PJ's Sexy Shrimp Breeding Thread

[pj86]

I just couldn't stay up last night and missed her spawning again. This morning she had no more eggs and no youngs to be found. So I have 32ish sexies to work with.

[pj86]

The sexy shrimps seem to be doing really well. They have a slight red/orange tint to them now. I lost 3-4 today because of the air pump. I had put the water line too high and the bubbles from the air pump had been to brisk for some sexies that ventured to close. The water levels is back to where it was suppose to be. I tried removing most of the the uneaten BBS but quite a few remained. I wonder if this will have any detrimental effects.

 

On another note, Sexy momma has put out a new set of eggs. I saw her do it, and she filled up her abdomen. Also, the male was right there waiting. So this time Im gonna keep good track to how long it really takes for the eggs to mature.

[Sunstar]

I am going to watch your progress with extreme interest and good luck in rearing the young!

[will46r]

Still waiting on my ceegar I guess you'll have to sell the babies to afford the ceegar?

 

This should drive the "you're abusing feeshees by putting them in tanks smaller than 50000G" crowd nuts when they hear about it. Most of them won't believe it. More power to you and your marine husbandry/bondage hangem upside down until they poop youngens technique.

[WRH]

I am going to watch your progress with extreme interest and good luck in rearing the young!

Me too.

 

My sexy shrimp might be lonely. but one chance at a time...

[pj86]

So a quick update, only 3 sexy remain in the rearing tank. Some notes for the ones that are interested in raising these shrimp. First the larva are very very small and can easily get trapped or hurt. So any filter floss that is exposed can be a death trap for them. Also, frequent water changes are great but have to be carried out carefully. Small but frequent water changes are better than large and less frequent water changes. Also, having a pinpoint light source will attract BBS as well as the larva sexy shrimp making smaller feeding quantities possible. Hopefully I will be a little bit more successful the following round.

[peytonk]

My sexy shrimp is pregnant and I see eggs on her abdomen and she obviously has a very full abdomen. I would like to put her and the male in a 2.5 so that when she releases them I have a decent chance of keeping some. What kind of equipment would you suggest for best results? did you breed the baby brine or can I just buy those?

thanks

[faerl]

My sexy shrimp is pregnant and I see eggs on her abdomen and she obviously has a very full abdomen. I would like to put her and the male in a 2.5 so that when she releases them I have a decent chance of keeping some. What kind of equipment would you suggest for best results? did you breed the baby brine or can I just buy those?

thanks

 

The easiest way to deal with the brine shrimp is to buy or build a hatchery. You can buy them online or there are a lot of links that talk about how to build one out of an old soda bottle. Then you just buy the eggs and hatch them.

[pj86]

peytonk, I will post some photos of my miniature bbs hatchery. They are super easy to hatch and very cheap. The biggest challenge will be maintaining a safe free growing environment for the larva with out compromising the quality of the water.

I would suggest a tall/thin aquarium (vase) rather than a long wide one. That way food is concentrated better and it is easier to clean the bottom of the container. Also the heater must not come in contact with the larva because it can kill them. So people usually have a container inside a larger aquarium and heat the outside aquarium. The water that the larva are in must have an air pump. You have to keep the larva from going into the bubbles because that also can damage them. Those are the 3 most important things, the rest is trial and error.

[peytonk]

This seems really hard :/ I'm afraid I won't have it setup before they hatch. Can you give me a more thorough description of what type of container I could put inside of a larger tank? and how do you put an airstone in it without the larvae coming in contact with the bubbles?

thanks

[pj86]

This seems really hard :/ I'm afraid I won't have it setup before they hatch. Can you give me a more thorough description of what type of container I could put inside of a larger tank? and how do you put an airstone in it without the larvae coming in contact with the bubbles?

thanks

 

You can use a small 5 gallon tank and divide it into compartments, that is another option. But I felt the container inside another container being easier. I got a tall square flower vase and put it into a 2.5 gallon aquarium. For the air bubbles not hitting the larva, I put the airstone inside a hard plastic tube (sold at any LFS) and then covered both ends with filter floss causing the bubbles to slow down before exciting the tube. The tube might cause a suction due to many bubbles rising at once, so make sure that the airstone isn't at full blast, or better yet make a tube with only one opening.

