Artemis, Day 14 carrying eggs

[ROSIEonFIRE]

Forgot to add: I may have more females carrying eggs.

Yassssss

[Renroc]

Forgot to add: I may have more females carrying eggs. The two crabs that didn't have eggs before, but exhibited mating behavior around the last full moon, are now hanging together, staying in the warmest spots in the tank, and walking in the wheel a lot. These are all things the other females did when they were brooding, so we shall see. I don't have visual confirmation of eggs, so it's all just behavior-based conjecture. But it could happen. If I get a visual, I'll let you know, but both these females are in dark shells which makes it a lot harder for me to confirm eggs.

Hi there. Huge losses are normal. I would take out everything in the jar except the water and the mega/zoea. This will also help keep the water quality up as the gravel on the bottom will trap debris. I didn't use anything high tec. To change water I used 10mm clear plastic tubing with a stocking held over the end with a rubber band. Sucked on it to get started then kept the end lower than the jars but drained into a glass bowl and checked for mega. I then curled this into a u shape and hung it over the laundry tap in the sink with water in the tube. This meant I didn't have to suck on the end each time but just rely on gravity.


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[Happyhermiehome]

Forgot to add: I may have more females carrying eggs. The two crabs that didn't have eggs before, but exhibited mating behavior around the last full moon, are now hanging together, staying in the warmest spots in the tank, and walking in the wheel a lot. These are all things the other females did when they were brooding, so we shall see. I don't have visual confirmation of eggs, so it's all just behavior-based conjecture. But it could happen. If I get a visual, I'll let you know, but both these females are in dark shells which makes it a lot harder for me to confirm eggs.

Question: what is their mating behavior? What do they do? How do they...? Have you ever caught them in "the" act? Lol...just curious!

[Renroc]

Yeah. I keep meaning to ask renroc since she did the jar thing, too. Just so much to keep up with. I gave them a little sprinkle of chlorella, too, and about an hour later the bodies of the ones who had eaten it turned green!
But it's made the water especially messy so I think I'll only do that as an occasional treat. I haven't actually seen the brine shrimp hatching, but I see the crabs eating the eggs. Maybe the eggs are old? Or maybe the crabs are just eating them all.

This is a shot of one checking me out and one hugging a brine shrimp egg.

I was doing 1/3 water changes every 4-6 hours so salinity wasn't an issue with my jars. You seem to be getting more buildup than I did. Maybe you are feeding too much? But you say they are hungry so perhaps they are not eating one of the food sources you are providing. It is hard for me to really comment as Aussies are only in the water for 10-14 days in total. I only used one food source and added a tiny tiny amount after each water change. That way it only had a few hours to foul up the water until the next change. I am just reading through the whole thread for the first time now. Sorry for my slackness.

[Renroc]

I have about 100 baby shells at this point. 50 from wolfnipplechips that are shaped like turbos, and 50 that I picked out of a bag of craft shells from Michael's. I can't imagine I'll need more than that, although I still have thousands of zoea alive (and another female ready to drop eggs any day now--yikes), but I'm guessing a die-off will be coming if anyone else's results are an indication of what I have in store. Hate to be too optimistic, but I also hate to be unprepared....

Gosh, that all sounds so amazing, though. What a wonderfully generous offer! I'm so overwhelmed by baby zoea duties at the moment, but I would love to see how this batch goes and then see what I can do with future eggs that may be gifted to me.

Thank you!!

My mega chose the tiny tiny shells I picked out of bird shell grit. Shells themselves were less than 3mm in size. BUT your mega will probably be larger seeing they spend more time in the water.

[mlakers]

Thank you, renroc! I think I was definitely feeding them too much. I kept trying different things, too, unsure which they were eating.

One-third water change 4-6 times a day. Good Lord, I can't imagine keeping that up for a month or more with five different jars. It took me an hour each time. I definitely need to figure out how to streamline any future attempts.

[mlakers]

Question: what is their mating behavior? What do they do? How do they...? Have you ever caught them in "the" act? Lol...just curious!

A couple of people have gotten good videos of various mating behaviors. It's not that sexy. The male guards the female, keeping other males away and in the case of mine, I've seen the male flip the female shell opening up and sort of stroke her big pincher in circles. She responds with little fluttery movements of her walking legs. Then he passes her a sperm packet which she uses to fertilize eggs that she has laid in her shell and holds close to her body using feathery appendages called pleiopods. She broods the eggs for about a month, then spawns by casting them into the ocean where contact with saltwater makes the eggs burst and the babies hatch into freeswimming larvae. (Did I miss anything, crabby experts?)

[mlakers]

Day Twenty-six.

Yesterday I looked and looked and didn't see anything moving so I was pretty sure my experiment was over. I was sad, but had already grieved and made peace with the idea.

