Malayan shrimp larvae

[gnome]

Hi, All!

First-time poster, here, but not really new to shrimp. I've managed to kill plenty .

But seriously, here's my inquiry. Two days ago, I bought some shrimp - one of them was a Malayan shrimp with eggs. I don't know if it was already towards the end of gestation or if she was stressed from the trip home, but she kicked off her eggs in the bag, and, well, larvae were bobbing about. Anyway, I carefully acclimated the shrimp and larvae and put them all in my 5.5-gallon tank (and moved the two guppies to a different tank). These larvae are, to the naked eye, identical to those of Amano shrimp. But I wonder, do they also require a period in sea water or elevated salinity for proper development and survival? I'm surprised that I see them frequently, usually grouped in a corner that faces a glass door in the living room.

A year ago, I tried raising my Amano shrimp larvae, but none survived past about 6 weeks. There were a bunch of factors that could have contributed to their demise and I was too lazy to try again. But if Malayan shrimp don't require being in sea water, there's probably a pretty good chance of seeing these little guys grow up.

Well, I hope somebody can answer my question. Oh, and one more - my Malayan shrimp often change colors, but usually to a black-cherry sort of deep red. The one that was carrying eggs was blue when I got her, then she turned to a redder hue after she dropped most of her eggs. Is there a connection between the color and being egg-laden?

Thanks, and hello!

-Naomi

[Mustafa]

Their larvae most likely need brackish/saltwater, too. Did the female have tiny little eggs. Were there hundreds or even thousands of them? There are shrimp that produce large floating larvae from medium sized eggs, which do not need saltwater to survive, such as Palaemonetes paludosus, but those are pretty rare.

All shrimp (even red cherries) tend to turn blue in the total darkness of a plastic bag during transport. That's not a different color variety or just "change of mood."

Mustafa

[gnome]

Thank you, Mustafa. Yes, like C. japonica, they carry a large number of very tiny eggs. And like C. japonica larvae, they just sort of bob up and down (head-down) and are attracted to light. A lot of them are "perched" on the side of the tank, though. It'll be interesting to see how long they survive. Too bad they probably won't reach maturity .

-Naomi

[eraserbones]

I just had a similar experience -- I bought some malayan shrimp a month ago (at least, that's what I think they are) and now I have a bowl full of larvae. I tried transferring a few into half-strength salt water (16 ppt) and they immediately expired, so the rest remain in freshwater.

Of course, it's possible that they will require salt, and I just shocked them by making the change too suddenly. Does anyone else have any guidance about how I should care for these guys? Naomi, are your larvae still surviving in fresh water?

[Mustafa]

Yes, you should gradually increase the salinity. This would be the natural way of doing to...since the larvae float gradually from freshwater to more and more salty water as the river turns into an estuary. (Although some people have reported that C. japonica larvae survived a sudden salinity change just fine.)

Mustafa

[gnome]

Eraserbones,

I think some of them died by my hand and others just died. I set up a tank with salinity of full-on seawater. The first few I just transferred directly from fresh to salt. They may have lasted a few minutes but I didn't see any the next day. Next few I tried to add a little more gradually, but they probably lasted a few hours. Then I didn't see any more. Another problem was that these may have been *either* Malayan shrimp larvae OR Amano shrimp larvae. I have five female Amano shrimp that are constantly carrying eggs, and barely a whole day passes between the time they kick them off and they're carrying new eggs. There is no way to tell which larvae belong to whom.

After this, however, I haven't seen any of my four Malayan shrimp carry any eggs. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck with your bowl-o'-larvae!

-Naomi

[eraserbones]

Mine seem to've perished as well, in the last day or so. I only have about three left, out of 100 on Saturday.

But, the female is carrying eggs again, so I'll have another try in a month. My only idea is to do a very gradual shift to salt water (and, if I'm ambitious, keep several batches in different salinities... guess I should get me some mason jars.)

Thanks for the update, Naomi!