Cleaner shrimp is prego`s

I was looking in my tank tonight and noticed one of my cleaner shrimp is covered with eggs.. Would be fun to try and see if i could raise any to adult /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif

 

Impossible unfortunately. At least your tank will have a nice snack when they hatch.

 

That sucks.. Hey X why doesn't it work. I've heard a bunch of reasons. Filtration in the tank. Skimmers.

 

Cleaner shrimp have a larvae stage of almost six months where they undergo about 30 or more molts.

Each molt, they add a longer leg. At this stage they are free floating in the water, not walking on the bottom like a shrimp. These legs are long and delicate, almost looking like a weird robot or something. Being that delicate, and free floating, care needs to be taken that they dont get thrown into the sides of the tank or rocks.

They also need to eat about every 3-4 hours, this is not only time consuming, but water quality quickly becomes an issue.

I guess I shouldn't say it was impossible, 2-3 people in the world have done it. But it was in labs with people dedicated to doing nothing else but raising & studying the process.

Peppermint shrimps have a larvae stage of about two months. They can be done by a hobbyist, but will still require a ton of work & dedication.

 

So are all the ones we see for sale wild caught?

 

I tryed to catch a pic but she wouldn't stay out with the lights up.. She is loaded down with them more so than other pic's I've seen. Sure wish there was someway to grow them out.

 

Just think of them as super high nutritious food for your reef. Everything from fish to your corals will benefit. Nice thing is, she will start carrying every two weeks.

 

I'd love to see a picture

 

It's difficult, but mot impossible. MBI has a lot of good information.

http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?&m=64461&high=Lysmata+amboinensis&mpage=1

 

Not all shrimp are all wild caught. Peppermints are fairly easy to get tank raised.