Mysid living in a display tank?

[itsamaybe]

After visiting a local LFS and noticing Mysid in one of their holding tanks I realized I kind of liked the look of them scooting around, another level of complexity and entertainment. I was wondering how big, or rather how small of a system one could get away with and be able to raise them. I have heard that they are cannibalistic towards their offspring and thus are hard to culture. But, I am not looking to culture mass quantities, just have a stable population. Any personal anecdotes or facts are welcome regarding the upkeep or cannibalism rates of mysid shrimp.

Thank you!

[k4ndyk1ng]

After visiting a local LFS and noticing Mysid in one of their holding tanks I realized I kind of liked the look of them scooting around, another level of complexity and entertainment. I was wondering how big, or rather how small of a system one could get away with and be able to raise them. I have heard that they are cannibalistic towards their offspring and thus are hard to culture. But, I am not looking to culture mass quantities, just have a stable population. Any personal anecdotes or facts are welcome regarding the upkeep or cannibalism rates of mysid shrimp.

Thank you!

Are these sold under the name feeder shrimp?

[Nano sapiens]

I've had a stable population living in my 12g for around 2 years. They are light shy so I only see a few during the day, but at night they can be seen all over the sand bed, mostly.

[metrokat]

I've had a stable population living in my 12g for around 2 years. They are light shy so I only see a few during the day, but at night they can be seen all over the sand bed, mostly.

Did you get them initially to feed your fish?

[Nano sapiens]

They showed up when I started feeding frozen Mysid, so my best guess is that some of the gravid frozen females had eggs that were viable.

[itsamaybe]

They showed up when I started feeding frozen Mysid, so my best guess is that some of the gravid frozen females had eggs that were viable.

Interesting! I would have never thought that eggs would survive freezing.

 

Are these sold under the name feeder shrimp?

I do not believe so, they are to the best of my knowledge sold as mysid shrimp.

[k4ndyk1ng]

They could be kept in a tank where they don't get shredded by power heads and fish

[Nano sapiens]

Interesting! I would have never thought that eggs would survive freezing.

 

From what I've read, it depends on the process used by the brand. I wouldn' t expect eggs to survive from Hikari, for exmaple, but the one I originally used was a smaller, much less known brand (can't remember the name).

[Alexraptor]

My tank is positively teeming with mysid, both in the fuge and main display tank.

[metrokat]

My tank is positively teeming with mysid, both in the fuge and main display tank.

How come?

[Alexraptor]

Honestly, beats me. They are simply just there.

They skitter in and out of the live rock tunnels and overhangs and run around all over the tank at night.

 

I do have the same super fine sand approach as I have with my Mandarin, and I leave all the detritus in the main tank, only removing what gets stirred up by the animals and washed down the overflow box.

 

So my guess is probally just ample food.

[metrokat]

Okay but where did they come from?

[Alexraptor]

As most critters that enter our systems do, by way of live rock, most likely very porous and hollow rock, and of course sheer luck of the draw.

[peasofme]

i had some hitchhike. i really like them. they would steal pellets. i ended up killing them in a tank accident.

[printerdown01]

They are super common hitch hikers. They will take to some tanks, but not to others. Kinda random. It is a lot of fun to have them in a tank though... They are carnivores so if you have a decent pod population it will be more likely they will do well.