skunk cleaner fry

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

Its that time of year again, My cleaner shrimp have started breeding. They have been doing quiet well, getting nice and fat. They molt regularly and eat like pigs.
Lately they have not been as social as normal. The male is almost never out of the cave and the female will climb around and do the typical pick and munch at whatever she wants. I noticed her tail starting to get a little dark and she was getting a bit of a hunch. Now shes nice and plump, Eggs went from clear to nice and green. Im waiting til they get a little darker and she starts to fan them alot to put her in a breeder.
Im going to try to post some more pictures of her as I get the chance. Shes not her social self so its not as easy as it used be. So she kind of takes off everytime anything gets near her, protecting the eggs I assume.

 

[acrofragger]

its hard to breed them ,i suggest looking up some rc threads on cleaner shrimp with eggs .
you need a complete different tank ,for the fry only and get them pass the first 2 molting stages to be safe they will survive
good luck

 

[DisplacedInTranslation]

If you're successfully able to breed them you'll have yourself a mini cash-cow to supply fellow reefers and LFS with tank-bred CS. Good luck!

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

If you're successfully able to breed them you'll have yourself a mini cash-cow to supply fellow reefers and LFS with tank-bred CS. Good luck!

thanks for the luck, im going to need it. Im going to buy a 5/10 gallon and setup a nursery. I was getting all the supplies as the LFS today. The rest im going to get this weekend. Ill keep this thread going as things progress, If i fail ill post that as well. haha

Yeah ill be getting rid of them pretty cheap too,

 

[DisplacedInTranslation]

Although I'm hoping for the best, at least you're brave enough to experiment with something new, especially something that might benefit the hobby in general if you share what you learned (for good or ill).

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

hahah yeah ill tell all, even if it does go bad. It might not be easy, but what is in reefing?? besides dreaming about reefing.. haha

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

update.
Picked up my 2.5 and all my bulkheads but i was not able to get the tank drilled in time. The spawn has begun. Trying to catch those shrimp is almost not worth it, i have been at it for almost 2 hours now. and no luck

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

so an update.
It took so long to get just one shrimp out that the stress caused her to molt leaving the undeveloped fry with the shell.
I will wait and bait the other shrimp and go from there. At least i setup the fry tank, just to tear it down again. I need to get that thing drilled.

 

[beelezebubba]

build something like this for next time

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/27802-shrimp-larvae-trap.html

much easier

also were you planning on using the 2.5 as a larvae tank? if so you might want to consider a 5-10 gal. the water in a 2.5 will get pretty bad pretty quickly, and if you were planning on drilling it and connecting it to your display, i'm not sure if that would work cuz they need pretty gentle flow and a basically constant supply of food.

i would get a cheap sponge filter and start seeding it in your sump so you can set up a 10 gal larvae tank later (or set up the tank now and hard cycle the filter, that would be faster) and start looking for a good phyto culture and have plenty of brine shrimp eggs on hand. can't help with the phyto but if you ever need brine shrimp eggs on short notice i have plenty and could spare some. good luck!

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

build something like this for next time

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/27802-shrimp-larvae-trap.html

much easier

also were you planning on using the 2.5 as a larvae tank? if so you might want to consider a 5-10 gal. the water in a 2.5 will get pretty bad pretty quickly, and if you were planning on drilling it and connecting it to your display, i'm not sure if that would work cuz they need pretty gentle flow and a basically constant supply of food.

i would get a cheap sponge filter and start seeding it in your sump so you can set up a 10 gal larvae tank later (or set up the tank now and hard cycle the filter, that would be faster) and start looking for a good phyto culture and have plenty of brine shrimp eggs on hand. can't help with the phyto but if you ever need brine shrimp eggs on short notice i have plenty and could spare some. good luck!

Ill take some pictures when i get home. My setup isnt too bad. being tied into my system the water is pretty stable. Im not going to get sal spikes from evap like i would isolating the fry tank. I have a sponge that has been sitting in my sump for about 2 weeks. I have the flow into the fry tank coming off a gate valve open about 1/4 turn. its just enough of a flow rate. About 2 air lines worth of flow at full siphon.. and its pretty dark under my dt. also the tank is above my fuge light so a vary small amount of light is by the tank.

I also think i have to much flow for a trap like that to work. they'd get blown right past the open pipe work. Nice idea tho.

 

[beelezebubba]

just turn most of your pumps off the night they're going to hatch and attach a small light near the opening of the trap. worth a shot if they prove as difficult to catch next time. and by then you will have been watching them long enough to tell when they're going to hatch

your setup sounds good, i'm just worried about being able to maintain high enough food density in the larvae tank. having lots of phyto in the water increases their chances quite a bit i believe, and that would be nearly impossible if it's plumbed into your main tank.

anyway just stuff to think about if the next try doesn't work out

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

the flow is almost non-existant from main tank. Its just there to keep the water at a constant. Its not really doing anything else. Its keeping the water clean and all levels perfect. no spikes in anything.
Most of the low flow is coming from the sponge filter.
I forgot to mention ive been hatching brine shrimp to feed them. I was trying to dial my technique. So i just fed the tank with every hatching.
Also i was culturing some phyto but i stopped to do space. Ill just have to buy alot.

 

[beelezebubba]

if you can get em past the larval stage i'll buy a couple when they settle out

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

haha thanks, i think this is going to be one of those takes a few trys experiments.
Yeah if i can grow some out eventually, They will be pretty cheap also. but im not thinking about that step yet. something like 90 days left to go.
This is a very rough drawing of what im talking about with the tank.

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

Alright something is going on here.
Last night she molted her shell.
Today she already has a new clutch of eggs.
Idk what is going on in this tank, Everything is breeding. Shrimp,Nass snails, my clowns have been getting a bit more frisky lately.
I wonder what is going to start next. i know, next week im going to come how to a 1 gallon mini bow cluster next to my 72. haha

 

[beelezebubba]

lol at that last part

pretty sure they mate every time they molt. also they're hermaphrodites

that set up looks good, i'm assuming you have a very fine screen over the drain to the sump. if you can do a very small trickle of incoming water (like 2.5 gal/day) that might work well as long as you can keep the food in there. 100% daily 'water changes' would be perfect

 

[BoArDwAxStYlE]

yeah i believe its around 100 percent turnover, give or take 25 percent.
Im actually planning on putting a super fine sponge in the 90. The flow rate is so low im not worried about it clogging and backing up.
At its thickest it will be only 1/4 inch thick.