Baby Shrimp

Bemo · 09-09-2005, 12:30 PM

Just wanted to give an update on my baby skunk cleaner shrimp. I thought that they accually died when I upgraded my tank to a 90 gallon, but I found them last night! They are a little bigger than 1/4". You can clearly see that they are miny cleaners. This means that they have been alive since April of this year. I will try and get a picture of them and post, but they are really fast.

Twitterbait · 09-09-2005, 12:49 PM

Bemo and I will be documenting our exploits with these baby skunks. Maybe we can get published?

vanz · 09-09-2005, 01:02 PM

How many cleaners do you guys have?

Bemo · 09-09-2005, 02:14 PM

I have two adults and twenty to thirty babies.

rayjay · 09-11-2005, 06:08 PM

Do a Google search on "Mysid".
If you really had "baby" shrimp, they should have grown more since April.
Mysids are standard aquarium critters in our tanks, introduced with rock, macro, and corals. Many fish will feed off them.
I removed some from my tanks and put them in their own tank, fed them brine shrimp nauplii, and they multiply like crazy.
Because they are cannibolistic, their levels are somewhat determined by feeding and tank size. Less food, and the more the adults feed on their young.
There are many kinds of Mysid shrimp but the ones I normally see in salt water aquariums look mostly like baby cleaner shrimp.

Twitterbait · 09-11-2005, 08:49 PM

I can second that they a definetly Baby Cleaner shrimp. Their Body structure is nothing like the Mysids. They truly look like miniature skunk cleaners. We have done some exhaustive research on this. I can say that the size of the babies might be attributed to the stress they have been through or the original batch may have died off and this is a newer clutch. we will have to wait and see.

rayjay · 09-11-2005, 09:42 PM

As I mentioned earlier, my Mysid shrimp look just like baby cleaner shrimp, but that doesn't make it so.
Have you ever wondered why you two are the only hobbyists in tens of, maybe hundreds of thousands of hobbyists that have succeeded in having baby skunk cleaners survive?
Preserve one and send it to Dr Ron at Reef Central for a positive ID.

VWD · 09-11-2005, 09:53 PM

I like to see a picture , IfYou can get it.

Loverotties · 09-11-2005, 11:05 PM

Me too!

rayjay · 09-12-2005, 12:50 AM

Considering the size of the shrimp, it will take a better camera than I have access to, and probably both these hobbyists will have the same problems taking pictures of them that I had. That is why I suggested a Dr Ron confirmation of a specimen.
Here is an online picture that is similar to the ones in my tanks.

yardboy · 09-12-2005, 05:07 AM

I once had my cleaners produce a batch of fry, saw the momma carry the eggs around for quite a while, and was convinced that some of the babies survived hatching, but soon after that they all disappeared, eaten by somebody I presume.

Bemo · 09-12-2005, 11:44 AM

This weekend I found one that is now about 1/2". I have been trying to get a picture of them with my digital camera. Since they move pretty fast it is hard to get one in focus. If you have any suggestions on how I can better take a picture of them please let me know. Otherwise, if anyone else who is local and wants to come and see them, send me a PM and you will see that they are baby skunk cleaner shrimp.