck with the Kreisel.
Q: How long do you have to feed Skunk shrimp Rotifers before moving on to larger items?
A: Usually no more than 2-3 days. Once they molt to the next stage, they are large enough to eat newly-hatched brine shrimp comfortably.
Q: Is there a reason why 20 gallons is recommended? Can a 5 or 10 gallon work just as well?
A: I have found that 5 or 10 gallon tanks do not work too well. The shrimp larvae bang the sides too often, among other reasons. Larger tanks than 20 gallons are great for water quality stability, but harder to keep the appropriate amounts of food stcoked in 'em. 20 gallon is a compromise.
Q: Should I put some pvc fittings for larvae to hide in?
A: Larvae are pelagic. They are designed for an open ocean environment where they don't run into things often. They don't have the instinct at that stage to hide in anything. Later, after they settle to the bottom as postlarvae, they will need hiding places. Once they are large enough to move to a regular aquarium setup, that would be best.
Q: Could you explain planton kreisel upweller. sounds like some kind of device
A: An upwaller is more or less what it sounds like: a large circular container that has a flow of water from the bottom that gently circulates the larvae around the tank and keeps food in suspension. It usually has a central standpipe with an air collar or other device to keep the larvae from getting sucked out of the tank. It can work as a recirculating filtration system, or with a flow-through system (if youare near the seashore). A hobbyists can buy/build one, but it's a bit of hassle at the hobbyist level.
Q: Should you target feed larvae or will the larvae hunt for them?
A: Newly hatched larvae have to bump into their food before they realize it is there. For the first week the concentration of food should be higher. After they get older, they begin to hunt more effectively. If you have the patience, and want to see which foods they prefer, you can spot feed them.
Q: Should I gut load the brine shrimp (with selcon or other additives) for added nutrition?
A: Newly-hatched brine shrimp do not feed. Their nutritional value is their yolk reserves alone. Different srtains of brine shrimp have varying egg yolk quality. The best brine shrimp eggs go to aquaculture, the worst end up in aquarium stores...AFter the brine shrimp are a day old, they begin to feed, and yes, it is much better to add selcon or other additives then.
Q: What shrimp species have you found to be the most challenging to raise? Is the procedure the same with all the species?
A: The basic larvae tank works for most species. The only things that change are the types of food, the number of water changes, the amount of aeration, etc. Striped Cleaner shrimp (of the 3 I've mentioned) are the biggest pains in the butt. Other species, like bandded shrimp just require different foods, but they aren't too bad.
Q: Martin Moe told me to pay close attention to water quality and redox. I figured I'd use aggressive chemical filtration during feedings with my kreisel.
A: Well, chemical filtration also takes out the "good" chemicals as well. Don't be too agressive. There is such a thing as too clean. Sterile water won't grow anything. The more primitive the animal, the more it depends on its environment to supply its needs. Higher organisms get their minerals, etc from their foods. Primitive animals get some things directly fromthe water.
Q: Has any more advancements been made with settlement cues for L. debelius or amboinensis?
A: They've been successful with L. debelius in Texas and the UK. L. amboinensis is raised frequently in Hawaiia. In hawaii, they are using flow-through seawater. So any chemical cues are there (since amboinensis is native to the area) With L. debelius, they seem to simply "wait it out". Most larvae that require cues become less "picky" as they age. In my opinion, the larvae seem competent to settle at 5-6 weeks of age. They have everything they need to settle. They just don't. They often go 10,12,16 weeks before settling -- if at all.
Q: any info on raising Stenopus sp.?
A: The best success I had was accidental. I had a garbage can outside in the sunshine that I used for growing out brine shrimp. The water was brownish from the algae bloom, and had a few copepods as well as regular additions of n-h brine shrimp. I did nothing, but watch the larvae grow... And then the mosquito patrol folks came by and dump that "icky looking" garbage can full of water.
Q: Follow-up question. Are stenopus (CBS et al) hermaphroditic too?
A: No. They are definitely born male or female. If you lose one half of a pair and you have a known opposite sex, the only way to get them to pair up (instead of killing each other) is to wait until the female molts. Only when she is soft and weak will she allow the male to get near her. After they've had a night of it, they are permanent couple.
Q: Yet another follow-up
: Are they sexually dimorphic? Any way to sex them?
A: In general, the males are smaller. The females are larger. The females also have a large purplish area in between their legs. The easiest way to tell is when a female has ovaries full of turquoise-green eggs.
Q: Are there any commercial breeding programs of peppermint shrimps? Are any specimen bred for the purpose of the aquarium industry?
