Click to view attachment
here's mine, hi to ppl in nano-reef.

welcome to NR.com and the sexy thread, tiffany!

Just the one shrimp? What're your tank specs?

Ryan

I have just bought 5 sexies at £7 each ($14). I was a bit worried they would disappear in my 24g. They did at first but today they have decided to colonise mushie corner. Right at the front of the tank! Here is a pic of them and my Mithrax called Peas.

to NR and the Sexy Club!


Congrats, and welcome to the Sexy Club!
Great pic of them, they look right at home!

Thanks Lalani. I've finally worked out how to focus on something, hold it, shift the position and then snap. I am hopeless with cameras so that is a good shot for me.

So I am indeed upgrading to a 10g. Out of my 3 sexies, I have one remaining. Question: will peppermint or skunk cleaner shrimp be aggressive towards sexies? I have some aiptasia that I want my pepp. to take care of but I don't want my sexy to get eaten...

Also, I have a Biocube 14 with the following:

1 Oc. clown
1 firefish
8 or so snails
4 scarlet hermits
1 dwarf red hermit
1 Mithrax
1 Porcelain crab
1 Pepp. shrimp
1 Fire shrimp

Will any of those bother the sexies if I decide to put a few in my biocube (or am I overstocked already anyways?)

I don't see anything on the list that would bother the sexies... Basically, the only critters that will bother them are those that eat inverts, or those that are very territorial and the sexies cross into their territory.

I have 5 sexies and just got a peppermint shrimp last weekend. They have been fine together. They don't even compete for food. They all seem happy!

I noticed yesterday that one of my females is carrying eggs again. This is about 2 weeks from the last release.

Do you have everything set up to raise this batch?

Well, sorta.....

I'm still trying to tie up loose ends with several other "projects" -

1) RO membranes and filters changed out
a) I've been doing aggressive w/c's and manual removal of GHA in the 20H
2) New stand for my existing 20H or possibly 33g cube is virtually done - Have to skin it and seal the inside
a ) I lost some time on the stand trying to figure out how to design it's sides to remain removable
B ) Plumbing comes next - I got a QO3000 for free from a local - This will be my return. I may also install a QO1200 on a CLS
3) 46bf remains to be taken down and traded - Will begin to drain this week and figure out what to do with all the gravel. This was a freshwater setup
4) Build new lighting fixture for the sexy shrimp
a) I have workhorse ballast, "canopy", and 2x18w sunpaqs - Everything just needs to be assembled

I still have the nursery tank running and have played a couple times with hatching BBS. I used the San Francisco brand BS and didn't care for it. I need to still experiment with either decapping eggs or buying decapped eggs - I am also considering moving my sexies to a 5.5g so that I can setup a larval snagger in the display - This will allow me to catch the hatch while I sleep vs. having to try and keep waking up hourly.

Whew - sorry for the long answer. I think I may let this hatch go given all of the above. This will allow me to finish up all that stuff, but also get a better idea of cycle times of my shrimp so I can be better prepared.

How're you doing? Any closer to trying to collect them?

You DO have a lot going on! I'm sure if you take care of a few things on the list, you'll have a little more motivation, and time especially, to get this going.

I've been busy trying to get my pico upgrade tank ready. I had to take out the false wall and replace it with another one, because the paint on the inside did not work out. We've switched it out for a frosted glass pane. Just waiting for the silicone to cure, then I'll fill it up.

Then I've got to mix up saltwater for water changes... I've skipped the last two weekends.

I'm going to Mobile, AL this weekend, so I'm going to hold off on transferring everything from the pico to the new one until I get back on Monday. Once the transfer is finished, I will be able to clean out the pico and set it up for the larvae tank. Still need to get a BBS hatchery, which I may try to DIY, and buy the eggs.
So it will be a little longer before I get around to this project. I'm really looking forward to it, though.

Well my sexies are very active today! They are actually swimming! I don't know about everyone else's but mine are usually pretty mellow. Today the are swimming all over the place. They are all sort of circling the tank. Even my peppermint shrimp is doing it. I am thinking one of my females has a new batch of eggs maybe. Do they put off a scent or something when they are ready to um... get sexy?

Here a a few recent pictures. I caught 2 of them sharing the same pellet the other day. It was fun to watch them eat together. The shared it for about 5 minutes. They all seem to be happy! I think my biggest female released her babies last night. I got a really good look at the eggs yesterday and she is looking smaller today. No sign of them in the tank though.

They aren't great pictures 'cause my camera sucks but at least they are clear!

Lol, they sound happy! My little male sexy will swim around the tank, in circles, when I turn the filter off for water changes. It's one of the funniest things to watch.
Those pics are great, and the sexies look healthy and happy!
What kind of sand is that?

