Breeding Journal, Species: Lysmata boggessi

General
Species:  Lysmata boggessi (Peppermint shrimp)
Social Structure:  2 individuals
Size of Individuals:  4cm, and 3 cm
Age of Individuals: unknown 
Date added to Tank:  purchased 2/25/2013

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  12 gallon
Substrate Details:  aragonite
Filtration Details:  small powerhead, and Red Sea Prism skimmer
Water Changes:  2 gallons monthly
Water Temperature:  79 degrees F
Lighting:  19 watt spiral CFL, 5000K
Lighting Cycle:  on 0900-2100
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Banggai cardinal pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  frozen mysis and brine shrimp, Prime Reef flake
Feeding Schedule:  once daily

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  3/8/2103
Spawn Time of Day:  during night, not witnessed
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  every couple of weeks (they always seem to have new eggs!)
Courtship Details:  none
Egg Size:  0.5-1mm?
Egg Color:  pale yellow brown
Egg Count:  unknown

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  3/20/13 (current batch being raised hatched 7/17/13)
Hatch Time of Day:  0600
# Days after Spawn:  13
Larvae Description:  Tiny crustacean, free swimming with current, mostly clear, approx 3mm in length


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  79 degrees F
Size of Larval Tank:  2 gallons glass fishbowl as kreisel
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  none except rigid airline bubbler to circulate water in the kreisel
Lighting:  indirect 19 watt spiral cfl bulb
Lighting Cycle:  12 hours on & off
Water Changes:  50% with ASW every other day, bottom vacuumed at least every other day

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Mostly nhbbs first couple of weeks, occassionally some rotifers thrown in. Enriched live juvenile brine shrimp (4-7 day old) after first 2 weeks, and flake added in 4th week.
Feeding Schedule:  daily with brine shrimp. Once giving flake, I fed twice daily, and fed live brine every other day

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  8/16/13
Days after Hatch:  31
Date of Settlement End:  Approx 8/26/13, after about 10 days no more larvae were seen
Description of Fry:  7-8mm tiny shrimp

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  79degrees F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  9 gallon Rubbermaid tub (doubles as frag tank)
Substrate Details:  Bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  Multiple small coral frags on eggcrate
Filtration Details:  Plumbed to main sump by Maxijet 1200, sump houses all filtration for reef tank
Lighting:  Led, 12000K 20 watts
Lighting Cycle:  On 1000, off 2200
Water Changes:  25% monthly on whole system
Size at Transfer:  1.5-2.5cm
Age at Transfer:  Approx 6 weeks post hatch

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  Finely diced mysis that the banggai juvies don't eat, and ocean nutrition prime reef flake
Feeding Schedule:  Once daily, and they graze on the bottom 24/7

Additional Information
(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 



You will be required to provide photographic evidence in this thread of each event submitted for the MBI Program.
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Best pic I could get at this time of the shrimp carrying eggs. 

A (rough) pic showing the pair.

Hatching was in progress at 0600 when I checked tank before leaving for work today.  I tried to get some video of the adult releasing the larvae, but couldn't maneuver the flashlight, camera, and keep the shrimp in one place long enough.  I scooped out some of the larvae, into the kreisel, and took a couple of pics (I'll post later this afternoon).  I won't be raising this batch as I'm off to Germany in 10 days. 

Here is a pic of some of the day old larvae, and a short video from my iphone.

Ya know, these kind of photos aren't easy to capture - bravo!

My shrimp hatched a batch this morning, 13 days from spawn to hatch.  The adult was placed in the kriesel day before yesterday, and hatched early this morning.  I'm not certain how many, but appears easily over 200.  I put the adult back in the broodstock tank with the other adult, and added nhbbs to the kriesel.  Here's a short video (hope it works).
 

Here's a pic of 2 day post hatch larvae at 60x magnification.

Larvae seem to be doing good so far. 50% change with ASW from main tank yesterday, adding nhbbs twice daily, and occassionally a few rotifers (since I have to harvest them anyway and have no other needs for them at this time). I added a bit of nannochloropsis to feed any bbs that make it that long.

A short video of my larvae in the kriesel - tough to get good shots of them in a still pic as they are fairly active (and I don't have a good camera for macro!).  The spear legs are readily visible.  They are 14 days post-hatch.  Eating lots of bbs.  I will be giving small adult bs starting next week, as well as crushed flake.  I think there is somewhere between 75-100 in the kriesel.  Looking for settlement in 2-3 more weeks!
 

Here's a shot (with my iPhone) of one of the larvae, 17 days post-hatch today. I'm estimating the length to be about 5-6mm rostrum to tail, not counting their giant spear legs.

Any shots of your whole kriesel? what are they in, or am I missing that somewhere?
 

It's a 2 gallon fishbowl with heater, temp probe, and airline. The bubble rate controls how fast the water circulates. The post above from 7/17/13 shows almost the whole thing near the end of the video. The small piece of rock & PVC were removed after hatch. They were only in there for the adult to climb on until hatch.

