Lysmata culture page

[damienkee]

nice! nice!

e only survival?

[FuEl]

Oldest larvae so far. Got about 800+ other larvae..think I stop at these few batches..very tiring to maintain..

[damienkee]

wow! got so much of batches ardi.

any where, i can feel the tired fr ur words.

still, thanks for the info u shared here, n keep us update if any news!

congra.... & all the best.

take a good rest 1st, n come back again la....

[marinebetta]

Oldest larvae so far. Got about 800+ other larvae..think I stop at these few batches..very tiring to maintain..

800 x AUD$100 =

[FuEl]

800 x AUD$100 =

If can raise so many I just stay in Aus apply for PR then do home based farming already.. Hmm..now trying to raise them individually..seems to be going quite well compared to raising in a group. Your clowns also... $15-$20 X ??? = $ ???

[FuEl]

The "joy" of counting at day 19..60% survival.. A portion of 360+ larvae..

[FuEl]

Guess which crustacean does this monster larvae come from?

Finally found out why the reef lobster larvae never survived...the larvae were hybrids between E.debelius and E.occidentalis! The male suddenly turned light purple today after a moult..haha.. So...hybridization can occur..

[damienkee]

wow!

tat is alots!

all the best!

[k0na_scab]

hey bro fuel

any updates on yr babies ?

[FuEl]

Hmmm..currently at day 38 with a survival of about 38.8% in the upwelling system. Only about 97 larvae left from the original 250 larvae I put in..probably due to cannibalism. As for the other batch from the pic above (kept in 20-L rectangular glass aquarium) the larval count is down to 204 with a survival of about 34.2%. Both mass rearing trials from same batch of larvae..not really much difference in survival from the different methods but those in the upwelling system are about twice the size of those kept in the tank.

They will get to about 21 mm before metamorphosing and judging from their size they still have a fair bit of growing to do. The largest is maybe only 10+ mm at best. Can't beat the 42 days record by Waikiki aquarium..sigh.. probably will take another 2 weeks or so before I get my first settlement if nothing goes wrong *touchwood*. Currently feeding them enriched baby and adult live brineshrimp, blended seafood, and freshly mashed penaied shrimp postlarvae I harvested from the beach. Just tiring me out doing the same old routine everyday..but guess will get used to it..maybe another 6 months of doing the same stuff.

Pic not very clear.. I'm a bad camera man.

[FuEl]

Trying my hand at golden banded boxing shrimp (S. cyanoscelis). Day 1 larvae. Notice the unusual projections I circled in red. No work done on this species so far..larval duration anywhere between 43-210 days based on information on other species. I just hope it's below 2 months.

[FuEl]

For those who want to try raising cleaner shrimp larvae, here's a simple D.I.Y larviculture system which should work better than a rectangular glass tank in terms of water flow.

Basically it's the bottom of a carboy (those containers used in offices for water storage). If you saw it off it should be sufficient to hold slightly more than 2-L of water. Use an air tubing or more depending on your preference to direct air flow over the water surface in one direction to create a circular water motion. The raised middle portion will prevent larvae from tangling in the middle due to differences in water velocity. How many larvae to put in depends on you..not more than 50 newly hatched larvae per liter of water. Do note that larvae density will have to be reduced as they grow. It can be modified to have an overflow to a sump with a directional water return which is preferable. If you use air flow you should do 100% water changes everyday due to evaporation and the build up of nutrients.

This design should get them growing faster due compared to rectangular glass tanks as the water flow will give them access to food most of the time.

[FuEl]

Hmm..update on debelius reef lobster. It still dropped it eggs prematurely...no idea why.. >.< but this time the eggs looks more viable.

[FuEl]

Just emerged..still stiff..

[FuEl]

Starting to stretch..don't seem to be able to stay afloat though..have to use air stones to keep larvae suspended..hope they survive..

[FuEl]

Stretched out..the power of invert colors..looks alien?

[FuEl]

Hmmm..a pic of the babies..taken at 48 days old in a temporary feeding station. Grown much bigger as seen against the air stone and already in their final larval stage. Hopefully settle soon..

[FuEl]

A mixed rearing batch of skunk and blood shrimp larvae. Blood shrimp larvae are the smaller ones, not as red as skunk larvae and are light purple. They were intended as food..but the skunk larvae don't seem to enjoy them too much. They prefer crab eggs.

[FuEl]

Some that died at day 51..

[FuEl]

59 days old. Not settled yet... Eating blended seafood mix.

[Till]

Hi FuEL,

i had catched a few L. amboinensis purposeless once together with Lysmata spec. (cf. rathbunae) Sadly no amboinensis settled successfully.The last one died about day 65.

i think maybe they need something to induce the settlement, because my larvae had nearly completely developed pleopods just like the rathbunae short-time before they have done metamorphose. maybe substrate like live rock or the presence of adults or something else.

Some of yours also look like they already have pleopods.

My Clibanarius tricolor megalopa larvae had used but they haven’t been staying in the shells i offered so i put an adult tricolor in the raising tank. On the next day most tricolor larvae obtained shells and metarmorphosed.

Just some ideas.. Good Luck! Hope they ll make it.

Greetings from Germany.

Till

[FuEl]

Wow a reply from Germany..unexpected. Yep I have the feeling they need a settlement cue too. Most larvae finished developed their pleopods at around day 50-60. Now it's already day 61 and they are not metamorphosing yet. I'm adding water into their culture (Taken from adult tank and from a clownfish tank) and have a liverock placed in the sump but so far none metamorphosed yet. Most of them lost their elongated 5th periopod (from the upwelling current) so I'm not sure how that will affect metamorphosis. I thought of placing adults in the sump, but I only have one pair of animals to work with. Unfortunate if they should die in the sump as water quality is a concern as I'm not using any protein skimmer. Probably I might try that tomorrow, placing a few larvae in the broodstock tank. Thanks for the kind tip.

[FuEl]

Hmm..some larvae I placed with the adults in a net. Left them in for 2 days..nothing happened. Frustrating getting them to settle.

[Till]

are there any fish in the tank with the adults? maybe they need fish to settle eventualy they are cleaner shrimps. how is mortality?

[FuEl]

are there any fish in the tank with the adults? maybe they need fish to settle eventualy they are cleaner shrimps.  how is mortality?

Yep I thought about the fish. Been using water from a clownfish tank and for my upwelling I have 3 fish (2 glass perches and one juvenile milkfish (I think)) in the sump. Does'nt seem to help them much. Desperate, I've added a brain coral into the sump to see if it helps.

I'm starting to get mortality of my largest larvae (more than 1cm in size) which is real disheartening. They seem to die without any apparent reason, even after fresh change of water (Natural seawater filtered down to 1 micron) and replacement of fresh food). Now I have probably less than 60 larvae (in total) left at days 67-72 post-hatch (Started with about a thousand of them). I'll be over the moon if just one individual settles successfully, since I'm rearing them on low and simple technology.

Then again I have blood shrimp larvae around 45 days with pleopods being visible at around 30 days+. I've a feeling I will have more success with these as they do appear to be stronger physically and to be more voracious feeders. Hopefully at least something settles.