Exciting news with shrimp larvae

[AliciaP]

I'm trying not to get my hopes up here... BUT - I have to peppermint shrimp, and they continue to carry and release eggs. I have thought about rearing them and giving them to my LFS for store credit but haven't bothered, being so busy. Since it's extra food for the fish in the tank, it's fine with me that they stay in the tank.

Here's what I'm excited about - I was staring into my tank today and I caught a glimpse of a strange creature floating by. Looks small like a pod of some sort, but is not a pod that I've ever seen before in my tank. After looking closer, I've decided it's shrimp larvae. Cool right? Then it was gobbled up by a chromis lol. I kept looking around, and found others. They are shrimp for sure. Long tail, the front looks fluffy, I'm assuming it's the legs it will have... and then a fish sees it - gone. I was able to find 3 distinct sizes, and one (the largest and didn't get eaten on my watch) was empty. It was large enough that I could see the break where I could tell it was the molted skeleton. Pretty awesome. There were teeny tiny ones, and some that were a bit bigger, then there was the larger one. Only the larger one didn't get eaten.

Seems like the fish knew which ones where whole shrimp and which was just a shell. I haven't done anything special in my tank to try and keep them alive, so I'm really excited to see what I consider proof that they might be growing up on their own!!!

Sorry I'm long winded haha! But thanks for reading.

[SushiGirl]

They take specialized tanks, feeding & other conditions not found in regular tanks and usually don't make it past the final molting stage. Good luck.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/nftt/
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/4/aafeature

[AliciaP]

I read those pages a little while back when I first saw them carrying eggs. I'm doubtful that they will make it, but they are able to eat something in the tank since it looks like 3 different stages. I'm not in anyway ready to rear them ,I'm jsut watching the parents and getting used to when they release and what they look like before the night of.

[jrp1588]

You sure they aren't just mysis? I see them in my tank all the time.

[AliciaP]

Could be I guess. Where would mysis come from though?

[jrp1588]

Liverock most likely. Could also come in macro algaes if you have them.

[AliciaP]

I have those, but neither is new. Haven't had new LR in 2 years and Caulepra and Chaeto are 6-8 months old in the tank. Possible, but not likely?

[jrp1588]

I seem to get occasional mysis blooms. I won't see them for months, then they'll be all over, usually at night

[cloak]

Mysid shrimp. ;)

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-02/rs/index.php

[AliciaP]

I think it probably is mysis. That leaves a few questions.

Can they swim? (What I have doesn't seem to move, though they could be dead and/or I could possibly not be seeing things move that makes them move along in the water)

Are they supposed to be bent like a C? (frozen mysis I have fed my tank were and these are not)

Coloration? (Mine are clear like the frozen mysis I have fed)

[jrp1588]

Bent like a C eh? Kinda like this.
http://coralfoods.com/store/images/categories/Amphipod1.jpg
that's an amphipod. They are very common. They don't swim, they crawl around on the rock and sand. Again, these come in on rock and macro

[AliciaP]

Not those, though they cover my rocks, especially at night.

[AliciaP]

This is what I meant by bent. It's more like a J than a C, but what I have in the tank isn't bent. I was wondering if mysis what always bent like in these photos. http://people.cst.cmich.edu/mcnau1as/zooplankton%20web/Mysis/Mysis.html