Breeding Journal, Species: Lysmata rathbunae

General
Species:  Lysmata rathbunae 
Social Structure:  Group of 3
Size of Individuals:  ~2 inches
Age of Individuals:  unknown 
Date added to Tank:  March 2014

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  75 gallon mixed reef tank 
Substrate Details:  Aragonite sand
Filtration Details:  Aqueon ProFlex Model 4 Sump with filter socks and Reef Octopus NWB150 protein skimmer
Water Changes:  20-30% monthly
Water Temperature:   80 deg F 
Lighting:   2x Ecotech Radion XR30W Gen 2 LED fixtures
Lighting Cycle:  16 hour (sunrise at 6am, sunset at 10pm, moonlighting from midnight to 6am) 
Other Tank Inhabitants:   4 Banggai Cardinals, 1 Foxface, Green Mandarin, various snails 

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types: New Life Spectrum Pellets, Frozen brine and mysis, Reef Frenzy  (they scavenge whatever the fish don't eat) 
Feeding Schedule:  Auto feeder feeds pellets twice a day, frozen generally 2-3 times a week

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: not witnessed    
Spawn Time of Day:  assume after dark
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  
Courtship Details:  none witnessed
Egg Size:  about 1mm
Egg Color:  green/brown
Egg Count:  not counted (probably several hundred)

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  7/20/2014     
Hatch Time of Day:  about 30 minutes after lights out
# Days after Spawn:  spawn not witnessed, shrimp are very hard to find in reef tank so I can only guess ~10 days
Larvae Description: clear with stripes on "tail", attracted to light          


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  80 deg F
Size of Larval Tank:  10 gallon
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  none, nutrient export handled by water changes
Lighting:  2x 13W CFL bulbs in All Glass Aquarium Hood
Lighting Cycle: 12 hours
Water Changes:  tank bottom vacuumed daily 

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Newly Hatched Brine Shrimp
Feeding Schedule:  2-3 times per day

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature: 
Size of Grow-Out Tank: 
Substrate Details: 
Other Tank Decor: 
Filtration Details: 
Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
Water Changes: 
Size at Transfer: 
Age at Transfer: 

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

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.
If your thread does not contain these photos the MBI Committee will not be able to approve your reports.

I was expecting clownfish to harch last night. I set up the larval snagger that I purchased from Chad Vossen, and then left the room. I came back about half an hour later to a snagger full of Peppermint Shrimp Larvae. 
 
7/20/14 Some Pics after they were transferred to the Larval Tank

 

7/22/2014 Here some pics at 2 days

7/25/2014 Day 5 

7/29/2014 Day 9 

8/1/2014: Day 12 (Eye stalks under microscope) 
 
 
8/5/2014: Day 16

Beatiful pix, but what are the parents like?  You'll need that for your reports!  I've never seen rathbunae in local stores, so I am curious to see what they are like.

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


I can't say definitively that these are indeed Lysmata rathbunae as opposed to Lysmata wurdemanni (as they are extremely similar). The only reson I have to belive that they are rathbunae is that they don't seem to be interested in Aiptasia. The parents are nearly impossible to get a picture of, they barely ever come out in the open. I usually only see them when they are hiding deep in my Montipora Capricornus, where I can't get a picture of them. When these guys metamorphisize, I'll verify for certain that they are Lysmata rathbunae. I will also be keeping an eye out for the parents so that I can eventually get pics of them.

Just for kicks, I took some pics with my microscope. This was my first attempt at a very large composite stitch...
 

At about week 5, I started to lose some of the larvae. Week 6 I lost almost all of them, but started to have a few settle. 
 
I now have 4 of these guys.
 

Four settled is better than none - well done.
 
Any ideas on what happened to cause the deaths? Nutrition. water quality?

These are L.boggessi.
L.rathbunae is a deep water species unlikely to be found in stores.

Apparantly, rathbunae also meta much more quickly than these guys.  I wish I could get my hands on a few.

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

It appears that I'm about to come full circle with these guys. I upgraded my main display tank and didn't find the parents during the move, and haven't seen them since. But on the bright side, I've been keeping an eye on the young. I've been keeping them in a 20L tank that houses my baby clowns. I just noticed last night that it appears that the shrimp are about to spawn. At least three of them show signs of egg development in their abdomens.
 
Notice that the eggs appear to be orange/yellow, is that consistent with luis_a_m's  L.boggessi assessment? I agree that they do appear to be L. boggessi based off of this post . 
 

 

 

 
Sorry about the image quality, the lights on that tank aren't the greatest. Gonna have to figure out a way to get more light. 
 

 
I'm sure it was water quality, I wasn't very diligent about vacuuming detritus.  

IMO, good news these are L. boggessi! Why is this good news? Boggessi are a class B species so you'll get more points. Check out the tails for boggessi and rathbunae.

Is there a way to change the title of this thread to reflect that these are L. bogessi?
 
 
Here are a couple pics I snapped today. They must have molted, because the eggs are now down by their pleopods.