Here's the HSC Cleaner before she laid her eggs

Is there only just the one cleaner?

The thing is, they are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and they do not lay their eggs, but carry them through hatching. If the eggs were there only 24 hours or so after molting, and if this is the only cleaner shrimp in the tank, it's just the shrimp producing infertile eggs which are then "discarded"...not really "laid".

FWIW, incredibly difficult to rear...they spend almost half a year in a planktonic phase...

We have Jacqui & Cousteau.

We do have some little things flitting around under what I think is the hairy mushrooms. No, I don't hold much hope out except the tank is fairly under populated right now.

I'm guessing those little things are more likely to be Mysids or Amphipods. The odds of a cleaner shrimp living for half a year floating around in the water column are basically nil.

They are the cleaner shrimp lavie or what ever you call them, they are not pods of any kind they look like little tad poles and there are about 20-30 of them and they all just hang out under that one rock. It is kind of cool.

Home_Depot wrote:They are the cleaner shrimp lavie or what ever you call them, they are not pods of any kind they look like little tad poles and there are about 20-30 of them and they all just hang out under that one rock. It is kind of cool.

Totally mysids, not Cleaner Shrimp, I'm willing to stake my entire reputation as a marine breeder on this assessment. The larvae of Cleaner Shrimp have a roughly 140-180 day pelagic phase before settling, and when they settle, they are not little tadpole looking things, but are in fact nice regular shrimp. Have the parents even been in the tank that long?

Here's one of the first known (if not THE first) hobbyist rearing of L. amboinensis, all nicely documented with pictures of what the babies look like at all stages - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=846955&highlight=L.amboinensis+larva

ok I take your word for it....

LOL - didn't mean to totally decimate your side of the argument But yeah, they'd literally have to survive in the water column of the tank for almost a half year, finding food, avoiding getting sucked into the filtration or eaten by the fish in the tank...it's just virtually impossible.

I am going to have to try and get a picture of the little guys cause I did a search for mysids and they dont look like that either.

mpedersen wrote:LOL - didn't mean to totally decimate your side of the argument But yeah, they'd literally have to survive in the water column of the tank for almost a half year, finding food, avoiding getting sucked into the filtration or eaten by the fish in the tank...it's just virtually impossible.

High on cloud nine and matt shoots me down.... CRASH!!!!!!LOL,LOL

I could have told you so...I had read that thread when we first got the shrimp but you were so sure.

Now about the Powder Blue Tang...

I am just going to keep my mouth shut from now on then!!! I am tired of getting this when ever I say anything...LOL,LOL.LOL

You are fun to tease, and we are all here to learn and we learn a lot from you. Keep up the good work!

We wouldn't razz you if we didn't like you.

has the tank been up for 6 months yet?

I checked back on the postings, and the water was added the first part of August.