Welcome to shrimpers Peter and FuEl to this forum! :wavehand
You both have sure some useful experiences to share!
FuEl,are you from Singapore and moved to Oz?
Andy,great you joined us here too!
Wow,this thread is warming up!
Some comments on issues discussed here:
Well kept L.amb.at 27º molt every 3 days.Mine reach Z7 at 18 days.It means that up to this stage they didn´t "mark time",every molt brought a new stage.
The "must have"reference for those interested in L.amb.larval development is Mark Wunsch thesis paper of 1996.It has detailed anatomical drawings of Z1 to Z7 and of more advanced zoea he couldn´t stage for lack of enough material.
Staging is clear and easy up to Z7.After that changes are gradual and stages are more difficult to define.Pleopods grow and become covered with setae and the flagellum of A2 (antenna)grows until it matches those of A1.
That 42 days time of Waikiki could perhaps be wrong.K.Brittain who actually worked with them told me that S.Kraul could be confused there,larval length was longer than that.
Regarding nutrition,I have tried different things and combinations and have yet to find something better than bbs.It is true and easy to see though,that young zoea filter feed on phytoplankton.