BC2010 - Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata boggessi) - lrood

[lrood]

Thought I would get into the challenge with the peppermint shrimp when I saw some at my lfs last week. They were listed as L. wurdemanni, but I would appreciate it if anyone can confirm the species. I brought home 3 and placed them in a 12 gallon tank that is destined to become a refugium. The body length of the largest is approximately 2 inches. ***you have Lysmata boggessi***




I edited your scientific name in your title, Andy

[lrood]

None with any eggs yet. I did find a molt in the tank. They seem active and certainly have healthy appetites!

[lrood]

Thanks for the update Andy. I have noticed the tail stripe pattern seems different on them. I'll try to get a good picture of them together for comparison.

[lrood]

The trio continue to do well. I have 2 holding eggs. Getting ready to go on vacation so I won't attempt to collect any of these larvae (besides the fact that I still have to build a snagger!). The closer of the pics is more blurred as the shrimp was starting to swim up the front glass at feeding time. Hopefully I can be raising some larvae within a month.

["Umm, fish?"]

Ken: How's this going for you? Were you ever able to snag any larvae?

[lrood]

Well, about a year late (and after a few general disasters in the house that wiped out way too much livestock), I have decided to try again. Just this morning I harvested the first bunch of larvae. Below is a terrible pic, but it's the best I can do with my lousy camera! We'll see how they do. The tiny blurred streaks are the nhbbs, and the big blurry things are the larvae Maybe I should ask for a better camera for my next birthday (instead of aquarium stuff)!

[lrood]

Day 6 & things looking good - still seem to have tons & very active.

[lrood]

Day 18 - still too many to count in the kriesel. The larvae are quite large now - bodies 5-6 mm not including the spear legs. They still get brine shrimp daily & take crumbled flake well too. I'm trying to grow some brine shrimp to juveniles & small adults (seems to be a slow process!). Going to move them to a 10g hopefuly within the next week.

[lrood]

At day 25, still with a large number (>100 at least). Feeding crushed flake & larger brine shrimp (large juveniles & adults). I'm not certain what stage they are at, and have attached another fairly lousy picture. If anyone can tell what developmental stage they are at, let me know. Some seem to have distinctly red-banded antennae.

[lrood]

Found my first settled larvae (now a 1cm shrimp). Went to feed the tank & this little guy had crawled up on the front glass to announce his presence! I didn't notice any others, but didn't look that hard either. Today is day 35 since they all hatched. I actually wasn't expecting any settlement for about another week. No complaints though!

[lrood]

I was able to count at least 20 settled today (day 40). Still have a bunch in late larval stages swimming around. I have to go out of town for a few days later this week - hope they can tolerate just flake food for that long!

[tank1980]

Very nice! Good job, what is your set up for raising them?

[lrood]

They are all in a 10 gal growout tank now - a few pieces of live rock, airstone. Feeding mostly crushed flake. I raised the larvae in a kriesel (simple 2 gallon fishbowl with low-flow airline) until the first one settled. I had actually planned to move them to the 10 gal sooner than that, but that's how it worked out. I liked the kriesel setup - made it easy to clean, & kept the food circulating well. I plan to use this technique with future larvae (fish & inverts).