A: Yes, 2 places that I'm aware of breed peppermint shrimp on an occasional basis they don't make much profit, so it doesn't go on all the time). Ocans, Reefs & Aquariums in Ft Pierce Florida, and Tropical Marine(?) in the UK. I'm only rasing them on a hobby basis right now.
by April Kirkendoll
(Internet Chat for Reefs.org 2/19/05)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
April Kirkendoll is a professional aquaculturist and marine aquarium hobbyist who has worked with shrimp for over 20 years. In 1997, she started Crunchy Critters, an aquaculture venture that specialized in captive-raised invertebrates. She raised Peppermint shrimp in commercial numbers and experimented with 2 related species of cleaner shrimp and 2 species of reef lobsters. She is the author of 2 books: How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp and The End of Cancer: Seeking A New Understanding To Defeat The Enemy Within.
=================================================
I have always been fascinated by sex. The sex lives, of animals, I mean. It doesn't matter if we're talking about birds or frogs or fish or any other beastie, I always try to get them to breed in captivity. My motto is: if it don't breed, it ain't happy.
If an animal attempts to reproduce in captivity, I consider it a sign that it's both healthy and happy. If it's not healthy, it won't have the energy to go through the motions. And if it's not happy — meaning that the environment you've provided doesn't "feel quite right" — then it will be too uncomfortable or stressed to think about sex.
So, if you're here to learn about breeding shrimp in captivity, it means that you are probably not a rookie aquarist. You've (hopefully) mastered the basics of aquarium-keeping, as much of your success will depend upon good water quality.
I am going to focus my talk on the Peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni, because, in my opinion, it is one of the easier aquarium shrimp to breed in captivity, and the larvae are "fairly" hardy. I put the word "fairly" in quotes because at first it may not seem that way, but once you get the hang of it, they are not too hard to raise.
I have experience working with other species of shrimp, so I may be able to answer some questions on other species later.
I am unsure of how advanced my audience is, so I am going to pretend that you don't know very much about Peppermint shrimp. Peppermint shrimp, like many marine animals, are hermaphroditic (which used to be considered unusual for shrimp). An individual shrimp can operate as both a male and a female. All you need to make a pair is to have 2 shrimp in an aquarium.
I'll address some differences for 2 other species in the genus Lysmata (such as the Blood or Fire shrimp, and the Skunk or Striped Cleaner shrimp) later, if anyone is interested.
You don't need to have an expensive reef tank setup and high-tech filtration equipment to raise shrimp. A simple 10 or 20 gallon aquarium with an undergravel filter can work for the parent shrimp. A bare (no filtration) 20 gallon tank will work for raising the larvae, although inventive people may try other ideas once they've mastered the basic techniques.
The spawning tank should have a lots of rocks and hiding places to make the shrimp feel comfortable. Peppermint shrimp breed pretty much all year around, so the "day length" and water temperature aren't too important. Just keep them constant.
I usually keep my lights on a timer set for 16 hours of daylight. The water temperature is usually around 80 degrees.
The next thing after a good environment is to feed them well. They may spawn even if you are feeding them only once per day, but the larvae you get will be very few and weak.
You get hardier larvae if you feed their parents at least three times per day with high quality foods.
Mating usually occurs immediately after one shrimp molts its shell. The actual mating takes no more than a few seconds. The shrimp acting as the male will swing under the shrimp that just molted. Later that afternoon, the newly molted shrimp will have a new batch of eggs attached to "her" pleopods (aka "swimmerettes").
Because the shrimp are both sexes, both shrimp will eventually carry eggs.
The eggs take about 10 days to 2 weeks to hatch, depending on your water temperature. AS the eggs get closer to hatching, they will start to turn a grayish-silver color. If you shine a flashlight on them, they will reflect. That reflectiveness is the individual eyes of the larval shrimp within the eggs.
The eggs always hatch at night after the lights go out. You can hand-collect them with a small siphon made of airline tubing, and a flashlight. The larvae are attracted to light and will gather in its beam. Siphon them gently into a cup or bucket and transfer them to their larvae tank (discussed in a minute).
If you like your sleep, as I do, you can invent a larvae collection device that uses a night light to attract the larvae to a safe area, where you can find them in the morning. In my book, How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp, I describe one idea. The Larvae Collector can even be used in a reef tank system, so you can collect larvae without disturbing the rest of the tank.
The simplest larvae tank is a 20 gallon aquarium with no filtration, only a small airstone in one corner to gently circulate the water.
The first 2-4 inches of water in the larvae tank should be water from the parent's aquarium. That way the newly-hatched larvae experience no changes in their environment, other than location. Gently pour in the larvae so they don't bang the bottom or sides of their new home.
Every day after that first day, you can slowly add a gallon of clean saltwater, using the airline tubing siphon to dribble it in. Any sudden changes of salinity or temperature are stressful and often deadly to fragile larvae.