I just saw the first settled shrimp today, hiding under the heater. Not sure of the exact settlement date, but today is day 31 post-hatch. I'll try to get a photo up soon. Been busy with work this week, and haven't done much but the minimal aquarium maintenance for 5-6 days. The larvae have been feasting on flake food for about a week now, with bbs given every other day. Fun to watch them float around munching on a big flake, sometimes 2 larvae on the same flake.

Here's a lousy iPhone pic when the little guy was on the front glass. I'll get some better pics when I can get some out in a small container.

Great job Lrood!!  I see that fish bowl in the video you pointed out... is that one of those with a flat front and back or complete 'globe' style? Did you have an air stone on the end of your rigid tubing? and at what rate per second are you aerating them? can you get some video of the aeration of the rigid tube? 

Great job Lrood!!  I see that fish bowl in the video you pointed out... is that one of those with a flat front and back or complete 'globe' style? Did you have an air stone on the end of your rigid tubing? and at what rate per second are you aerating them? can you get some video of the aeration of the rigid tube? 

It's a typical flat front & back fishbowl from Petco, with only the rigid airline tube & heater. I'll see about getting a video of the whole thing up tomorrow. I'll have to clean the clutter around it so I don't embarrass myself too badly! I adjust the bubble rate so that the larvae keep moving gently in a circular motion. When they were newly hatched, the rate was pretty low, and I have increased in as they grew.

ok cool... so no air stone at all? mmmm. maybe the air stone is too rough on them and that's why I lose them? IDK... just not having good success, so I am looking through some more of the succusful journals. Maybe something will click. Thanks. 
 

Here's the video of the whole kriesel setup.  Just a 2 gallon flat sided fishbowl, heater & airline tubing.  I put a blue notebook behind it just to make it look cleaner for this video.  Presently the bubble rate is fairly brisk since the shrimp larvae are large and actually settling.  I had a baby banggai appear in the cardinals tank today (the male is still holding the rest), so I put it in the kriesel for now, along with the artificial urchin.  The settled shrimp (about a half dozen now) actually climb all over the urchin!  There is a simple 19 watt cfl bulb that provides indirect light, and the adjacent tanks contribute light as well.
 
I have read that airstones provide too much turbulence for tiny larvae.  When my larvae were first put in the bowl, the bubble rate was probably only 2-3 per second.  Just enough to circulate the larvae and bbs.
 

ok awesome! I'm gonna ditch the air stone all together and try and mimic this set up, and  see how it goes. banggai's not having a snack? lol... I guess if he just appeared he's a bit tiny still..  

Beautiful!
 

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Awesome, congrats!  I was using this "exact" same method, and I couldn't get my larvae past day 11 I think it was.  I tried a few different methods and had no luck.  It seems some people raise these fairly easily where others struggle and struggle.  I can't seem to figure out the difference between those that succeed and those that fail, otherwise maybe I could succeed!  Haha!

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

right there with you easter eggs.. can't get mine past 10-11 days old.... wish I could 'spot' the difference too!

I can't think of anything unique in my simple setup. I don't get overly aggressive with cleaning (as you can see in the video!). I do a simple bottom vacuum every 1-2 days (usually daily once I start the flake food), and a 50% water change every other day with ASW from an adjacent broodstock tank.

mmm. and how many brine do you feed with? if you can estimate that! lol.
 

Good question that I can't really answer in any detail! I put in about half of a 2 liter bottle- worth in the morning. I get 2-3 feelings from each bottle. After a bottle is 48 hours old, I add some phyto to feed the bbs. I sometimes skip a feeding for the kreisel if there seems to be enough bbs circulating (at least 1-2/ml by rough eyeball estimate.

ok. well, next batch... (maybe tonight or tomorrow night) I'm gonna try and mock this to a T and see how well it goes!   thanks. 

I counted somewhere around 20 settled as of today, still about that many larvae swimming around.  Here's a short video of several settled shrimp, and an occassional larvae.  Sorry for the algae on the glass that partially obscures the view of a couple of them. They are about 7-8mm long at this time.
 

Congrats This is a great success in such low volume

Here's a short video of the juveniles, now about 6 weeks old, when I was transferring them to their growout tank.  The largest is about 1" long now.  Active little guys!
 

How quickly the kids grow up. I took a half dozen to trade in at my lfs, and one of the, was already holding eggs!

the little 10 weekers are already making babies and off to the lfs??!!! oh man they do go quick! 

I was surprised how quickly these grew too, must have been the first ones to settle.  They were 3+ cm long already.  Most are still 2-2.5cm, and I didn't want the big ones to start cannabalizing.  I really hadn't realized one already had eggs until I caught them.

That is awesome! 

Here is a short video of my L. boggessi crawling around the frag/grow-out tub.  This was taken today, at 62 DPS.  I noticed again that one of them is carrying eggs.  They like to congregate at the potato chip coral. 
 

 
Wow - I just looked back at this video today, and cringed at how much hair algae there is.  Really looks like an orphan tank.  But in reality, it has been transofrmed into a growout tank with some random coral frags tossed in!