Post
by mlakers » Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:57 am
Also, I am trying very hard to do this A) On the cheap and B)Without unduly stressing myself. So far, I am succeeding on A, not so much on B.
The smaller "tanks" are just cheap plastic goldfish bowls. I had to use rocks to weight them down or they would float. I also added sand and the tiny shells now, even though it's way early. I figured why not make them a part of the setup from the beginning? I know others have used strict laboratory-type setups, but I wanted to more closely mimic the wild conditions. It may make them harder to clean, but we'll see.
For the bubblers, I had to use a splitter on the line coming out from the pump--and AFTER the splitter a control valve on EACH LINE in order to properly adjust the flow and regulate them. One flow valve didn't work for both, no matter how I tried to finagle the adjustments and length of air tubing, etc. It's a super easy fix but one that took me several days to figure out. (Doh!) And the splitter kit comes with three or four of each splitters and control valves for very little cost, so I had them on hand already.
The miniature shells I found at Michael's craft store in their shell section. Before heading to Michael's, I made a trip to a saltwater fish store and the owner gave me a handful of his tiniest shells for marine hermits but they were still too large and heavy. These babies that will take shells (IF I ever get to that stage) will need the lightest, smallest snail shells available if they are going to be able to drag themselves up on land.
I also bought brine shrimp eggs for hatching and put them in the tanks ahead of time to make sure: A)They would hatch--telling me conditions are at least not instantly fatal and B)Any baby hermits would have an available food source right away. I bought phytoplankton, too, but after using it with the brine shrimp, I have concerns with that. If I DO try it out with hermit larvae I will only try it in one of the two tanks and will keep a close eye on it. I am on the fence about buying a nitrogen measuring kit. I know it would be useful, but they aren't that cheap and it will also give me one more thing to stress over, which I am trying to avoid. But I reserve the right to buy one later at my local pet store if things progress and I want to know that detail.
I wish you the best! Also your hermie is beautiful ~