My pet Peppermint

[Mike Johnson]

You guys remember back last fall I was breeding shrimp. Well, because of neglect on my part, and cannibalism, I only had three grow to the about 5/8" size. Then I decided I'd train them to eat aiptasia and put a couple rocks in the 10 gal. with them. Oops, I also put my 10 year old Brittle Star in there. It got two of them. This is the only one I have left; it's about 1 1/2" now. It gets hand fed every other day. I know it's quite a waste of energy to raise one shrimp in a 10 gal., but I raised it from an egg and it's pretty special.

I'm going to breed some again real soon. This time I think I'll do much better.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Here's the culprit. I've had it for 9 years and the fish store told me they had it for 2 years? I had to buy the rock it was in to purchase it. I wonder how old they live?

 

[PSU4ME]

Pretty neat - what was your process and how long did it take? I always thought about pulling my female out and letting her give birth and try to raise them......just not sure how long it takes or what I would feed them.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Well, then you're going to like this thread. I'm going to go through the process here. And, it's a lot easier than you think. But it is something that you have to do full time, which was my problem. And, I still had some live. Here's what you will need:

 

[Mike Johnson]

The top right is micro ball valve to control the air flow; very little when just hatched and increased as they get bigger. This is my larvae grow out container. I got this idea from the way they raise larval fish. The circular container keeps them from getting stuck in corners.

 

[puffermike]

Interested in seeing how you do this! I'll be following along.

 

[Akshay]

What that's it???? :tears: was soooo looking forward to reading more of this....

 

[Bearjohnson]

I'm tagging along...

One question though, how do you know the male from the female?

 

[Mike Johnson]

I'm tagging along...

One question though, how do you know the male from the female?

They are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Once the "mother" releases her eggs she will then shed. It's a dangerous time for that shrimp because one shrimp might want to mate with it and another one might want to eat it. A mother after releasing her eggs might be the father the next time. I lost several adults because of this.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Of course they are...LOL Thanks Mike!