Bumblebee shrimp breeding

[InvertObsession]

Heya guys,

I've been keeping and breeding in freshwater for many years now and got into the world of marine aquariums about a year and a half ago. I live in Australia and the availability of inverts is quite shocking... I'm setting up a breeding rack to try and breed sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp as well as bumblebee shrimp (Gnathophyllum americanum)! I'll be running a few 7 gallon aquariums with matten filters as well as kreisel tanks to hopefully raise the larvae for all the species but I just have a few questions before I get to that point of raising the fry.

I have one bumblebee at the moment and I'm wondering if there is any good way to sex them.
A few reports say that these shrimp pair up, are you able to run trios with MFF or is it strictly a pair.
There have been a few times where someone's shrimps have produced eggs, does anyone know the timeline of how long they take to hatch.
And finally has anyone had success with pellet food of any kind for sexies, anemone shrimp and bumblebee shrimp.
Thanks!!

 

[bluemon]

Good luck with this one.

Marine crustaceans are very hard to breed and rear, especially compared to freshwater counterparts. You only really see shrimp farms do it for food.

How far are you along with your breeding attempts?

 

[InvertObsession]

So far I've "raised" (had) glass shrimp (Palaemon serenus) juvies pop up in a few of my tanks. This is the first time I'm properly dedicating a whole rack to breed something. I have a SOMEWHAT good understanding of caring and rearing of marine shrimp lavae hence investing in custom kreisel tanks. I'm picking up the tanks next week and it will be a few months until the setup is complete and cycled, so just trying to sort a few things out now. I will also say this is a (mostly) for fun setup so I'm not investing thousands of dollars for top of the line stuff to maximise yields but I do want to really make it work!

 

[Red_Beard]

I'm down to follow this adventure, sounds like a fun pursuit!

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

Following along!

Also what kind of lobster is in your profile? Squat lobster?

 

[InvertObsession]

Red reef lobster Enoplometopus occidentalis, his name is Cornelius and is a piece of work but I love him haha
I'll turn this thread into a build thread and post what I find out about how these guys reproduce and grow up but it'll be a while. Thanks for having me such an awesome community B)

 

[Kasrift]

I don't know about bumblebee shrimp, but many cleaner shrimp seem to be hermaphrodites. I had a pair that used to have larvae biweekly.

I had the same idea as you with trying to breed them in the future, but I have yet to get a Kreisel tank. I did try scoping them up and putting them in a 2.5g Aquaeon with bubbles and a heater, but that didn't work.

I've been culturing my own phyto, so I thought since they had a planktonic state that it would work, it didn't. I'd suspect a Kreisel tank with rotifers would be needed for the skunk cleaner larvae, but again I don't know anything about bumblebee shrimp.

I've also have had two pom pom crabs at once and one often had eggs, so I don't believe marine crustaceans are that hard to "breed", it is hard to raise them.

I actually just started with 5 marine glass shrimp in my 2.5g and several have eggs. I've been feeding them Hikari marine algae pellets.

 

[InvertObsession]

WELL!!! Heya guys I'm still alive! This update took a lot longer than what I was hoping for but you know how waiting for deliveries can be sometimes.... So I finally have water in the systems and they're currently cycling which is SO EXCITING! (not really).... Anyways I've just attached a few photos of the whole build and I think it is looking quite nice for a little budget build. Just experimenting with airlines for extra filtration, I mostly added it as extra for the marine systems because the freshwater and brackish needed it so I just thought why not. Still figuring out the brine shrimp hatchery (on the side grid panels), and the best place to source kreisel tanks from but it is pretty much done done now! More updates on the way!! I promise...

 

[InvertObsession]

The tanks dimensions are: 15.75inches L x 10inches W x 12inches T. Total water volume is 8 gallons which is slightly on the smaller side but I'm working with what I got...
Here is a closer look at the filter section of the tank, went with mattenfilters using regular aquarium sponge and the dymax usb mini pump, 180litres an hour pretty good little pumps!!

And here is also the airline system, I used regular irrigation pipe with an absolute monstrosity of a pressure splitter at the top... just tapped into the line using a drill and tap in airline taps, no leakage! Thinking of ideas for the brine shrimp hatchery, send through your DIY's!