Then today, when checking salinity, just to keep it at a good level in case I get more eggs, I just happened to see one little zoea peeking out at me from a shell off to one side! I looked for a good thirty seconds and shone a flashlight on it, and it was definitely moving and had good color. Not megalopa yet, but not dead either. So we shall see! All is nearly--but not quite!!--lost. I'll keep maintaining the tank and pretending like no one is in there (meaning not obsessing) and hopefully he'll keep surviving.

[Renroc]

Hi mlakers are you on Facebook? Happy to chat to you if you want. Would be easier via Facebook messenger.


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[Renroc]

I think you have to look for shells thats around 1-4mm opening for the 'first time homes'... Either curlz or Nat mentioned that, I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

1mm openings are big for first shells. Mine took the shells I picked out of shell grit for birds. I needed to use a magnifying glass and a pin to check that the openings were not blocked and that the shell had no holes in it. Painstaking and time consuming. Hard on my old eyes and harder still on my back being bent over looking closely under a strong light for ages. The shells you have in your pools at the moment look way too big and heavy for first shells. The shells mine took first were not much longer than the mega themselves. They preferred the conical shaped ones.

[Renroc]

@Renroc- Were you on off the one stuck on the cruise ship?! Over the hurricane?

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Hi Kayedee nope I was deliberately under the ocean in Micronesia diving the WW11 wrecks in Chuuk (Truk Lagoon) Had a brilliant trip and will be back there again some time in the future.

[Renroc]

Hi People, sorry for my last lot of quotes and posts. I've finally had time to read the whole thread. Brilliant work mlakers and everyone else in the support team. I have done this 2 times now and got 24 to land the first time but all died before actually doing a moult on land... The second time I am pretty sure I had zoea from 2 different crabs as I tipped the first lot out and rinsed the pool in fresh tap water and then fresh dechlorinated water, wiped it dry with a paper towel and left in sun to dry properly before putting back into tat with fresh salt water. The next day I had more zoea... I kept them separated for most of their 10 days but they did all go in together once all were mega. I am so happy that Aussies only spend 10-14 days in water. Don't know if I could do the 1/3 water changes every 6 hours for 40 days!!!!
I understand your comment about mixing more salt water Mary.... I normally use real ocean water as beaches here are very clean and I often collect it when I dive from out in the middle of the ocean anyway. BUT it is a 30min drive each way to the beach from home and I just didn't have the time. SO I weakened and bought ocean mix. I made 20Litres at a time and kept in a black bucket with a lid and an air stone.
My jars held about 1.5L and I had 3 for most of the time. SO I was doing 1.5 Litre per change every 6 or so hours... Doesn't take long to go through heaps of salt...

I know you have read my breeding thread so I won't talk too much about what I did... You have to consider this a learning curve (exponential) and take everything you have learnt this time onboard. Don't over think it though. When your next crabs drop eggs you will be much calmer and organised. I didn't even know mine had eggs either time so you are at least that much more prepared than I was... hehehe GOOD LUCK and keep on keeping on.

[Happyhermiehome]

Question: what is their mating behavior? What do they do? How do they...? Have you ever caught them in "the" act? Lol...just curious!

A couple of people have gotten good videos of various mating behaviors. It's not that sexy. The male guards the female, keeping other males away and in the case of mine, I've seen the male flip the female shell opening up and sort of stroke her big pincher in circles. She responds with little fluttery movements of her walking legs. Then he passes her a sperm packet which she uses to fertilize eggs that she has laid in her shell and holds close to her body using feathery appendages called pleiopods. She broods the eggs for about a month, then spawns by casting them into the ocean where contact with saltwater makes the eggs burst and the babies hatch into freeswimming larvae. (Did I miss anything, crabby experts?)

Ooooh...okay...I seee...thank you for the info!

[KayedeeLove<3]

@Renroc- Were you on off the one stuck on the cruise ship?! Over the hurricane?

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Hi Kayedee nope I was deliberately under the ocean in Micronesia diving the WW11 wrecks in Chuuk (Truk Lagoon) Had a brilliant trip and will be back there again some time in the future.

Sweet!

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[mlakers]

I know you have read my breeding thread so I won't talk too much about what I did... You have to consider this a learning curve (exponential) and take everything you have learnt this time onboard. Don't over think it though. When your next crabs drop eggs you will be much calmer and organised. I didn't even know mine had eggs either time so you are at least that much more prepared than I was... hehehe GOOD LUCK and keep on keeping on.

Thank you, renroc! That's what I'm thinking and hoping, too. I'm seeing it (now!) as more of a process, a journey that at some point will eventually get me to a successful attempt. Yes, I'm just that stubborn.