Woohooo! Two females with eggs! Update P.6! BABIES! (PPs)

[CrabbyMom33]

It looks like they need more like a 1 mm opening. Man, that is tiny!

[wolfnipplechips]

Well, it's hard to tell between the baby and the shell because the shell is a lot taller than the baby, so it looks a lot bigger. 2D problems.

[Happy Crabber]

Wow- That is small. The babies sure are looking dark, and more hermity. Keep up the good work!

[kuza]

what about that iodine stuff again?

[wodesorel]

Maybe they need larger food at this point? Baby brine shrimp are around only 350 microns. Adults might be a better option. Or, something prepackaged maybe?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=12212
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=19693

Those prices are high - I bought a similar bottle of the phytoplankton to feed the rotifers until my phytoplankton gets started, and it was only $7 at Pet Supplies Plus.

Alternately - could they have moved towards walking on the bottom and/or inhabiting shells? Just a (happy) thought....


And thank you for that photo! I was having a really hard time judging scale. Man, those guys are teensy. I'll have to check in the morning and see if the shells I have are that small. I know I have at least a few that size, but I don't think it's many. I found mention that for baby marine hermit crabs they need 3 to 6 mm long shells (not openings), so I would hope that land crabs need the same as that is the majority of the teeny shells I've got.

[wolfnipplechips]

The glaucothoes officially have been eating their siblings. Got video. Will be up tomorrow. Guess I'll have to get bigger food for next year (assuming more babies). I'm happy they're eating, but I wish I had something else to feed them!!

I've been using the iodide again for the last two days. I put two drops in in the morning and swoosh it around.

[Skymall007]

I can't wait to hear more! I am sorry more are dying, but getting them this far is huge! I hope they will make it. It makes sense that few will, the strongest will survive. I imagine the deaths are normal, especially because of their reproductive strategy. I wonder if they all stay close together in the wild, I can't imagine them swimming in the ocean, it seems like they would have no choice of where to go. I'm glad humans are K reproductive strategy.

They are so tiny! Keep up the amazing work!

[wolfnipplechips]

Seeing more supermen today. Counted 4 swimmers, and one on the ground. He came out of a shell!! But then I lost track of him, and couldn't spot him again, so not sure if that's what I REALLY saw or what... I always like to double check the things I see.

[SoulLonely]

for protein, will they eat dead stuff at this stage? I know it might not be the best for water quality, but if you powdered insects for them? Or crushed up nuts into a powder? Or if you put something soft in there that they could pick at like a worm? And since kale, broccoli and spinach have protein in it, can you pop in some pieces of that if they can rip little pieces to eat?


I'm sorry a lot have been dying, but it is seriously amazing how far you have kept them alive! Especially because of how much work you put into it everyday! And thank you for allllllll of the updates, I love them!

[kuza]

Have you thought about adding seaweed to the tank at all? I know sometimes young marine crabs will all gather in seaweed so maybe they munch on it too.

[HermitHoarder]

Seaweed would give them a place to hide too so that maybe some could avoid being eaten

[HermitHoarder]

Also, I LOVE their little crabby eyeballs!

[wodesorel]

Seaweed would give them a place to hide too so that maybe some could avoid being eaten

Oh my gosh!!! This is probably it! They don't have any cover in there to get away from each other.

With fiddlers, someone finally realized that in order to get them to survive you have to have something for the little ones to hang onto and hide in. Bare bottomed tanks didn't work for raising them.

Wolf - can you add some playsand (boiled to sterilize) to the bottom, just to give them a dusting so they can get some traction? And do you have any barnacles or big rough clam shells or best yet hunks of coral? If whatever you put in there is clean and sanitized and is not organic material (like wood), it won't affect water quality.

[wolfnipplechips]

I could try to put in oyster shells maybe?? I'm super busy today packing and cleaning. Not sure when it will be. Just taking a break right now from packing.

I've pretty much given up at this point. I hate flying, so the extra stress of that is putting me over the edge here. Maybe next year, I'm going to make a tank floor like I did with the ramp so that I can still suck up dead babies and food scum from the bottom, but it will also give them traction.

[ceo1282]

Sorry things have you so stressed. It's too bad us humans can't dig down to destress when needed. Sure would be nice.