Wow- refugium full of baby cleaner shrimp!!!

[Princess_Penelope]

I have a pair of cleaner shrimp in my main tank that are always egg bearing and releasing their young into the tank. I guess some of the larvae must have been pumped into the refugium and they somehow managed to live (no intervention on my part). Now I have alot of baby cleaner shrimp all over my refugium. They're getting larger and larger each day and they're starting to look like miniature versions of their parent.

Wow...that's so cool..just had to share.

Hey.....is there anything special I should be doing for them?

[Philip]

yes, you should let them grow up and send me a pair :)

that's WAY cool, congrats!

[1 Mandarin]

If you feel it's getting out of control, I wouldn't mind taking a few.:cool:

[sdharrington]

What kind of cleaner shrimp? What do you have in your refugium, and what do you feed your tank? I'm interested in propogating cleaner shrimp too.

--Shelly

[Anemone]

PP -

I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm betting your "baby cleaner shrimp" are probably mysid shrimp. Mysid shrimp look very much like small cleaners. Plus, cleaner shrimp are nearly impossible to raise at home - they go through multiple stages, and each stage needs a different type of live food (which our aquariums don't provide).

Many folks have tried aquaculturing cleaner shrimp, and even with dedicated systems and raising a varieety of live micro food, the longest I've heard them surviving is about 50 days.

Sorry to be a wet blanket :(

Kevin

[Princess_Penelope]

Hey...what does a mysis shrimp look like? I tried searching for a picture of this shrimp but wasn't able to find one.

The shrimps that are in my refugium...they are reddish colour have the look of the cleaner shrimp, stocky bodies with a long tail, with 4 long white whiskers.

[Flame*Angel]

Do your babies have long legs? Do they swim around really speedy or go on their legs? I have a lot of mysis shrimp and I don't think I'd mistake one for a baby cleaner. Mysis are swimmers.

[Anemone]

Here's a couple of pics: http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/crust/mysidgal.html

They're not the same color as the ones in my tank - mine are a reddish color as well. Mysid "swim" in sort of a loopy pattern - but they usually do it on the bottom or up and donw the side of a tank. I don't find them out in the water column very much (except for their fry, which are like a swarm of gnats...).

Susan,

The reason I think PP may be mistaking mysid for cleaner shrimp fry is because that is what I did when I was first starting out. Used to tell Eric Borneman over on AOL how I thought I had cleaner fry that were surviving....I've learned a bit since then :D

Kevin

[Louis Z]

4 long white whiskers dont sound like mysid shrimp. Mysid really dont have stocky bodies either. Only time will tell. If they get larger than a 1/4 inch then your assumption of Cleaner is correct. I would add BBS to the tank to keep them going in the right direction.