Need advise on raising cleaner shrimp larvae...

[Kalib]

Thought of trying my hand at raising cleaner shrimp larvae. Had always been toying with that idea but not seriously trying it yet.

Here's the 2 possible setups i have in mind:

- Sand + LR

- UGF

Reason i'm choosing between this 2 is that cleaner shrimp larvae are very fragile, so any filter outlets/inlets can damage them. I would probably have to find a way to reduce the bubble size at the UGF outlet.Any other ideas?

Food wise, i'm thinking of using enriched bbs. Cleaner shrimp larvae, once their born are capable of hunting small live prey. Any suggestions on other possible foods?

[trader_best]

hmm.....have you hatched them b4? maybe can try hatching them in a breeding net, e holes are small, no way for them to escape....

watching for mine to hatch soon....

may feed them bbshrimp or plankton...

my 2 cents

[Kalib]

So your suggestion is to place the cleaner shrimp thats pregnant into a breeding net, so once the larvae are born, they would be trapped in that net?

Mine always hatches, in fact my shrimps are pregnant almost all the time.

[FuEl]

I'll suggest just having a mature sand bed and some liverock. Don't use the U.G as the current generated will be too strong. If it is possible use an air pump for internal water circulation. Limit it to one bubble every few secs to prevent over turbulence.

[Kalib]

To lower the bubbling rate from the airpump, i just need to add a valve and tighten it accordingly right?

[FuEl]

To lower the bubbling rate from the airpump, i just need to add a valve and tighten it accordingly right?

Yep..

[Kalib]

Hmm. i was thinking about your suggestion of using just an airpump to circulate, how does it circulate?

You mean use it to aerate the water?

[FuEl]

Well it will result in slight currents set up in the water column..

[trader_best]

i have placed the breeding net in my sump...aerate the water, hmm...will see how it goes when these tiny fellows hatches.....currently got 2 adult pregnant with eggs....waiting waiting...

[Kalib]

Rotifers may work better than enriched bbs. Managed to find a local company who can supply Rotifers.

http://www.watercircle.com.sg/Marine.html

Have emailed them and waiting for a reply.

[patrick123]

Any news on this one?

[bawater]

Cleaner fry won't feed on bbs untill they reach abt 4 weeks old.

You should start on a phytoplankton diet (something with a higher DHA profile) untill you reach the 1st or 2nd week then add in live rotifers into the diet then move onto bbs after the 1st or 2nd month.

If u keep phyto in the water- rotifers will feed on it & and enrich themselves while being stalked by the fry.

The larvae culture container should be as clean as possible - just a container with a bubbling airline is good enough - change 30%-50% of the culture volume everyday or every other day with your main tank water . DO NOT USE NEW SALTWATER.

Rotifers is your best bet, and easy to keep a live supply going. A few ppl here are culturing them, getting a starter culture from them to grow your own is not hard.

Cleaner larvae settle out into mini shrimp at around 90-140 days(depending on the environment).

They are not the easiest to culture and be prepared for huge die offs or failed cultures altogether - but they are able to produce a batch of larvae monthly for you to try again soon.

[Kalib]

Interesting info you have there, never knew about the part that we should change the water with tank water and not new saltwater.

But at present i have to shelf this plan as school is reopening soon and i'm afraid i won't have time to look after the larvae. 1 of the cleaners has died last month and so i wasn't able to produce any larvae as i haven't replaced the dead partner yet.

I read they do store sperm so that they can have eggs in future, but unfortunately, this remaining cleaner has not produced any eggs at all.

Depending on whether i have time or not, i might still try it at the end of the year.

[eques]

Rotifers may work better than enriched bbs. Managed to find a local company who can supply Rotifers.

http://www.watercircle.com.sg/Marine.html

Have emailed them and waiting for a reply.

how is it going on for the rotifer . price?

[Kalib]

Unfortunately i didn't get a reply as the company isn't selling this anymore. Or was it soemthing else? Can't really remember, read about it somewhere.

Anyway, i think golden perals might be a possible substitute but that'll mean more water changes as it should be more polluting than using live phyto and rotifers.

[Cookiemunster]

Guys I'm selling rotifers if you are interested. $10 per 500ml bottle. These are live so you have to self collect from me at sengkang.

PM me if you are interested.