Culture Journal, Species: Mysidopsis bahia (Marine Mysid Shrimp)

General
Species:  Americamysis bahia (formally known as Mysidopsis bahia) =  Marine Mysid Shrimp 
Species description:  Marine Mysid Shrimp 
Culture source (link if possible):  Reed Mariculture (their farm from florida-closed water system!)
If algae, CCMP # (Optional): 
http://ccmp.bigelow.edu/
Culture Establishment Date:  7/10/2013
Continuation Date:  10/08/2013

Culturing Vessel Details
Salinity:  1.022
Temperature:    75-78* F
pH:  8.0-8.3

Vessel description:  10g  glass tank with 1 bubbler. 
Lighting description:  ambient lighting from tanks to the right/left of it. 
Lighting cycle:  16hrs on, 8hrs off (ambient) 
Aeration description:  single bubbler consistent 2 bubbles per second. 

Methodologies
Split methodology: As needed to feed jv cardinals during weening process. Currently running the entire culture through a 4 combo set sieve catching adults in >560µm, and jv's in >180µm sieve, return as many to culture as wanted, harvest as many as I need.   

Culture medium description:  splash of live nano, with nhbbs for feed.  AND powdered mix up! (It consists of crushed: spirulina flake, new life spectrum pellets, paracoccus powder. and a dab of brine shrimp gelatinized food... refer to post #4 for picture.) the powdered food only lightly clumps and stays in a 1x2 inch area (AT MOST), what ever isn't eaten I am siphoning out by the next feeding, or the following feeding.   

Cell count: 125 individuals to start culture with!  Currently at ~200, certainly more than what I started with... but not a real sit down accurate count. 
 (if known)

Reference links:  

Additional Information
(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Notes: 
water changes every other day, new water being drip lined into the tank at a rate of 3-5 drops per second.  I'm thinking when the culture reaches 200 individuals I will split it and make a back up culture??? 


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Ok, received shipment today and these little buggers were COLD! but no problem, seems like we will get it worked out!  
Sieved the bag through a set of 900µm and 600µm sieves, to get an idea of culture size/dynamics.
 

 
 
 
Culture warming up in the 90g reef tank, waiting for their new home!  

Close up of the little guys! 
 

Here they are in the new tank... 
 

Flashlight spot light showing the small amount of food placed in their for them. 
 
It consists of crushed: spirulina flake, new life spectrum pellets, paracoccus powder. and a dab of brine shrimp gelatinized food. 
 

 
NICE CLOSE UP OF THE ADULTS!!!!
 

Performed first water change today, wanted to suck up excess food from the bottom. This critters seem to be extremely forgiving of external environment. I am drip lining in the new saltwater though... do not want to do anything to intentionally crash these guys. Did see several 'paired' off, and plenty of youngsters in the tank. So, I would say whatever it is that I am doing, they don't mind. Seems happy enough to procreate! Fine by me, and fine by my baby Banggai's! 

Mysid shrimp in petri dish using macro lense (0.25m/0.8ft) on a canon EOS T2i. 
 

 
Mysid shrimp in petri dish using macro lense (0.25m/0.8ft) on a canon EOS T2i. -full zoom

 
adult mysid (900µm) at 40x magnification

 

 
jv. mysid (300µm) next to an adult mysid (900µm) at 40x magnification- ONLY TOP LIGHTS ON.

 
jv. mysid (300µm) next to an adult mysid (900µm) at 40x magnification- TOP AND BOTTOM LIGHTS ON.

 
jv. mysid (300µm) at 40x magnification

 

If you look super close, this gives you an idea of the size ratio of a jv. to an adult.
 

I'm fairly surprised that adult didn't eat that juvenile while you were watching.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

I was just absolutely certain they would.. but since the population is so young I was hoping they wouldn't. I fed them up well just before I pulled them though, and I am sure I must of really 'disturbed' the adults with how many times the pipette went in and out of the petri dish. lol.
 

Well today is 35 days into this culture establishment.... and so far the numbers are holding steady. not really increasing from what I can tell, not nearly as much as I would like to see and harvest. But certainly not decreasing That's something, right?
 
Have been pretty relaxed with this culture though... they don't seem to mind too much... temperature, pH, and salinity changes don't bother them much. I have definitely noticed a level of aggression towards each other when solely being fed the ground mash or gelatinized brine only... Seems to be much less when I feed bbs regularly.... so I have upped it to once a day feeding of bbs and also taking to throwing my extra rotifers in there as well. This seems to help a bunch! I guess they just like to hunt! 
 
Water changes are irregular but really just once every couple of weeks, along with just sucking up the random debris along the bottom along with uneaten food every few days or so. 
 
 

Maybe I missed it, but how are you separating the juveniles from the adults? Manually?

Hey helix... ya sorry, I really haven't remembered to update or do anything with this journal....lol (now that their past 90 days already...lol).
 
So, I don't mess with jv. for the most part but when I need them I sieve the bucket through my 4 set sieves from brine shrimp direct and the bottom two sieves collect the jv just fine.. but as off now I don't have anything to feed them to right now, so... it's kind of survival of the fittest! lol. 
 
my husband will be building a mysid generator after we get our hatch/grow out system up this weekend.  Then I will really start working with the jv's... 
 
When I do collect them I just separate them out and throw them in the sump of my broodstock until their a bit bigger and replenish culture as needed. 

Oh and those bottom two sieves are a 180µm and a 300µm I always put my spare 53µm under it, but it doesn't catch anything. 

CURRENTLY ON DAY 93...  with plans of creating a mysid generator out of a 20g high. 
 
the thought would be doing 20g high split down the middle and using an airlift with screening to allow jv's to pass through without the adults... will do a mock up drawing when we get it laid out. 
 
The other idea in mind though is to utilize small breeder boxes made with needle point screening at the correct size, and floating these in the sump of my broodstock system. Adults would go into the boxes, then babies (who could fit through this size) would slip through and retreat to the safety of the macro algae in the refugium- free from predation. Occasionally as needed I could grab some chaeto and shake out the babies I need for harvesting.
 
 

Well I scratched the idea of doing a 20g mysid generator tank.... too much space for what I have to work with. So, instead we have the baby tower that's being built (a stack of 2 10g vertical)... and we are just going to plumb it into the 29g (clarkii tank) sump... so the bottom 10g is now free... so of course I filled it with mysids!
 



 

Curious, still have this culture going? Any updates / changes?

yes I do still have the culture. I only harvest the youngest ones to feed off to baby banggai's, so the adults do well in their, But since I don't catch all the time so it keeps population stable. 
 
I have since added more macro algaes and the mysids LOVE this, they thrive in a tank filled with red flame and caulerpa. I do feed quite often, and nhbbs is a readily available food source. I do love to feed flakes and pellets mashed up, but they tend turn VERY cannibalistic if not given a 'hunt' for, so it's nhbbs often for them. 
 
I have also added some bundled up needlepoint material for them to crawl all over, this really helps expand territories and seemingly does well with them. I think this is the reason my numbers stay up in adult population. 
 

I would love to see the bundles of needlepoint material!  got a picture?

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Jazzy, you've inspired me.  I got some mysids to play with. too.  What are we supposed to feed the babies?

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)