Live mysis shrimp

[vwreefer]

So in learning to diversify my food options for my fish and coral I was wondering what people thought of or what your experiences were with live mysis shrimp. Let me first say that I have never feed my tank before with them nor do I even know what eats them so the purpose of this topic is to learn what I can about them and if they are suitable for my tank needs. So let me take the time to describe my tank.

56 column, mixed reef with lps, sps, zoas, and softies (meat eaters I believe are my acans, candy canes, yuma and ricordia, favias, hammers, torch)
fish are anthia, yellow tang, blue/green chromis, orange strip cardinal, two tank raised clowns.

I was thinking if I could get a small colony of live mysis shrimp growing in my HOB refugium, then I could feed my tank periodically with them (again assuming they are appropriate for my broodstock and fish).

Please feel free to put your thoughts and experiences out there since this is new to me.

Here's a link for purchasing them I found: http://www.aquaculturestore.com/swinverts.html

 

[KathyC]

I doubt you would be able to keep enough mysis alive in your fuge to make it worthwhile as they tend to feed on each other and you almost have to pollute your fuge to keep them well fed.

It is much easier to feed mysis this way, and extremely cost effective:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/79892-feeding-without-going-broke.html
If the block is too much food for just your tank, you can easily find a local reefer to split it with

..and yes, all of those fish would happily eat the mysis :fish:

 

[lfsmarineguy]

You can buy live mysid shrimp but I think it's a waste since they will show up on rock or a coral at some point if you're lucky. You see them more in fuges since they can go about their business unharassed by predators but I have never seen a tank with a population large enough to actually feed the main display. You would probably need a massive fuge several times the size of your main display to actually generate enough shrimp to create any kind of benefit as far as food.

When it comes to frozen I like the Piscine Energetics mysis, it's worth every penny. It's a freshwater species so there's no salt in it, it's whole mysis, they're large, and everything eats it pretty quickly (even tiny fish that have to tear it apart).