Cleaner shrimp "babies"

[nunofs]

Just thought I'd share... my cleaner shrimp spawned last night... I didn't see the actual spawning, but when I went looking for the mantis with the flashlight (yes, I know, it's getting boring doing this night after night) I saw what had to be hundreds of tiny shrimp swimming and squirming around... I'm sure they were not pods, the body shape was very different. No photos, they were just too tiny and moving around too much, and it was late (enough excuses? )

The bangaii cardinal was feasting on them, almost like a whale that opens its mouth to filter the plankton as it swims by

Today, as expected, I didn't see any of the babies... but there's probably still a few swimming around in the tank and in the fuge... I realize they won't make it without proper food.

Nuno

 

[Piscevore]

wicked cool nuno

 

[Moe_K]

Damn. When I clicked on this thread, I was hoping for photo magic.
Cool story. Good luck w/ them.

 

[jackie]

How cute Nuno! Hope they don't all turn into fish food How long did you have the pair?

 

[ReeferMedic]

Very cool!!

 

[~Flighty~]

I don't think the cleaner type are raisable like the pepermints are. otherwise it would be pretty profitable for $25 a shrimp, so someone would be doing it.

 

[nunofs]

Hope they don't all turn into fish food How long did you have the pair?

I believe they're all gone... maybe there are some hiding in the fuge, but I don't think they'll last long... as Cindy says, they must be pretty difficult / impossible to raise... and certainly impossible without actively trying, just letting them fend for themselves.

I have the larger one for almost a year now (when I started my first tank back in July'04... time flies!) and got a slightly smaller one back in March.

Nuno

 

[this is me]

It just sucks that you watch about 500-600 lives getting eatin within a couple of minutes.
My cleaner spawn twice.

 

[mano1192]

yea mine are about to do the same, I have a 5 gallon bow nano that is empty right now, thinking about scouping the babies in a net and putting them in there. Thats if Im home when they spawn of corse.

 

[nunofs]

thinking about scouping the babies in a net and putting them in there.

The main question is what do you do next? Ie, what kind of food will you provide them, what kind of filtration will you have on the tank (most filtration systems will suck the shrimp), etc... it's not simple at all, but please share your experience if you manage to catch and isolate them.

Nuno

 

[mano1192]

Yea i will use a aircurtain for a while until they get big enough not to get sucked into the filter. But I dont think filtration will be a big problem, when I do a water change on my big tank I can just use that as water for the nano in small water changes. I just hope my shrimp spawn when Im around cause I dont think my fish will let them survive too long!

 

[Greg Hiller]

>The main question is what do you do next? <

Some of the stuff I will talk about at the meeting will help you here if you want to try.