Reef Discussion

[Luke]

While walking past the tank today, I noticed all the peppermint shrimp acting as I've never seen before ,
Racing around the live rock , Over the glass , Everywhere ......Very very active, All this during the day, Then i saw one molt , As soon as it finished molting they all went back into hiding .
I'm assuming there mating while one has molted ?
I'm surprised its during the day tho :0

 

[Dr. Schell]

Yes, this species is a simultaneous hermaphrodite. The larvae are released just before they molt their shell, and mating/egg laying occurs just after the shell is molted. During these times, they are very active.

 

[MichelleShocked]

My FW cherry shrimp males go beserk when one of the females is ready to breed - scoot all over the tank like mad things.

 

[Dr. Schell]

yes, pepermints do too. However if the density is too high, and once mated, thay can become canabilistic and will eat the individual that has the soft shell.

 

[MichelleShocked]

All excited about the popular one then tear it to shreds when its most vulnerable.....
sounds human:(

 

[Dr. Schell]

humans are very tame when compared to nature!

 

[ifishnow]

I once a a pair of Red Claws that were actually blue, thought they were WA blue marrons for a while. Anyway they had a couple of batches of young that when old enough they would hide amongst the rocks. Mind you the mortality rate of young wasn't very good considering they shared with Malawi Lake cichlids. Well one time after moulting of the male(who was half the size of the female) I disturbed a couple of rocks and he moved out..Obviously he still had soft shell. When I came back into the room here he was chopped in half by the female. He would have been 10cm long.

BTW I have my 2 original peppys which moult every now and then but never at the same time but havent seen any evidence of babies or eggs...but then I dont see them very often either and usually only one at a time. Do they have to be a certain age or size?

 

[MichelleShocked]

i think most marine shrimp off-spring go through a larval phase which doesnt bode well for them when they meet the filter system :(

 

[Dr. Schell]

BTW I have my 2 original peppys which moult every now and then but never at the same time but havent seen any evidence of babies or eggs...but then I dont see them very often either and usually only one at a time. Do they have to be a certain age or size?

If you have 2 together, they will naturally produce eggs. When the eggs are forming in the shrimp, they appear as a green mass at the back of the "head", where you would think the they shirmps "brain" would be. After they have been laid, the eggs will appear as green bunches of tiny round balls attached to the shrimps pleopods.

Unless you are looking for the eggs, they are easily overlooked.

 

[Josh M]

do redlines have a similar pattern (green in the head then eggs under neath?) as mine usually have one or the other constantly since i have had them (about 2 months or so) ....... the strange thing is they BOTH do it is this normal i would have thought that being the only two in the tank they would pair up and become male/female ?

 

[Dr. Schell]

this genus of shrimp (ie. Lysmata) are composed of simultaneous hemaphrodites (ie. both functional male and female at the same time). However, these animals cannot fertilise their own eggs and require a second individual to allow reproduction to occur. As such, every member of the community is able to pass on its genetic compliment in 2 ways (via sperm [functional male] and via eggs [functional female]) whilst maintaining maximum mixing of genetics (ie sexual reproduction not cloning).

As sould be expected, when 2 individuals are kept in a tank, you are likely to see the patturn of green in the "head" and green in the "pleopods" and josh has described above.

 

[Josh M]

very well then....... wish they were easy to raise id be rolling in cash soon the horny little buggers :p

 

[Dr. Schell]

they are almost impossible to stop them breeding, and raising them is ok, it is just that they WILL NOT metamorphose and they all die whislt in the pelagic stage. this problem holds true for a lot of the ornamental marine shrimp.

 

[Josh M]

Oh FYI doc...... It's damn near impossible to take anything you seriously with your avatar :)

 

[Dr. Schell]

that is why I have this avatar. Every time I look at it, I burst into laughter!

 

[Josh M]

I imagine a big hearty James earl jones laugh :)

 

[Dr. Schell]

:) imagine a mad scientist laugh and you would be on the money