I'm not really sure what kind it is. MY brother had it in his tank then decided he wanted black sand so he pulled it out and put it in a bag. A sealed bag. Then a few weeks later he gave it to me. It smelled musty when I put it in. I don't think I would have used it if I were setting up now. I can't imagine what kinds of bacteria must have been in it! But it has turned out okay. My biggest complaint is that it starts looking dingy pretty quick. I blow it lightly with the turkey baster when I do water changes. Every little piece of snail poo shows on it though.

It was so fun to watch my little sexies swimming so much. They were going crazy! I have never seen them so energized! I mostly never see them swim. They just walk around and jump once in a while if something scares them. But they were swimming laps today and then landing in places I have never seen them like the water output and even the sides of the tank. So much fun! My water was a little off yesterday. My alk. was low and my salinity was high so I took care of that. Maybe that gave them a little boost!

I can't wait to see pictures of your new tank once it is all set up! I hope it goes well!

Sorry Jenn, I never got a notice that you posted.
It looks like silica sand because it is so fine. If it's working for you, good.
Glad you're little shrimp are having fun, and hope that you sorted out the water issue.

No problem Lalani! I don't expect you to answer EVERY post right away. You are really good about that though.

Is silica sand usually not a good thing? When I set up my tank I know NOTHING. I didn't realize the amount of research that should go into a reef tank until after I had it set up and cycling. I haven't even given the sand a second thought other then the fact that I like my mom's black sand better. Seem to be just fine in my tank though. Other then the snail poo problem. Although that has been better lately. I think I have my CUC in a really good balance now. My peppermint shrimp was a great addition. He eats out of my hand and come out of his favorite cave every time I sit down to check things out. He goes back in though if I don't produce a snack for him pretty quickly! He has done great with my sexies so far. If anything the sexies are the dominate ones!

Have a great weekend! I hope your tank swapping goes well next week. Can't wait to see the new tank!

Well, I know that a few other people have used the silica sand.. it's usually the playground sand... without any problems. I'm not sure and maybe you should ask the pros, but it's not made of argonite so it doesn't buffer the water. But, like I said, some have used it with no problems.
I'm in Mobile, AL right now, so I won't be able to transfer the sexies to their new tank until I get back. I'm anxious!!

The sexies have been transfered to their upgrade tank, and they look happy! Last night, only a few hours after the transfer, the female released another batch of babies. I don't know if it was due to stress or not, but the little guys were squirming around, so they looked healthy. Now I can get to work on cleaning the pico and getting everything ready to try and raise the next batch.

This is my new group. They're in my 1/2 10 now. They're fairly settled in and they've inspected the bubble coral pretty thoroughly. Very interesting and tiny creatures.


Bill

Can I join, now that I have 3 sexies in my 7 gallon bow front? I got them 3 days ago and they are doing great. They are deciding their favorite spots. I think my husband is worried about our zoa.s. I think I've got two females and one male. After I clean the glass and charge up the batteries I'll post some pic.s.

Yay!


Welcome to the Sexy Club!
If you feed them flake or pellet food, they really shouldn't bother any of the corals. They will stand on them, but the corals adjust over time.

Click to view attachment
Here is one of my sexy shrimp. The other 2 were playing under the mushrooms and I couldn't get a shot of them.

What a cute little female ya have there!

Well, I finally caught my two sexies doing the naughty dance today. I took a bunch of pics, being the voyeur that I am, so I'll upload a couple later.

Female with eggs:


Bow chika bow wow :

^ what a slut!

omg lmao..

i would love to have some sexy's but i have a 55....i am thinking about putting together this empty 30 gal with the plumbing inside the tank so it would be like 20 gallons DT or soo....mainly zoos, palys, mushrooms, ric's....i think 5-6 sexy's in it would sit real well on my bar.

But she's a baby-makin' slut.


Sounds like a plan! When are we going to see it?

Finally broke down and bought the two remaining sexies from my LFS - they are currently adjusting. They're going into my 14g biocube with the other sexy - he's been fine for about 2 weeks in there now so I assume nothing will try to eat them (I can't think of anything that would, anyways). I hope they fare well like my other one has

How do you know which is the girl?

If the little one is the boy then i have 4 females and one very tired male!!!

Hope they do well for you!


Yup, if you look at the pic above, you can see the difference in the width of their bodies... and overall body size.

I want some but im upgrading to a 55

My male is missing! When I put all three in the tank I noticed that the females hung out together and the male did his own thing. Now I can't find him. I have a lot of places in the tank where he could hide. At this point I'm not holding my breath. Will the two females do OK by themselves? They seem fine so far.

You could have some, given that there are no invert eaters in the tank, but they would be hard to find.


Two females would probably be ok by themselves. You may notice them become more reclusive though. Just keep an eye out for the third, because they are pretty good hiders.

