Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Larvae?!?

[Zakary2003]

It is 3am here. My skunk cleaner shrimp, which has full of eggs since its last molt, just released a bunch of larvae into the tank. They're so tiny and there are so many of them! The fish are all sleeping and nobody has started having a feeding frenzy, but my LPS and softies are enjoying the live food. Can I save any of them? What are the odds they will survive in my 20 gallon AIO?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It is 3am here. My skunk cleaner shrimp, which has full of eggs since its last molt, just released a bunch of larvae into the tank. They're so tiny and there are so many of them! The fish are all sleeping and nobody has started having a feeding frenzy, but my LPS and softies are enjoying the live food. Can I save any of them? What are the odds they will survive in my 20 gallon AIO?

If the larvae are in a normal reef tank, they'll die. Survivors in cases like this do happen occasionally, but the odds are ridiculously low - given that skunk cleaner larvae remain pelagic for 3-5 months, their odds are essentially nonexistent.

To rear these guys, you'll need a larval rearing tank and some live foods: Artemia (brine shrimp), rotifers, and phytoplankton together will give the best survival results, but only the Artemia (and phyto to culture them with) are necessary.

For a really simple larval rearing setup, see the thread below:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...ns-mediterrane-rock-pool-shrimp-guide.937215/For the complicated methods that might yield slightly better results (chapters 5 and 6 are the important ones for larval rearing purposes):
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/40038/1/40038-tziouveli-2011-thesis.pdf