My cleaner shrimp is a baby daddy!

[QueensU]

My pair of cleaner shrimp have been holding eggs for a week or so now. I've read on a couple other threads/forums that it is extremely hard to rear the baby shrimp into juveniles. Has anyone else ever tried? or had them breed in your tank? I suppose if nothing else, my tank will be filled with delicious shrimp snacks when they are released from the parents. I'll try to post some pics later today!

[Severum]

When you start seeing the eggs have little black eyes they will be ready to hatch any day. You should lurk around the tank and night with a flash light and you might be lucky enough to spot the shrimp releasing the fry. Its quite a sight.

Sadly, raising the young is next to impossible otherwise everyone with a marine tank would be selling them. 

[Sharbuckle]

thats really cool, maybe if they start doing this all the time you can try different methods on raising the fry

[salvini55]

its reasons like this that make me want to bulid a refugium. It would be a nice spot to raise babies.

[QueensU]

I just checked the tank, and it is full of little shrimp babies. They are like little white specs, I'm going to see if I can get a picture, but I have to let my camera battery charge for a few mins. The one shrimp still has eggs on it too, so maybe there will be more tomorrow! Right now though its like a buffet in my tank.

I read on another thread that someone was able to raise them to juveniles using phyto culture, and then rotifers, but they didnt survive.

[QueensU]

Hey guys, here are some pics I just snapped. They are kinda crappy pics, cuz I only charged my camera battery enough to snap a couple. The first one is the little shrimp floating around in the tank. Pretty much just white specs. The second is one of the adult shrimp still holding eggs. Not sure if she will let them go tonight too or not. The other shrimp (Its smaller, I think its the male) must have let the clutch of eggs go tonight.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[fishboy]

i have just one cleaner and, it does that all the time, but the fish just end up eating them all .

[gauthier613]

FYI When Mine Got Prego they ate my Coral might have been a different breed then yours though.

[QueensU]

Oh really? I havent seen mine touch any coral yet. What kind of coral were they eating?

[a1a2a3alex]

Oh cool.  How do you tell male and female shrimp apart?  I have a fire/blood shrimp and I want to get another one to have natural food for my corals/anemones to eat.  I don't think it's that hard to raise shrimps as I've seen it before with the Sea Monkeys packages and you just need an air pump.  Am I over simplifying it?

Just my 2 cents ...

[JD]

I watched, just by fluke, my cleaner "giving birth", quite a site.

It happend just before the tank went to moon lighting. The shrimp swam upside down near the surface and "sprayed" babies everywhere.

Unfortunately, 15 blue/green chromis were nearby waiting for their bedtime snack.

I was able to grab to 3 glass fulls of babies. I took them to my fuge and have never seen again.

[QueensU]

I watched, just by fluke, my cleaner "giving birth", quite a site.

It happend just before the tank went to moon lighting. The shrimp swam upside down near the surface and "sprayed" babies everywhere.

Unfortunately, 15 blue/green chromis were nearby waiting for their bedtime snack.

I was able to grab to 3 glass fulls of babies. I took them to my fuge and have never seen again.

I read some other threads on RC I think, that said they were near impossible to raise in an aquarium.

Oh cool.  How do you tell male and female shrimp apart?  I have a fire/blood shrimp and I want to get another one to have natural food for my corals/anemones to eat.  I don't think it's that hard to raise shrimps as I've seen it before with the Sea Monkeys packages and you just need an air pump.  Am I over simplifying it?

Just my 2 cents...

Alex, with the cleaner shrimp, it's not really possible to tell the difference between males and females. It's similar to clown fish though, where the male is the smaller of the two. When I got my second shrimp, I just assumed he was the male, as he was a lot smaller than the first one.

The sea monkeys you are referring to are actually just brine shrimp. (different species)

[FEATHERGIRL]

Ifound some today in my tank hiding in a rock I took it out and put it in a ten gallon and so far so good think I have sea hares as well i'll keep every one posted

[QueensU]

baby cleaner shrimp? thats cool, I havent seen any in my tank since they were released. You should get some phytoplex or something to feed them with.

[FEATHERGIRL]

thanks i'll try that what about cyclopeese sure I spelt that wrong (LOL)

[QueensU]

Cyclop eeze is Brine Shrimp. The baby cleaner shrimp are too small to eat this. I think they start feeding on phyto plankton, and eventually can be fed zooplankton (rotifers, etc.)