Breeding Harlequin Shrimps??

[arcanehacker]

Who here successfully breed harlequin shrimps before? .. Fuel?

just asking cos my Harlequin shrimp is carrying lots of eggs.. just want to know if its ever possible to breed them shrimps? Worth the trouble? Can I do it in beta box?

Live plankton enough for the initial stages?

then what later? BBS?

[lyz77]

If successful, must post here ok!

Best if you can distribute or sell to us!

[arcanehacker]

IF successful .. dun even know if they can be contained in the betta box...

or even hatched when I'm not home and being filtered off .

Its been carrying those eggs for quite some time now.. should be soon .

[FuEl]

When did your female moult? Can't remember how often mine released larvae but I think was something like every 3 weeks or so. Normally after lights out. The larvae are attracted to light so it is rather easy to gather them before you siphon them out. I will try again when I am back. Should be successful this time.

[arcanehacker]

When did your female moult? Can't remember how often mine released larvae but I think was something like every 3 weeks or so. Normally after lights out. The larvae are attracted to light so it is rather easy to gather them before you siphon them out. I will try again when I am back. Should be successful this time. 

moult? What has it gotta do with hatching eggs? .. hey.. must share what you do yah..

BTW would newly hatched BS be small enough for them? Or live pythoplankton?

[tineng]

When did your female moult? Can't remember how often mine released larvae but I think was something like every 3 weeks or so. Normally after lights out. The larvae are attracted to light so it is rather easy to gather them before you siphon them out. I will try again when I am back. Should be successful this time.

yeah....when you coming back....your babies are waiting for you........

Now i notice that they have been spawning quite regularly in my tank, but becuase i don't have the capabilitiy to raise them, they one end up as fish food for me fishes.....

[FuEl]

moult? What has it gotta do with hatching eggs? .. hey.. must share what you do yah..

BTW would newly hatched BS be small enough for them? Or live pythoplankton?

Most crustaceans I know of can only deposit eggs on their pleopods (commonly called swimmerets) after they moult. Although there is one exceptional reef lobster in my lab which does'nt need to do this.

Contrary to many online sources, I find bbs too big. I doubt the larvae are even capable of capturing them. Probably you need rotifers to start them off. Have'nt heard of them ingesting Phyto but live phyto could'nt hurt. Their larval duration is above 5 weeks. Have heard that they have very stringent water quality requirements. Best if you can have undetectable nitrates.

Thanks for taking awesome care of the adult pair tineng. If could just get the larvae from you would be great. Would'nt want to stress the adults by moving them to and fro. Then again will see if I am able to take them back. Depends on my tank condition when I return.

[arcanehacker]

hmm .. hope I'm around during its hatching to get them out.. I did not even segregate that female.. dun want to stress it. Its already quite cautious when the other female is near ..

blah.. rotifers? .. can buy off the shelf right?

[FuEl]

You can light a candle or build a small light bulb at the bottom corner of your tank away from the overflow. Keep this light source on at night. Once larvae hatch most will gather there instead of going down your overflow.

You won't have enough rotifers to sustain the larvae if you buy them off the shelf (unless you only want to try raising like eg. 20-30 larvae out of the few thousand larvae). If you want to raise the whole clutch, 2-3 coralife buckets of dense rotifer culture is probably the minimum you need to have. You also need the 53 micron Nitex mesh to separate the rotifers from the culture water (the water will probably kill the larvae). Early this year I asked around but apparently there is no shop in Sg selling them due to the low demand. But I will be getting some soon.

[Melvyn Tan]

Whats the life span of the harlequin shrimp may i ask?

[FuEl]

Whats the life span of the harlequin shrimp may i ask?

Hi Melvyn, have not come across any information on this but considering their larval duration and the time for them to reach maximum size they should have a lifespan of at least 2-3 years. The large wild-caught pairs you find around should already be at least 2-3 years of age. Monitor how long they survive from there and you'll end up with a good estimate.

[arcanehacker]

Hi Melvyn, have not come across any information on this but considering their larval duration and the time for them to reach maximum size they should have a lifespan of at least 2-3 years. The large wild-caught pairs you find around should already be at least 2-3 years of age. Monitor how long they survive from there and you'll end up with a good estimate.

Yeah I believe shrimps in general have around that lifespan.. Do not expect to keep any marine shrimps for long.. ok lets not talk about Tiger prawns or lobsters. .

So its not whether our $10 - $25 is worth the money.

And I wonder why people go for large (almost max sized) shrimps, eg large harlequins for a much higher price when its gonna last only few months to a year?

[Melvyn Tan]

Ok thank you, not too good to keep then...

[ping]

starfish eater, eee....