Metabetaeus larvae

[KenCotigirl]

I lost my last batch of larvae. Never got to see them. I bought a tank divider to seperate another expectant mother from the rest of the M. lohena. I got her trapped this evening but also caught another M. lohena. They became very agitated. Next I noticed a larvae floating. The mom released them. I hope not too early. Here are some hour old released larvae. They are very much drawn to the light. I used a flashlight to get them to one spot and used a cup to move them to a floating net cage. Hope they make it through the night.

[Mustafa]

Awesome! That's some very exciting news! They don't have a yolk sack (like the H. rubra larvae), so they will need to be fed daily to survive. The challenge with that is to find small enough food that does not or just minimally pollutes the water. I'm pretty sure they won't make it in a floater for too long (but I'm open to being proven wrong anytime ), so maybe it's best to set up and cycle (and "season") another tank for future larvae. I'm pretty sure these are the first M. lohena larvae pictures published anywhere on the internet (and on print as far as I am concerned). If you ever manage to breed these guys, I'm claiming the first spot in line to get some of the offspring (which I prefer to taking the animals from the wild).

Keep the updates coming!

[Newjohn]

That is Great News.
How many pictures did you have to take to get those 3 clear ones ?

( First off, Sorry if the spelling is incorrect )
Would phyto plankton work as a food source for the Metabetaeus larva ?
If it works to raise Rotifers, it may help with these larva.

[KenCotigirl]

Bad news. The shrimp larvae did not make it through the night. By 6:30am they were all dead. This was not totally unexpected. My first thought was that they needed full salt water. I did not put two and two together and realize from the pictures that the larvae did not have any yolk remaining. Thank you Mustafa. Maybe it was starvation and not salinity. Maybe both.

Two questions: Do I setup a full salt or a brackish tank?
Once either is setup what do you feed? Try the french guy method?

[Mustafa]

Ahh...that sucks! But there is a reason why it is so hard to breed shrimp with saltwater larvae. You will just have to experiment, there is no way around it. I would not change the salinity at first...try everything else, i.e. give them their own (*established*) tank, feed them with proper foods etc. Live microalgae cultures can work, some dead and preserved microalgae products meant for the reef aquarium may work, too. Artificial larval feeds (under 50 microns) are another option. As I said, you just have to experiment....and report back here.