TMC Hatchery

Latest Developments

Shrimp Breeding Successes at Tropical Marine Centre

At the end of July, the TMC hatchery successfully raised a number of Cleaner Shrimps (Lysmata amboinensis) and the 300 people who attended the Open Day held at TMC on July 31st were lucky enough to see this first batch three weeks into their planktonic stage.

These shrimps recently went through their final moult which is quite an achievement as, just like the Fire Shrimps (Lysmata debelius) which TMC raised successfully two years ago, Cleaner Shrimps have a very long larval time during which they go through many, potentially life-threatening moults.

Continuing research and development on the rearing of Fire Shrimps has meant that the larval time for this particular species has been shortened to 9 weeks (primarily due to nutritional improvements which help them to grow faster). However, the Cleaner Shrimps took 14 weeks to reach their final moult which the hatchery manager, Mark Wilson, is confident can also be reduced with on-going work with this species. The next stage is to produce Cleaner Shrimps commercially, which, if successful, would be another World first for the hatchery.

The TMC hatchery is also starting work on two species of Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni and Lysmata californica). Although these species have already been bred at other facilities, they are species which TMC would like to add to the list of approximately 18 tank raised species already offered to customers.