pepermint shrimp

hnurge

hnurge

Premium Member
Staff member
hey guys, i have a few questions on breeding peppermint shrimp.
in my 10 gallon frag tank i have no fish, various coral frags (changes frequently), 3 blue legged hermits, 3 astria snails, and 2 peppermint shrimp. it also has the pypcal compliment of brittle stars, pods , and flatworms... perhaps more than typical since there are no fish. the tank is very healthy and teeming with life.

the larger peppermint shrimp is often sporting a green bubbly mass under (i assume "her) tail, which i have always figured was an egg sack.
download/file.php?mode=view&id=80512

anyways, every few weeks, about an hour after the white lights go off, i see a mass of baby shrimp swimming toward the surface:
download/file.php?mode=view&id=80513

the next day they are gone, and i haven't ever seen any small shrimps in my tank other than that occasional cloud of new hatch-lings. this has happened ~6 times that i have witnessed, and probably many other times where i did not see them. does anyone have any suggestions on how to gather the small fry and raise it to full size shrimps?

also, the part that has me really confused, is i noticed yesterday that BOTH shrimps are now sporting the green egg mass.... any thoughts on what the heck? how can they both have eggs and still be breeding viable young? the green mass isnt permanent, it goes away after the cloud of baby shrimps - so i am pretty sure it is eggs...
any ideas?
 
Mine do the same thing. My corals love the babies. Not sure about them both having eggs. I have 6 or 7 pepps in my tank but never paid that much attention.
 
Peppermint shrimp can be hermaphroditic. They can't self fertilize, but if you have two they can fertilize for each other.

Here's some interesting reading about peppermint shrimp gender development - http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19419-zoologger-shrimp-plays-chicken-with-its-sex-change.html#.UjuuVcZnFng
 
that explains a lot, thank you. I really want to read that article now (that's a good find!), but it looks like new scientist is having some site issues at the moment. ill check back later.
 
so, they have done it again. i fed a few corals in the tank and then fed the main display, and when i turned around and looked the frag tank was swarming with a new spawn.
i yanked the filter and grabbed an empty 5g tank,put some rock from my sump in it, filled it with tank water, and set up a sponge filter with very slow flow using sponges i also had cured in my sump. netted as many as was reasonable out of the frag tank and put them in the new grow tank with some phyto. wish me luck :) so far they look happy.
 
if you want to rais the babys you will need a few things. here is a link ;) hope it helps. if you have any questions feel free to ask i know a lil bout raising shrimp. good luck =)

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/nftt/
 
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