You should give it a try, it will be challenging but you will learn a lot and improve on the method as you go along. Good luck.

[.Newman.]

or just put the airstone at 1 bps... that would hurt them probably. also do you recommend the size of the container to be a certain size? and also taller is better right?

[pj86]

The larva are very very small, it would be hard to manage them in anything larger than a 5 gallon unless the aquarium is divided into compartments. I state a taller container because that way the food is more concentrated, and also by using a second light source you can attract both the sexy and bbs when it is feeding time. The larger the volume the more stable the system, but try to contain the sexy in a smaller section that is relatively small to be able to feed them better and observe. So far in this batch only 2 sexy remain alive, I saw that to large of a water change can cause them to die, and as stated previously anything that has to brisk of a movement can kill them easily.

[peytonk]

I had a huge hatching in my tank, and in the pico I moved the mated pair to. I put them in jars inside my tank with pantie hoes over the top to keep them inside. Hope this works until tomorrow when I can figure out a solution.

[pj86]

That is a very good temporary solution, and even can be implemented as a permanent solution if you have room in the tank. You can easily hatch bbs in less than 24 hours.

[euphoricgear]

have u guys seen this? sexyshrimp.com? seem to have a lot of info.

[ednangel]

have you thought of a breeder basket within the tank and a small pump on the outside of the basket just gently creating a current within the basket.

[BillyMays]

can you use a sponge filter? I used a hydor sponge filter in my blue pearl shrimp tank. I had the tube it came with just below the water line to create some surface tension.

[kgbenson]

Consider looking for some advice here: http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/ (and then bring it back here so everyone can view it without skipping all over the interwebs). There is an entire subforum for sexy shrimp.

 

You might try to build or buy a larval snagger. There are some for sale on the net and also there is one described in the book "How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp"

 

If you have the cash and are really into this process look for the book "Marine Ornamental Shrimp: Biology, Aquaculture and Conservation" by Calado.

 

As you have noticed the larvae have a hard time with certain kinds of flow and bubbles. Consider building a Kreisel like tank to get them through their smaller stages. Some folks have made some simple ones that work well and didn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

I know there are lots of brine shrimp hatchers out there and some are easier than others. unless you are trying to hatch several hundred thousand BBS look into this one: http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

 

If you have 2 (maybe three depending on you usage) of them running in sequence you will not lack for bbs for raising these shrimps. I like them because they are easy to harvest and easy to clean between batches.

 

Good luck and keep us informed!

[peytonk]

Hey guys, just a quick update...There seems to be a pretty good number in my jar still, and I also have another clutch in a jar in my pico. Its strange, both of the clutches look really different. Im going to feed them phytoplankton, not sure if this works or not, but I'll try to get my hands on brine tonight or tomorrow.

[Sunstar]

good luck. watching ou for inspiration

[peytonk]

I only see a small handful left in the pico jar, but the jar in my 17 gal still seems to have a pretty large population. What will happen if I just leave them in that jar and continue to feed them phyto?

[faerl]

I only see a small handful left in the pico jar, but the jar in my 17 gal still seems to have a pretty large population. What will happen if I just leave them in that jar and continue to feed them phyto?

 

Phyto doesn't work. They need baby brine or something along those lines.

[pj86]

All sources state to use bbs. Phyto and rotifers seem to small for these larva, also if you try it, most likely they will only accept live phyto and live rotifers.

[peytonk]

I don't know if its worth it at this point to buy the eggs and hatching dish. by time it comes and I wait 24 hours I probably won't have anything left to feed. I wish I would have been more prepared and expected the hatching