raising cleaner shrimp larvae?

[aulepe]

tonight, er last night, I turned on the lights to fish my solar fairy wrasse out of the overflow (where he had jumped a couple of hours earlier), and what do i see but hundreds of shrimp larvae clustered in a corner with mother shrimp perched on a nearby rock.
I gathered a number of them, probably 50-100 and put them in my QT which is currently empty and separate bowl in my sump (to keep things at the same temp. Now what? Has anyone had any success in raising cleaner shrimp? What can you feed them at such a small stage?

[greenbean36191]

There's only a handful of people who have had very limited success with rearing cleaners to adulthood. It takes several months to do so too, 6 to 8 IIRC. The larvae are very fragile, to the point that even air bubbles or bumping into the sides of the tank can cause broken appendages. The diet also needs a lot of work since currently it seems to lead to a high rate of fatal deformities. Basically, it's possible, but the methods to do it haven't been established and even in the best case you get 1-2 survivors after 6 months of work.

["Umm, fish?"]

What 'Bean said. If you do think you'd like to attempt it, you might check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Ornamental-Shrimp-Aquaculture-Conservation/dp/1405170867/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225132585&sr=8-1

It's good and has interesting hints, but it doesn't have a magic procedure for cleaners. It does show photos of the European aquaculture place that is supposed to be raising them for sale, so you might get some hints there.

[cmlloveless]

Unless you have the time and money I would just put em' back in the main tank! They are great food supliment for coral, other inverts and fish!

[cmlloveless]

The cost and time usually does not justify the very few that might make it!

[aulepe]

thanks for the replies, i got the idea it wasn't too easy to raise shrimp larvae when i couldn't find any "how to" posts or websites. i guess i'll give it a try since they're already in my QT tank, but keep the expectations low. if i get >3 survivors, then i'm writing the next how to book. :D