Questions On Larvae Tank

[rml6f4]

Sure I can share! (Edit: Sorry this turned into a book... got a bit out of hand)

March 26-27: Breeding followed by guarding
April 26: Eggs dropped
May 17: First megalopa
~May 26: Interest in shells. Also mama crab dropped a second batch of babies that I didn’t catch in time. Probably in my top 5 worst smells.
~May 30: Failed attempt to leave water.

Birth Pool
I was changing the water pretty much every other day, put a bubbler in it, and installed a small heat pad against the glass by the pool to get the pool temp in the low 80s in case I didn’t catch them right away. I also used an old phone and a free camera app to set up a “crab baby cam”. I judged myself at this point, unaware of how bad the crazy crab lady was actually about to get.

Raising tank
- 10 gallon tank with glass jars in it.
- Main tank: Normal tap water in the tank. Heater keeping main tank water at 81F-83F.
- Closed hood with normal aquarium light on 24 hrs.
- Jars: Instant Ocean Seasalt (package instructions) + Prime Dechlorinator (about four drops per jar) + tap water.
- Four of the jars were used for raising zoeae.
- I used a bubbler with a four-way split valve to put a bubbler line in each raising jar.
- I set this tank up about a week before the egg drop to make sure the water temp in the raising tank was staying consistent.
- I also had several additional jars that I put clean saltwater in. This allowed the new saltwater to get to the same temp as the zoeae jars before water changes.
- Water changes: Used a turkey baster to suck water into a glass cup. Used eye dropper to put any sucked up zoeae back in the jar. ~50% water change before work, sucked food out of bottom and put a couple new basters of water in after work, ~50% water change before bed. I’d highly suggest completely switching the jars every few days. My jars got so nasty that even water changes weren’t keeping them clean and I think I lost a bunch due to that. I was using a half gallon container to mix the saltwater, so I was making fresh saltwater twice a day.
- Food: Sprinkle of hatching brine shrimp about every other day. One drop of frozen baby brine shrimp (Ocean Nutrition) after each water change, sprinkle of decapsulated non-hatching brine shrimp on surface morning and night.
- I started with ~100 zoeae per jar.
- Around stage 3 or so the zoeae started having issues swimming unless the circulation was perfect in the jars. Getting the bubbler lines right at this point took a couple hours and every bit of patience I had. I think I swore off having my own human children at this point. I’d suggest sticking with mason jars for this reason (smaller, easier to circulate).
- Megalopa: They eat the remaining zoeae. They eat each other. They are merciless murder lobsters. Separate as much as possible. I followed the same cleaning schedule and mostly fed frozen krill (although I continued to feed small quantities of the other stuff). If I could do it again I would put them in the transition tank immediately instead of keeping them in the jars. They took an interest to shells within a few days of megalopa-ing.

For the transition tank I used two plastic paint roller brush trays (so I could remove the top one and clean it if needed), aquarium sealed a piece of plastic mesh down for the slope, and aquarium sealed sand on top of that. Put a long bubbler wand at the end of the slope for a current. Put shells on the slope and kept feeding krill and hatching brine shrimp.

[GotButterflies]

Thank you for the info! I made a kriesel...I'm probably going to attempt using that. I'm still not sure. We will see if I even get the chance. I put a topper on my 100 gallon tank, so due to the change in scenery they might not even breed this year. Who knows. You did such a great job!! I hope that you are proud of yourself!!

[rml6f4]

Thank you for the info! I made a kriesel...I'm probably going to attempt using that. I'm still not sure. We will see if I even get the chance. I put a topper on my 100 gallon tank, so due to the change in scenery they might not even breed this year. Who knows. You did such a great job!! I hope that you are proud of yourself!!

I would have liked to have a kriesel. I bet they circulate better. I hope you get a chance to try it out and let us know how it goes!

I was sad when the last one went but I honestly made it much further than I expected for my first attempt. Hopefully that breeding pair sticks around until next year!

[GotButterflies]

Thank you for the info! I made a kriesel...I'm probably going to attempt using that. I'm still not sure. We will see if I even get the chance. I put a topper on my 100 gallon tank, so due to the change in scenery they might not even breed this year. Who knows. You did such a great job!! I hope that you are proud of yourself!!

I would have liked to have a kriesel. I bet they circulate better. I hope you get a chance to try it out and let us know how it goes!

I was sad when the last one went but I honestly made it much further than I expected for my first attempt. Hopefully that breeding pair sticks around until next year!

I think you did phenomenal for your first attempt!!!

[mlakers]

Yay!! Thanks so much for the extensive recap. Studying all the different attempts and techniques is what I feel sure will finally get us there.

[rml6f4]

Sorry to revive this thread, but it definitely seems like my male straws are trying to breed with my female again. Poor thing escaped her original entanglement and is currently hiding herself in a corner with the boys trying to get to her. I don’t think she’s ready for another round of babies. Me either, Mama Crab, me either.

I checked her for eggs (this would be the third batch since April) and didn’t see any unless they’re way back in there. What gives? I thought eggs were produced prior to mating?

[rml6f4]

Just kidding. We have a third batch of eggs.

Edit: photo

[JoeHermits]

I’ve been reading this thread for tips for my first batch of zoea.

Are you going to raise this batch? I’ll wish the both of us luck!

[rml6f4]

I’ve been reading this thread for tips for my first batch of zoea.

Are you going to raise this batch? I’ll wish the both of us luck!

I’m considering it. I have a job that requires traveling a couple days a week sometimes, so it would be tough.

Hopefully my details are helpful. Obviously I wasn’t successful, but if you have any questions about what I tried let me know!

[GotButterflies]

Woohoo! Congratulations on more eggs!!!


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