Has anyone successfully bred vampire shrimp?

pacalan · Post by **pacalan** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:47 am

I've recently discovered that one of my two vampire shrimp is a female who has become sexually mature. She is now carrying eggs, and I've been trying to find any kind of information as to what all is involved in raising the young.

I have seen some good articles relating to amano breeding, but I have no idea if the process is interchangable.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. These are the most fascinating creatures I have ever had, and I would like to give the offspring a chance.

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:03 am

Hello and welcome,

I know that they have been successfully raised, but have no details available. The breeder I spoke to was rather tight-lipped.

Larry Vires

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:38 am

interesting that on the species page they come from two continents. i wonder how similar they are?

seen them offered recently. **pricey!**

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:10 pm

Hey palacan, nice to see that you made it.

I've been doing some searching, still no luck. But I'll keep looking. FYI, do you have another tank ready with brackish water? I'm also confident that the larva will need to eat greed water.

Here are some links that might be useful

viewtopic.php?t=712&highlight=vamp%2A

viewtopic.php?t=1620&highlight=vamp%2A

viewtopic.php?t=2239&highlight=vamp%2A

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:13 pm

yeah, getting that sponge to cycle in brackish is a pain too!

pacalan · Post by **pacalan** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:50 pm

Thanks for the replies and welcomes!

I have an extra 10 gallon tank that I was planning on setting up as soon as I gathered enough information about what the conditions should be like. Considering cycling and all of that, I guess I really shouldn't put that off too much longer. I actually have never done anything with brackish or saltwater, so that will make this all the more difficult, requiring even more research. Still, I'm eager to do whatever it will take to make this work.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 1:00 pm

pleco_breeder wrote:Hello and welcome,

I know that they have been successfully raised, but have no details available. The breeder I spoke to was rather tight-lipped.

Larry Vires

No slight intended Larry. I'm not doubting that you were told that, but we are only just now starting to get techniques for amanos. Vamps are more trickier.

The breeders that say that are likely not being completely truthful. That is why you are not getting any details. We hear stories like this 2nd hand all the time, but no evidence, or even yourn animals are offered as proof. Most "breeders" of these animals have outdoor ponds with access to the sea. They just trap the young when they return from the sea. Raised and hatched are different things.

pacalan- The place to start would be the techniques used for raising amanos. Remove the zoes and let them harden up in fresh water for about 3 days. Transfer them to full sea water (about 35 ppt) and feed them marine green water. Tetraselmis has been used with Amanos. A small air powered sponge filter was also used.

Put lights on top 24/7 and black out the sides, except when you are checking them, and taking pictures.

Other foods have been used, but this fouls the water and water changes seem to kill the babies.

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:56 pm

No offense taken. I would be a bit skeptical as well. However, I did see the tanks. I have no doubt that they were captive spawned and reared. The pair, no idea why he was only keeping one pair in the tank, were in a 20 long to themselves. The juveniles were housed in 3 10 gallons and were close to 1 1/4 inches. The location was southern Ohio, so I doubt he was housing captive raised. Just too many requirements would have to be explained for any other options.

Larry Vires

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:47 pm

Very cool then. Keep pressing them. A little wine will losen the lips

Terran · Post by **Terran** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:46 pm

badflash wrote:Very cool then. Keep pressing them. A little wine will losen the lips

And if that doesnt work try Everclear....

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 8:47 pm

Just for clarification, I don't know the breeder, or his name. I met them at a pet shop, and went to his house to buy some L183 juvies from him. I didn't know at that time that I would give the thought of raising shrimp a second thought, and didn't really ask too much about them. The interest just wasn't there at that time.

Larry

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:01 pm

Ah, yes. The attack of the shoulda's. I still regret the fact that I didn't take the '55 T-Bird that was offered to me, for free. It really, really didn't run, and I didn't have anyplace to store it at the time.

Larry, out of curiosity, was this in Sothern California? When I last lived there, in the early 90's I met someone who was breeding multiple types of pleco's and some crustations (crayfish mostly, as I recall).

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:58 pm

This was Cincinati, Ohio. Sad thing is that it was only last fall. I just hadn't been bitten yet. Six months later, I realize that it's possible that I could've been working on a very scarce spawning project if I had only thought to ask a few more questions. I know that it sounds a bit concieted, but my name tends to get me a lot of information and livestock from people that normally wouldn't be willing to part with it. This is especially true of catfish hobbyists.

Live and Learn,

Larry Vires

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 11:37 pm

i know the cincy crowd and i put out feelers to see if anyone knows who it was.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:19 am

What made you lose your skepticism, Larry?

I have had to listed more than once to people who claim they have bred this species and even the asian filter shrimp (they usually don't even know the difference). They have all been full of it so far. Seeing an adult pair in one tank and a bunch of 1 1/4 inch juveniles in another is no reason to think that the guy actually bred them. It is actually quite common that such wild-caught juveniles are imported in large quantities. This applies to both the asian and the african filter shrimp species. I have seen filter shrimp imported that were barely the size of half-grown red-cherry shrimp.

For one reason or another there are quite a few people out there who like to claim things that are just not true. Having experience that *many* times in the aquarium hobby *first hand* the only thing to do is to demand *some* kind of evidence for such people's claims. So far, just about 100% of these claims have turned out to be absolute bogus. People just love to feed their own ego by telling others all kinds of stories and thriving on the reactions that they see on others' faces ("wow..you really did that?").

There is only one reason why someone might not disclose any kind of information on how to breed difficult to breed shrimp: commercial reasons...i.e. the guy wants to set up some large breeding operation somewhere and deliver these shrimp to the world and he does not want any competitors. But even then there should be no problem to at least show *evidence* that you are actually breeding these shrimp. In the case of a large breeding operation the evidence is obvious. The man is not importing any shrimp but he is selling tons of juveniles out of his hatchery. That's proof enough for me. But even if you don't have a large hatchery yet, you could still show pictures of 1. ovigerous females 2. larvae at different stages of development 3. benthic postlarvae 4. juveniles at different stages of development. Done, that's close enough to a proof...that's usually enough "proof." You don't even need to present any "secret" rearing techniques. It takes a lot more effort to present fake pictures/evidence than to just claim that one has bred this and that without ever having done so.

Anyone who actually bred these shrimp would die to let the "shrimp world" (and even the scientific world) know about it, no matter if they have commercial interests or not. The commercial breeder would want to let everyone know about it to distinguish his/her "product" from the stressed-out imported/wild-caught shrimp that are usually offered. The hobbyist would want to share his/her breeding success with others to gain recognition from peers (to name just one possible reason of many). That leaves us with people who go around claiming all kinds of things without any or much truth behind their claims.

Anyway...long story short....I don't buy it and neither should anyone else without some kind of proof forthcoming. The people who have actually bred all kinds of animals in the aquarium hobby don't seem to have a problem with providing proof usually.

Again, I'm not saying these guys cannot be bred (far from it as I think they can be bred just fine given the right method), but just cautioning you guys to err on the side of caution when confronted with magical tales of filter shrimp breeding from people who just don't want to provide a shred of proof.

pleco_breeder wrote:No offense taken. I would be a bit skeptical as well. However, I did see the tanks. I have no doubt that they were captive spawned and reared. The pair, no idea why he was only keeping one pair in the tank, were in a 20 long to themselves. The juveniles were housed in 3 10 gallons and were close to 1 1/4 inches. The location was southern Ohio, so I doubt he was housing captive raised. Just too many requirements would have to be explained for any other options.

Larry Vires