We'll discuss what goes on after the tank is full in a few moments.
The best first food for Peppermint shrimp larvae is newly-hatched brine shrimp. The "eggs" and instructions are available at most aquarium stores. Other foods that they will take are finely ground flake foods or freeze dried foods.
Peppermint shrimp "reach" for food much larger than themselves, and they are able to "chew" on a piece of food, unlike fish larvae.
Once the aquarium is full of water, you will have to make small water changes, usually in conjunction with a bottom cleaning. Debris builds up on the bottom of the larvae tank, which degrade the water quality and may entangle the shrimp larvae, so it has to be removed.
I use a 3/16" rigid tubing attached to airline tubing for a tiny "vacuum cleaner". After siphoning off debris, I replace the lost water with new saltwater (dribbling it the same way as previously described).
So, don't be lazy. Keep the bottom of the larvae tank clean. Feed just enough newly-hatched brine shrimp to keep the shrimp from starving, but don't overfeed, as too many brine shrimp saps the oxygen in the water.
Once your larvae are 4 weeks old, they will be big enough to take adult brine shrimp. You can usually find live adult brine shrimp at your local aquarium store, but if you can't there are instructions on the internet (or in my book ) on how to raise your own.
If all goes well, the larvae will begin to metamorphose from those little aliens into more shrimp- like creatures. They will be completely transparent at first, so it may seem like they suddenly disappeared, but keep looking. After 3-4 days, they will get their first stripes and you may find them then.
SInce I mentioned other species in the genus Lysmata (Fire/Blood shrimp and Skunk/Striped Cleaner shrimp,
I really skimmed through this. There are plenty of details, but I will leave them for your questions. It will take 5-8 weeks for the larvae to metamorphose. When they do, they drop to the bottom and hide, even in plain sight.
I guess I'll finish that thought here. The Skunk/Striped cleaner shrimp start off life as males and gradually turn into females as they get larger. To make a pair, get a large one and a small one. AS the small one catches up in size, they will both eventually carry eggs, but the origianl female will do it more often. Fire/Blood shrimp are both sexes in the same shrimp, just as the Peppermint shrimp are but they are aggressive with each other.
They have a kind of Klingon relationship. (For those of you who don't know about Start Trek, that means they are rough with each other. To make a pair you must have 2 of nearly the same size. That way, they can box with each other, but they will be equals, and will soon back off and live together.
If one is smaller, it will be weaker. They larger one will chase it around and around the tank until it dies or gets far enough away.
AS far as larvae are concerned, Blood/Fire shrimp larvae are hardy likethe Peppermint shrimp. It is harder to observe the eggs on the adults, however. Skunk/Striped Cleaner shrimp have larvae that do not "reach" for larger foods. They prefer smaller particles of food.
A good first food for them would be a combination of rotifers and newly-hatched brine shrimp. But I could go on and on. I guess I should go to questions now, to see what folks are more interested in knowing.
This was a real crash course, and there are plenty of details lacking. The main detail, however, is what I call the flick-of-the-wrist stuff. Practice makes perfect.
I have no idea how long this talk is supposed to be, so I will turn this over to the question/answer part now.
Q: What type of light should be used on the nursery tank?
A: Not too bright. A single florescent bulb is plenty of light. Spectrum of light does not seem to matter. Blood/Fire shrimp larvae, however, do seem to drop to deeper portions of the larvae tank as they get older. They may require less light
Q: Whats the average # of fry and whats your average % that make it to adulthood
A: For Peppermint shrimp, 100-300 larvae. For Fire/Blood shrimp, up to 600 larvae. For your first 10 tries, you may get zero survival until you get the hang of things. After that it will increase. 20-40% is average.
Q: This past year I spent a lot of time with L. debelius zoeae and found that they only took pureed shrimp as a supplemental feed. I'm currently working on a planktonkreisel upweller that is designed to keep frozen shrimp in continuous suspension. Have you done any work with upwellers?
A: Yup. They work... but not well with nonmoving foods. Frozen foods tend to degrade the water quality quickly. They have all the correct attractants, but those same attractants pollute the water. Newly hatched brine shrimp work best because they are alive and stay in suspension. Supplementla foods have to experiment with. Certain dry foods work better than others. As a side note, I have worked with PLENTY of different supplemental foods. One that stays in suspension wellis "GoldenPearls", but its nutritional quality doesn't seem adequate. Shrimp larvae eat it, but eventually die. Good Luck with the Kreisel.
Q: How long do you have to feed Skunk shrimp Rotifers before moving on to larger items?
