Peppermint Shrimp Spawn (Lysmata boggessi)

what do you suggest?

 

I am doing some studies on shrimp diet,....one thing that needs to be considered is that although shrimp carry eggs, they are live bearers and release larvae. The paper that I am currently studying is that dietary needs in ornamentals are not generic but rather species specific.

 

I never fed my peppermints before they started carrying eggs. Mysis works, but oyster/fish roe is an excellent broodstock food. I would check out Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

 

So now we are getting close to mama shrimp's expected due date of June 14th, in preparation I moved her from the broodstock tank to the nursery. The eggs look quite engorged but are still an olive green colour, over the next few days they'll start changing colour and the day of "delivery" (or a day before) the eyes spots of the larvae will begin to show. Mama is quite comfortable in the nursery and on occasion cleans the eggs with her rear legs.

This time I've added four very small Nassarius snails to the nursery to help with any uneated food. For this batch I'm going to stay with feeding the larvae shaved FW cyclops. In a batch or two I may moved over to NHBBS but for now I want to see if there is another food source that is easier (or more convenient) for home hobbyists to use.

 

Can you get pics of your fry collector? Also, aren't peppermint Lystmata wudermanni complex?

 

I don't use a larvae collector. I just move mama into the nursery, let her spawn and move her back again. Why move the larvae if you don't have to?

There are two main species that are sold as Peppermint Shrimps, L. wudermanni and L. bogessi. Both look similiar except for the pattern of stripes and the colour on the tail, one is from deeper water than the other.

 

Today was the expected due date for the larvae. No larvae after 14 days, but mama's eggs are starting to look a green/grey colour so my guess is we are still about 2-3 days off, which will bring this batch of eggs to 16-17 days.

Now while I was feeding them tonight, the other one is carrying eggs too! This is a small clutch, compared to the other one. Not sure when this happened, perhaps at the same time...not really sure, I'll have to keep close attention to the egg colour on the second one and move it to the nursery just before the hatch. With any luck I should have two spawns within a few days of each other.

......stay tuned!

 

Here are two pics of mama with the eggs.

 

It's day 20 and both are still holding the eggs.....

 

This is day 21...on one of the PS the eggs are completely silver and full of eye spots...so I am expecting one batch of larvae after lights out tonight...the other PS is still holding but the eggs are starting to look green/grey so the second batch should follow in a few more days...