Peppermint Shrimp Spawn (Lysmata boggessi)

No more than two hours after lights out my PS released the clutch and now I have several hundred larvae in the nursery! Upon observing them for the last two hours I have come to believe that the kreisel system is not the best method for rearing Lysmata and attempts to keep them suspended in the water column are unnatural and probably account for the low success rates in breeding this species. Let me explain my observations, the larvae are all attaching themselves to the sides of the nursery and arranging themselves in the same position, head down, abdomens gently beating in the water column. The nursery has been established for about two months and has plenty of diatoms and a nice brown film algae along the sides of the tank. Upon first glance I thought that perhaps they were getting caught in the film algae until I noticed that they are actually reaching out and taking a hold of the sides. I'm ruling out the possiblity that they are accidentally getting stuck because they have all taken on the same position (heads down abdomens gently beating in the water column), if they were getting stuck they would be every direction including being stuck on their backs and they are not. Then every once in a while they will release themselves move along in the current and then reattach themselves. They appear to be feeding off the film algae in the nursery.
The set-up that I am using is a slightly modified version of the same breeding system that I discuss in my book "Breeding Berghia Nudibranches the best kept secret".

What is even more interesting is if I turn the lights out they all release themselves and float around in the water column. If I turn the lights on again and wait for about a half an hour or so thay all begin to re-attach themselves to the sides of the nursery again.

 

Very interesting. Welcome to 3Reef!

 

Interesting. Im hoping to get some breeding myself. Any pointers for a newbie breeder?

 

yes...do as much research as you can!

 

Quick update: this is now day 3...last night the larvae were swimming in erratic circles which leads me to believe that they went through some type of molting process because today they are all swimming normally again......but I am still at bench mark zoea 2. Tomorrow they should go through another major molt (zoea3) and develop tensile "fins". I have also noticed them still eating "meaty" food heartily and also grazing on the film algae on the sides of the nursery. I watched one very closely and it actually left a little "plow" mark in the algae about a 1/4 of an inch long as it gobbled away.

Since my "female" is holding a clutch again I think that I am going to concentrate on "her" diet and focus on foods with a very high DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid is an omega-3 fatty acid) rather than EPA. DHA is important in the development of the central nervous system. Drawing on my experience breeding seahorses I learned that most marine organisms have the ability to convert DHA into the necessary EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) that they need but they cannot convert EPA into the necessary DHA that they need in development as a result you will see premature deaths in larvae or fry that are suffering from a DHA deficiency. So let's start right at the source and "pump mama" up with a high DHA diet while she is carrying the eggs.

 

Very interesting, thank you for the information.

Looking forward to your progress.

 

What Zoea are you at. I breed Ambyoensis. Welcome to 3reef!
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MBI - Marine Breeding Initiative

 

tomorrow will be at Z3

 

thanks
tomorrow will be at Z3

 

thanks.

So this afternoon stopped by the fresh fish counter at the local grocery store and picked up some ingredients for "mama's" diet:



1- small fresh squid $1.39

2- oysters on sale for 0.99 ea $1.98

1- large scallop $3.00

1- small piece of marlin steak $1.64 (I talked nice to the girl on the counter and told her what I was doing...she giggled and cut me a corner off the steak, I think I would have preferred some fresh mackerel but they were fresh out...anyway the marlin is a more coarse meat and that is what I was looking for.

1- bag of dried red seaweed $3.99



(and of course a box of medium sized ziplock top freezer bags and a handful of hot peperroni sticks to eat on the way home )



Once home, out came the blender and in went the squid, scallop, oysters, marlin and a small chunk of red seaweed (just enough to turn the whole batch a purple/grey colour once blended). Hit the blender button and let it blend away until it looked and smelt like a stinky thick milkshake. From there it was a matter of spooning it into the freezer bag, squeezing the air out and letting it lie flat in the freezer until fully frozen. Then I can break off a chunk or shave off slices for the Peppermints (mamas and pappas) and figure I have enough for about 3 months maybe. (The larvae I am going to keep on shaved FW cyclops...store bought BTW)



I was so pleased with my gourmet, I put a bit on the end of my finger and introduced it to the broodstock....man, they almost lept out of the tank at it,....fought over it and then each went its way with a nice little glob of seafood goo! Nothing better than when you've spent all day in the kitchen and the guests love the meal! Didn't hear a burp tho.



So today I measured the flow through on the nursery....3 gallons an hour... this gives me approximately a tank turnover of filtered water from the sump every two hours. (In other words it's a constant 100% water change in the nursery every two hours and its easier than maintaining a reef tank....that's for sure..life is good!)



Also did a 5-gallon water change on the system....that took less time than a cup of tea.



So all in all the system is working perfectly for Peppermints and their larvae,...next week I'm going to introduce a few snails into the nursery to help eat left over food....haven't decided which yet but I'm certain that I can co-breed snails along with the Peppermints (well we'll see) if not I'll set up another breeding chamber and toss them in that (the system is totally modular and I can pretty well add or subtract breeding chambers and broodstock tank set-ups in a few minutes).