A: Usually no more than 2-3 days. Once they molt to the next stage, they are large enough to eat newly-hatched brine shrimp comfortably.
Q: Is there a reason why 20 gallons is recommended? Can a 5 or 10 gallon work just as well?
A: I have found that 5 or 10 gallon tanks do not work too well. The shrimp larvae bang the sides too often, among other reasons. Larger tanks than 20 gallons are great for water quality stability, but harder to keep the appropriate amounts of food stcoked in 'em. 20 gallon is a compromise.
Q: Should I put some pvc fittings for larvae to hide in?
A: Larvae are pelagic. They are designed for an open ocean environment where they don't run into things often. They don't have the instinct at that stage to hide in anything. Later, after they settle to the bottom as postlarvae, they will need hiding places. Once they are large enough to move to a regular aquarium setup, that would be best.
Q: Could you explain planton kreisel upweller. sounds like some kind of device
A: An upwaller is more or less what it sounds like: a large circular container that has a flow of water from the bottom that gently circulates the larvae around the tank and keeps food in suspension. It usually has a central standpipe with an air collar or other device to keep the larvae from getting sucked out of the tank. It can work as a recirculating filtration system, or with a flow-through system (if youare near the seashore). A hobbyists can buy/build one, but it's a bit of hassle at the hobbyist level.
Q: Should you target feed larvae or will the larvae hunt for them?
A: Newly hatched larvae have to bump into their food before they realize it is there. For the first week the concentration of food should be higher. After they get older, they begin to hunt more effectively. If you have the patience, and want to see which foods they prefer, you can spot feed them.
Q: Should I gut load the brine shrimp (with selcon or other additives) for added nutrition?
A: Newly-hatched brine shrimp do not feed. Their nutritional value is their yolk reserves alone. Different srtains of brine shrimp have varying egg yolk quality. The best brine shrimp eggs go to aquaculture, the worst end up in aquarium stores...AFter the brine shrimp are a day old, they begin to feed, and yes, it is much better to add selcon or other additives then.
Q: What shrimp species have you found to be the most challenging to raise? Is the procedure the same with all the species?
A: The basic larvae tank works for most species. The only things that change are the types of food, the number of water changes, the amount of aeration, etc. Striped Cleaner shrimp (of the 3 I've mentioned) are the biggest pains in the butt. Other species, like bandded shrimp just require different foods, but they aren't too bad.
Q: Martin Moe told me to pay close attention to water quality and redox. I figured I'd use aggressive chemical filtration during feedings with my kreisel.
A: Well, chemical filtration also takes out the "good" chemicals as well. Don't be too agressive. There is such a thing as too clean. Sterile water won't grow anything. The more primitive the animal, the more it depends on its environment to supply its needs. Higher organisms get their minerals, etc from their foods. Primitive animals get some things directly fromthe water.
Q: Has any more advancements been made with settlement cues for L. debelius or amboinensis?
A: They've been successful with L. debelius in Texas and the UK. L. amboinensis is raised frequently in Hawaiia. In hawaii, they are using flow-through seawater. So any chemical cues are there (since amboinensis is native to the area) With L. debelius, they seem to simply "wait it out". Most larvae that require cues become less "picky" as they age. In my opinion, the larvae seem competent to settle at 5-6 weeks of age. They have everything they need to settle. They just don't. They often go 10,12,16 weeks before settling -- if at all.
Q: any info on raising Stenopus sp.?
A: The best success I had was accidental. I had a garbage can outside in the sunshine that I used for growing out brine shrimp. The water was brownish from the algae bloom, and had a few copepods as well as regular additions of n-h brine shrimp. I did nothing, but watch the larvae grow... And then the mosquito patrol folks came by and dump that "icky looking" garbage can full of water.
Q: Follow-up question. Are stenopus (CBS et al) hermaphroditic too?
A: No. They are definitely born male or female. If you lose one half of a pair and you have a known opposite sex, the only way to get them to pair up (instead of killing each other) is to wait until the female molts. Only when she is soft and weak will she allow the male to get near her. After they've had a night of it, they are permanent couple.
Q: Yet another follow-up
: Are they sexually dimorphic? Any way to sex them?A: In general, the males are smaller. The females are larger. The females also have a large purplish area in between their legs. The easiest way to tell is when a female has ovaries full of turquoise-green eggs.
Q: Are there any commercial breeding programs of peppermint shrimps? Are any specimen bred for the purpose of the aquarium industry?
A: Yes, 2 places that I'm aware of breed peppermint shrimp on an occasional basis they don't make much profit, so it doesn't go on all the time). Ocans, Reefs & Aquariums in Ft Pierce Florida, and Tropical Marine(?) in the UK. I'm only rasing them on a hobby basis right now.
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