Last night before bed I went in to check to see what my new corals looked like after lights out (3 shrooms, green mouthed candy cane coral and a frogspawn). I noticed all this gunk floating in my water. It freaked me out so I turned on the lights. It took me a few seconds to realize one of my females had released her babies. It was the first time I have seen them. I know they have done it several times before I have just never seen the babies before they got eaten/suck into the filter. It was cool to see! There were so many and they were sure swimming! I felt kind of bad It was only about 9:15 PM so I was really surprised to see them. I thought they usually released them in the middle of the night. And all my sexies were right in the front of the tank. So I guess the female was doing just fine. Fun to see. One day when my kids are older I would really like to try to raise them!

That's great, Jen! It's interesting to watch it, but I understand the pain of letting the little guys go. In the pico, they would all be gone by morning. In the new tank, something about the flow in the tank allows the larvae to stay in the display and not fall into the back and get chopped with the impeller. The next day I still saw a few squirming around, so this set up will actually make it a lot easier to collect them when I'm ready.

Since I only have one female right now, I can't do this, but I'm interested in seeing if your females will begin releasing their babies at the same time, or if they continue to do so separately.

We're knocked up again - Appears to be a 2 week cycle.

YR

Yesterday I got my first sexy shrimp. I wasn't sure if my pistol shrimp would eat them. I asked the guy at the fish store and he said that he might. I only got one just incase, but he is doing fine. So this week I'm going to get somemore. They are prolly one of the coolest things to watch.

I have got to start logging the cycle mine goes through. She's full of eggs now and it won't be long before she releases them... I don't think I'll be ready for this batch yet. I still need to buy the brine shrimp eggs, then I'll be ready to go.


Welcome to the Sexy Club!
I don't think you'll have to worry about the pistol. My two sexies have been living with two Caribbean pistols for several months, and now they are in a tank with at least 4 of them... no problems to speak of.

I will try to pay attention and let you know. I know they have had crossover in having eggs at the same time. I am not sure about releasing though. Between the 3 it seems like at least one always has eggs. I think the two bigger ones usually have eggs at the same time or pretty close to it. And I haven't really paid attention but I think mine probably have about a two week cycle too. I will let you know!

Thanks a bunch! It's just out of curiosity.

I'm back! Good to see some new sexy members on here!

I was planning on getting more sexies after the tragic death of one of my trio but the LFS wanted $17 a pop this time when they only charged me $10 last time! Then the girl who was working there gave me attitude and a spiel about how bad the economy is right now after I called her out on it. So I probably won't be getting any more and just stick with my pair. It looks to me like a male and a female and are doing great despite not having a third wheel. They're not making babies though.

Ugh, I'd hate to see the prices at my LFSs right now...
How long have you had your sexies? They should be well into their breeding age.. hmm...

I've had them since February should they be experimenting by now?

Yup! They become reproductive at about 2 months of age. (I think)

We have been keeping sexy shrimp for close to a year and really love them.
Has anyone noticed that the shrimp become pregnant immediately after a molt of the female?
Also, I find it entertaining every time someone says that sexy shrimp will be ok in a tank as long as it does not have "invert eaters". Most fish ARE indeed invert eaters (think Mysis shrimp, BBS, cyclops, etc.)
Even the sexy shrimp are invert eaters as they need baby brine shrimp as their first food.

ok guys and gals, me and my sexies are looking for help.

For the life of me I can't get rid of the diatoms on my sand Y'all's are so nice and clean.

Specs:
2.8g
18w PC
AC20 HOB (with purigen and carbon) + RedSea Pico HOB (both for flow)
~2-2.5 lbs rock
50w hydor heater
w/c's = 1g 1x week
CUC = 1 emerald, 1 nass and 1 blhc - Snails will not stay alive for some reason.

Shrimps are fed a pellet 1-2x day - Tank params are within norms.

What is going on? It's not my water. The same ro/di is used on 3 other tanks, water for all is mixed at the same time. Flow? More CUC? My lights might need to be replaced. I have the stuff to make a 2x18w fixture, was gonna start tonight after I do a w/c. I dunno. El Fab, are you really running an AC70 on the back of your 2.5g? Doesn't it blow everything away? I have one laying around I thought I might try, but I'm a little concerned.

Open to suggestions

to NR!
I've noticed my female sexy tends to molt right around the times that she lays her eggs and when she releases them.
I guess we should say not to keep them with 'ornamental shrimp eaters.'

yankee, have you tried to raise any babies yet???
Sorry you're having trouble with diatoms. Looks like you're doing everything right.... The only thing I would do is add an astrea snail. Mine do a terrific job of keeping things clean.

Having lots of flow helps a lot. I've got an AC70 on my 3g running full blast and it doesn't blow everything away. But then I also have a rock to catch the flow so most of the turbulence is baffled by the GSP and they love it that way. Did you say you feed your shrimps twice a day? If that's the case that's a lot of feeding and that could be the source of your problem right there.

Successful breeders have logged that these shrimp typically engage in reproductive activities just after females molt. I have seen eggs within a week or so of a molt and they have released around two weeks later.

No attempts to capture fry yet - I have to get the diatom thing settled first.