Zakary2003
Active Member
I know it isn't a fish, but I figured since this forum is dedicated to breeders I might get some answers, especially since a lot of fish have fragile larvae forms too.
The last few days I noticed my 3 sexy shrimp have been really active, especially my two larger ones. They were climbing to the top of the tank every night and exploring when they usually just stick to hosting the rock flower anemones in the sand bed. Last night around 2am I noticed a bunch of larvae swimming around the tank and the two larger shrimps weren't so large anymore. I didn't bother catching them. I wasn't prepared to do anything with them because I didn't even realize they had eggs and was told all three had already morphed into females when I purchased them.
I missed my chance this time around, but I'd like to try to capture and raise some of the larvae next time they spawn.
I've watched a few videos on raising the larvae, but all of the setups on YouTube require a seperate tank and daily water changes. Because I am a college student living on campus in a dorm room, I don't have much space for a seperate tank and I am not confident in my ability to do daily water changes given my class schedule.
Has anyone successfully raised sexy shrimp inside the tank before, like in a breeder box?
I'm thinking that if I took an acrylic guppy breeding box, dropped an airstone in, and covered all the ventilation with fine mesh, I might be able to raise the shrimp inside my main tank. Is this a bad idea? My thought process is that the ammonia and other waste products might diffuse through the mesh and get taken care of by the cycled outside tank so water changes would be less necessary, and that even if ammonia does build up that I could easily just scoop some water out of the box and let new water of the same chemistry and temperature seep in from the outside tank. Even if it is a bad idea, is there any reason why I shouldn't try it anyway? This batch of larvae just became fish and coral food unfortunately (my candycane coral and micromussa in particular look quite plump today), so I don't feel like I'd be losing much if my idea fails.
Also, what does everyone feed sexy shrimp fry? All of the YouTube videos fed them freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, and while I'm willing to do that I'd rather something more easily stored like phyto or pod cultures. Are those an option?
I've never had anything desirable breed in one of my saltwater setups before! This is so exciting!
If my in tank idea doesn't work, I might just have to get a small dedicated larvae raising tank. This is just too cool for me to watch the babies become fish food every few months.
The last few days I noticed my 3 sexy shrimp have been really active, especially my two larger ones. They were climbing to the top of the tank every night and exploring when they usually just stick to hosting the rock flower anemones in the sand bed. Last night around 2am I noticed a bunch of larvae swimming around the tank and the two larger shrimps weren't so large anymore. I didn't bother catching them. I wasn't prepared to do anything with them because I didn't even realize they had eggs and was told all three had already morphed into females when I purchased them.
I missed my chance this time around, but I'd like to try to capture and raise some of the larvae next time they spawn.
I've watched a few videos on raising the larvae, but all of the setups on YouTube require a seperate tank and daily water changes. Because I am a college student living on campus in a dorm room, I don't have much space for a seperate tank and I am not confident in my ability to do daily water changes given my class schedule.
Has anyone successfully raised sexy shrimp inside the tank before, like in a breeder box?
I'm thinking that if I took an acrylic guppy breeding box, dropped an airstone in, and covered all the ventilation with fine mesh, I might be able to raise the shrimp inside my main tank. Is this a bad idea? My thought process is that the ammonia and other waste products might diffuse through the mesh and get taken care of by the cycled outside tank so water changes would be less necessary, and that even if ammonia does build up that I could easily just scoop some water out of the box and let new water of the same chemistry and temperature seep in from the outside tank. Even if it is a bad idea, is there any reason why I shouldn't try it anyway? This batch of larvae just became fish and coral food unfortunately (my candycane coral and micromussa in particular look quite plump today), so I don't feel like I'd be losing much if my idea fails.
Also, what does everyone feed sexy shrimp fry? All of the YouTube videos fed them freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, and while I'm willing to do that I'd rather something more easily stored like phyto or pod cultures. Are those an option?
I've never had anything desirable breed in one of my saltwater setups before! This is so exciting!
If my in tank idea doesn't work, I might just have to get a small dedicated larvae raising tank. This is just too cool for me to watch the babies become fish food every few months.
