chad vossen: peppermint shrimp

I have only tried once to raise peppermint shrimp, and succeeded with raising 5 total shrimp. I did a bit of research before attempting the shrimp by reading How to Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp, 2nd Edition. This book has been a valuable reference tool while raising peppermint shrimp. I know raising 5 shrimp is not impressive, however it was my first try and those 5 shrimp survived a tank crash, as I was using the water from my reef tank to do water changes on them.

The aquarium I used was very basic. I had a 10-gallon aquarium, with all the sides painted black except the front. For water movement, I had an air stone in the corner. The larval shrimp were fed 2-3 times per day, with frozen foods such as cyclopeeze, brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp. For the first few weeks, cyclopeeze was the main food, and brine shrimp was fed a few times a week. After the shrimp grew, they were fed brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. It was easy to feed them large food items because they would carry it around and chew on it, sometimes up to 5 larval shrimp pulling on the same brine shrimp. Another advantage of using frozen foods was that the shrimp would often pick up the left over food off the bottom of the tank. Water changes were a daily chore, starting with a siphoning of the bottom to remove uneaten food. If algae growth was present on the bottom or sides, I would scrape algae first before siphoning. The greatest challenge is not siphoning up a larval shrimp that you’ve been working 50+ days on. I used a rigid air hose and flexible silicone air hose to do the siphoning. Water was dripped back into the larval tank from above. I used old tank water from my reef as new water for the larval tank.

still in the larva catcher. that "mass" just left of the center is all peppermint shrimp.
03-02-2008