Random breeding, opinions please

[Zante]

Ok, this will need some explanation :p

I'm planning to breed sexy shrimps. I have read up, asked questions and so on, and now I'm ready to actually try.

That will mean that I'll have phyto and rotifer cultures going. Yes, I know they can eat newly hatched brine shrimp, but I'd rather give them the variety of also having rotifers, and the rotifers are going to be dosed in the main tank too.

Yes, the main tank.. it will have the usual assortment of fairly common fish: clowns, gobies, anthias, cardinals, wrasse, dwarf angels, a couple of tangs... nothing unusual... not forgetting the CUC, of course. The full tank will be about 300 gallons.
This is where "random breeding" comes in: what if I placed the larval trap as a permanent feature of the main tank (when it's not on the sexy shrimp tank) and harvest and try to raise whatever gets caught? I know it's an odd idea, but the alternative would be to have these larvae eaten.

I realise it'll be demersal spawners, as pelagic spawners' eggs will be gobbled up by the overflow, but... what if the larval trap was to be placed in the sump?

It's more of a "let's see what happens" than an attempt at proper breeding, although if I do catch some larvae I will make a proper attempt to raise them.

So... thoughts?

[Moort82]

Interesting idea but I don't think you would have a great deal of success with it unfortunately. Demersal larvae like clowns are not strong swimmers, they just head to the light and float around, so I doubt many would swim in the current to get into your larval trap (assuming it's like a vossen trap which work better with no to low flow).
I have seen people who built larval traps that slotted into their overflows and these worked ok. Perhaps this might wield you better results and save the larvae from a dangerous ride.

I commend your ambition but for success you will need a massive array of live foods as everything will likely specialise on something slightly different, therefore making densities harder to achieve, and you'd need to broadcast feed as you wouldn't know which species you are trying to raise at anyone time.

[Zante]

Agreed, success is unlikely, but as I said, it's more of a "let's see what happens" rather than a proper breeding attempt. It'd be also interesting to see if larvae of mixed species eat each other and if I manage to raise any which those may be.