breeding shrimp?

[reef-fisher]

Wanted to see if anyone has successfully bred shrimp (cleaners, peppermint, coral banded?) locally. I have had a few 'pregnant' ones, but never cared to attempt breeding. Now I think it would be fun to try.

Any info is appreciated. Thanks

[defigart]

I have seen holding female peppermints at the wholesalers and inadvertantly picked up a few when I bought them. But never got anything from them.

[biomekanic]

There's a book called "How to raise and train your peppermint shrimp" that gives detailed directions on breeding them.

 

As an FYI, peppermints are hermaphrodites. They're female shortly after mating as their softer shells allow them to be receptive. After the egg clutch hatches, and their shells get harder, they swap over to male. If you follow them closely in your tank you'll notice that the population should be alternating molts. This was something hobbyists had been observing for your years, and some biologists had claimed was unpossible. Proving again that educated doesn't always equal smart.

 

I'm not sure if it was Borneman or Calfo who once told me ( mind you, this was like 6 or 7 years ago ) that they'd been recently called a liar by a marine biologist at NOAA - it's a "established fact" that corals ( hard or soft ) cannot be kept alive in aquariums and the trade should be banned completely. They they were told that they were growing corals, that's when either Eric or Anthony was called a liar.

That was in '00 or '01, when plenty of people were fragging and trading.