Documented feeding of cleaner shrimp larvae.

[FuEl]

Keep up the good work spawner! Would love to see more literature available regarding L. amboinensis. Current information is so limited.

Yes Luis, I'm residing in Singapore but just doing some postgrad studies in Oz. I also noticed that up to Z7 each larval stage lasted between 2.5-3 days (at 27-28 degrees celcius). Mark-time molting occurs after this period. I can't really identify any stages beyond Z8 as I do not have access to electromicroscopy as yet..only a basic lab microscope.

Phytoplankton like T.chuii seems to be an important part of the diet from Z1 to Z2. Beyond that the nutritional role might not be that great. One food item I find the larvae take with relish are crab eggs plucked fresh from the gravid crab.

[The Cardinal]

Well thanks for all the advise, unfortunately my last shrimp died after 54 days. I hope I will do better next time with more knowledge in my back.

Please keep posting your successes and failures when trying to breed this tricky customer. And don´t give up !

[m.rogers]

There is a lfs here in MD. and the owner was telling me that he has breed cleaner shrimp and sold they when he first told me this i thought he was talking $hit (i thought that they had never been breed, i still have alot to learn) but after reading all the stuff that you have all done my thoughts have changed. His email is seasaveemail@msn.com and his site is seasave.net

mike

[spawner]

Well he is not selling tank raised cleaners for 14 bucks.

[Kathy55g]

I'll bet he raised peppermints and not cleaners....

[chlupl]

just because he has raised and sold doesn't mean he still does, can do on a regular basis, or even can do at all. i would have no idea if he is talking $hit or not, but he may have done it and either decided it was too much of a PITA (he he... I just noticed that PITA is a pain in the a$$, lol), or he couldn't reproduce his efforts.

FWIW,
Steven

[malachai]

I am currently trying to raise our coral banded shrimp lavae stenopus hispidus (110 days and counting). Keep postin it will help us all. Good Luck

[Luis A M]

Malachai,I´m impressed
My record with them is only 40 days
Could you tell us more?Good luck with them!

[oama]

Originally posted by kmleah
I'll bet he raised peppermints and not cleaners....

But, Peppermint's are Cleaners. They use to give me the best manicures, I had the cleanest nails in the lab!

[Luis A M]

Originally posted by oama
But, Peppermint's are Cleaners. They use to give me the best manicures, I had the cleanest nails in the lab!

Well,yes,somehow
Peppers are facultative cleaners,some like L.californica do clean morays and big fishes in caves,others clean fish only occasionally,while others never do.Others are tube sponge dwellers like some neon gobies.
For practical purposes the term "cleaner"should be reserved for the obligate cleaners,L.ambinensis,L.debelius and their sibling species.They make their life in their cleaning stations which they advertice with their white antennae.Cleaners are closely related ( I disagree with Andy in this ) as evidenced by their long larval time and their developing of paddles in three pairs of pereiopods (legs) 3º,4º and 5º.All other Lysmata,the peppermints,have shorter larval time and paddles only in the 5th pair.

[oama]

Luis, Old Friend,
Not sure if you will get the referance, but you sound like "Mr. Wizard".
Or at least the mailman from Cheers.
My post was in part a jest.
But....You have to call a Spade a Spade.
Peppermints DO clean. If one wants to clarify definitions, then I would use the term "Obligate Cleaners" for other species such as the Scarlets. Stating that Peppermints are "not really cleaners" is not true. I have no problem with a three tiered profile: non-cleaners, cleaners and obligate cleaners.

But then again, are the Obligates truly Obligate? So they would die off if they had no fish to clean? Hmmm.

Granted, the instars have a unique difference from other species. Maybe that should be the criteria for differentiating the groups.

[Luis A M]

Originally posted by oama
Luis, Old Friend,
Not sure if you will get the referance, but you sound like "Mr. Wizard".
Or at least the mailman from Cheers.

I don´t get the reference cause I don´t have a cue about who Mr.Wizard,Cheers (or the mailman)are.See where I live
Anyway,is it good or bad?
As far as "cleaners and peppermints"I find they are two natural groups for the reasons exposed.
But I think it was Andy who began to call "peppermints"to all Lysmata other than the "cleaners".So he could jump in and defend his creature

[FuEl]

Well done malachai! Your banded coral shrimp larvae should be settling soon. I've tried Stenopus cyanoscelis larvae to 30 days + but they grew slowly and all died eventually. Possibly because I fed them solely Artemia nauplii. If I'm not wrong Stenopus larvae need rotifers for faster initial development?

[spawner]

Luis,

Hope you are enjoying the warm weather, I am in PA for Christmas. Burr.....

Yes Doug, Bill as SMS FP station has a nice touch tank with some peppermints in there just for that, cleaning people's fingers. I finally saw my first L. wurdemanni on a moray eel last summer. The moray wasn't too happy with me when I took the shrimp off his mouth.

Luis, also forgets that I am setting on some data here when I tell people that cleaners are closer related to the old "Hippolysmata" than the "Lysmata" But they are. They are an off branch of the Hippolysmata peppermints. I hope to be able to share this soon, if Curt (Doug did I tell you he got married?) would get off his rump and finish the genetics. I am shipping him a fresh set of tissue out next week for a final fun and then its out to the reviewers. Also the larval development is very different between the Lysmata and Hippolysmata groups.

Luis is more or less correct saying that their are two groups, his would be an ecological grouping, cleaners: pair bonded low density fish experts, peppermints, group living, eat anything more or less. My placement is based on phylogentics. I have a peppermint that sits in the ecological group of the cleaners, so its a bit of a mess. It's more of an ecologically forced low density species an a derived species.

[The Cardinal]

I thought it was time to bring this thread back to the surface after more than eight months. Has anyone more information on breeding Cleaner shrimps at this point?

Spawner: how is your research going?

Thanks

Peter