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

[wolfnipplechips]

Babies are doing good today. Seems to be just as many as yesterday, but I haven't counted. I had a bio lab last semester on counting populations, but it's much harder than our lab ever was, so I gave up trying to count them. They are so cute zipping around! I can see more behaviors today than yesterday. It's hard to describe, but they have more ways of zipping around. They do sort of this vertical moon walk thing that I adore. I should play some MJ for 'em.

They DEFINITELY have an affinity with light. I haven't seen mine orient themselves to it, but I turned out their overhead light, and they all crowded toward the lighted 55 gal crab tank (which is a few feet away). Like they were trying to swim for it. So I just left their light on all night because the sun comes up at like 2 am here, and I didn't want them crowding toward the living room window and wasting energy, and I haven't covered the sides of their tank yet. The temp is steady steady at 76 according to my thermometer, which would make sense because that's about 1 degree higher than room temp, and their overhead lights probably heat the water up a degree or so.

They "love" the bubbles. Most stay right near them, sort of hovering in the current it makes. Still haven't seen any of them eat. I see brine shrimp eggs floating around in there with them, but no takers. Will they hatch in there? I also put in spirulina powder, but of course, I can't see it, so I don't know if they eat it. I also put in some purple seaweed (which is brown when it's rehydrated), and none are interested.

Big Mamma is probably going to drop soon. She keeps smelling the SW, and then walks away and sits in the substrate a few inches away, repeating this every half hour or so. I'm sending my husband on a mission today...to get a bucket with gallon measurements, and a tube. He's such a good guy. He's been calling them "our babies" Which scares the living crap outta me.

I have a plan for changing the water. When the bubbles are on one side, there are very few babies on the other. I can stick a siphon tube in the opposite corner and siphon the water out from there, as much as I can I think.

[wodesorel]

I was hoping for an update soon!


What strength of air pump are you using? And it's a 20 long? Hubby already talked about going out to get another tank and more supplies after realizing we have more little ones coming. (It is kinda freaky that the men folk are getting into this. ) I'm not against it as after seeing yours I don't think the 10 will be enough for one batch of eggs.

The brine shrimp should hatch in there:
http://www.marinedepot.com/fish_food_sa ... ps-ap.html
However, the eggs are so tough that it's doubtful they will try to eat them until they hatch. I had some baby brine shrimp last night, and they are so tiny that I'm not sure if you'd know if/when they did hatch and were eaten, and as the egg shells stay in the tank after they do hatch and you can't tell the difference from hatched/unhatched eggs. It did take 24 hours for them to start hatching, and even then it wasn't many.

Try wrapping the tank with something heavy to block the light, because like most zoea they will crush themselves trying to get to a light source. Like hermits they should need a 12/12 cycle to grow properly, but that would be a big unknown. I'm using black construction paper on mine to block the sides, and will be putting the lights on a 8/8 cycle which will give them a bit of "dawn" and "dusk" before and after from daylight. Can't imagine anything like that would work in Alaska right now!!

[wolfnipplechips]

My air pump is for "up to 40 gallons" and is a tetra whisper (and it's not whispering anymore-it got LOUD!!!). I have a 6 inch air stone, but on the lowest setting, only the middle 2 inches are expelling bubbles. And yep, it's a 20 long. If you're not against it, something a little bigger would be ideal. 20ga long seems a little small, but I don't know anything about this, of course, so use your best judgement. I will be cutting cardboard to cover the tank sides today.

[wolfnipplechips]

Ok, I DEFINITELY see some tiny little brine shrimp swimming around! I'll have to watch to see if the baby crabbies eat them. They are like 1/4 to 1/6 the size of the crab babies. Kind of a relief to know that they are hatching at least.

[wolfnipplechips]

YESSS!!! I saw one grab a brine shrimp!! And he's been hanging onto it for a while!! Must be munching on it! I would take a pic, but it's like...impossible. lol. They are just so tiny...both my camera's aren't that good at picking out specks that tiny.

[wodesorel]

Sweet!!!!

[wolfnipplechips]

Sorry, had to post more pics. Tried this already once, but photobucket keeps freezing my computer.

Take us to your leader!!

[wodesorel]

NEVER be sorry for more pictures!!!!! Why would you even think that!


And hubby is so totally right. The Reapers are totally coming: http://www.the-masseffect-movie.com/wp- ... ereign.jpg

[CrabbyMom33]

WOW! Those pictures are great! Don't feel bad about more pictures. We love them!

[wolfnipplechips]

I just feel like they all looks the same, so it's like spam. But they are all individuals! Hard to think Godzilla used to be one of those guys...so many years ago.

I got the tank sides covered with cardboard, and my husband is going to help with a water change after he puts some legos away. We got a bucket and a tube, and we mean business.

[kip.rogers357]

So when they are on land and able to be adopted out, I want these three!!!

Those are great pictures! I am so excited for you, i wish I had what it takes to do the whole setup and care for them...I'll be flushing a bunch of freshly hatched Ruggies and PP's down the toilet soon

Don't you worry about uploading pictures, in fact, we want you to! Keep them coming, as many as possible!

[SoulLonely]

that is sooo awesome! Please, keep the pictures coming! That is way kool you saw one holding onto a brine shrimp and hopefully eating it

[Crabbielover1031]

I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open looking at these pics/videos!!! Great work wolf!!!!

[wolfnipplechips]

Thanks very much everybody. Your support means more than you know. I have pretty much nobody to share this experience with in real life.

Well I did a water change with the help of my husband. Except, he was in charge of filling the bucket to make the SW, and he filled it to the 4 gallon mark instead of the 5 every time except the last, so it's too salty. Ugh. I changed out some super salty water for some half salty water very carefully. I think they have evolved to be able to take salinity fluctuations, though, since they are spawned close to shore and kinda planktonic for a while. I'll check on them in a while and see how many are still alive.

Also, while changing the water, I siphoned a mouthful of SW right into my mouth. Even the thought of SW taste makes me gag, so having a mouthful of it was just...uuuugghhh. Didn't puke though thank goodness. I'm such a dummy.

Changing the water was an adventure. Definitely a two person job, so I don't think my husband will be able to do it by himself when I go out of town in August. Also, we can't afford the salt to do a change every day, so it's going to be every other day. A big bucket of salt (makes 120 gallons of SW) at petco is $55. Yikes!

We put the overhead light on one side, and turned off all the apt lights. Like 95% of them went over to the light. The other 5% have been washed down the drain...nothing I could really do. Then, after 10 gallons emptied, we shuffled them over to the other side of the tank (via light), and vacuumed up the debris from that side. So the tank is nice and clean. I made flaps through the cardboard so I can peek in at them.

I added more brine shrimp eggs, and their appetite is starting to get better. They keep trying to eat the eggs, but drop them after a couple seconds. I hope more of the ones I put in yesterday hatch. Until then, I guess I'll add some spirulina? I can't even see it, so I don't know if they eat it...

Big Mamma still hasn't spawned. I'm keeping a close eye on her. I think I'll change the SW in the hermie tank so it's nice and clean.

So in short, water changes suck.

Edit: I posted a vid today of two males fighting over big mamma a while ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRTXgjhrjoI It's 4 minutes long, but it's funny.

Oh yeah, and if any of my crab babies make it to be "real" crabs, I'm going to charge like $300 each. They are so expensive to raise! Especially when I have no idea what I'm doing.

[parrothead]

Alaska, I love you! lol- this is the greatest science experience EVER!