My Straw (Perlatus) baby thread

[naalide]

Sorry to hear about your losses!
Do you have sand in your jars or only water?

After my larvae developed to megalopa, I put some sand into the kreisel-tank ans of course some shells.
But in your jars the sand would whirl around with too much bubbles. I guess, it's easier to slow down the bubbles in a circulation-tank, than in a jar.

[kuza]

ya the shells get swirled around a lot, but I'm tempted to put some sand in, I'm not sure how to turn the bubbles down without causing the water to get too dirty too quickly.

Did you use regular playsand or aquarium sand?

[wodesorel]

If the shells are swirling then sand would be kicked up even worse! You might be able to get away with a thick grain sand like pool filter sand or even playsand if you washed it to death as it's pretty dense for it's size, but if there's enough current to sway shells then there's enough current to swirl sand.

[naalide]

ya the shells get swirled around a lot, but I'm tempted to put some sand in, I'm not sure how to turn the bubbles down without causing the water to get too dirty too quickly.

Yea, I see. It's much easier with a kreisel-tank.
Can you separate the megalopa in a small aquarium? In this stage they don't need so much water-movement.

Did you use regular playsand or aquarium sand?

Aquarium coral sand.

[kuza]

I think I could move them, they have almost all become megalopa now, well dozens anyway. I can't even count them now I think I have over 30 megalopa. I have a small 5 gallon tank I could probably use now.

[hermilove]

WOO! That's a lot of little babies to have running around I hope most of them make it!

[naalide]

OK, then you can put some megalopas in the aquarium and leave some in the jars.

When I tried to raise my larvae, I read a lot in academic sources. For some crabs it is known, they develop better, if they have some sand. Even though this dissertation was not about hermits, that's why I tried to put a small amount of sand in the tank. The sand was just covering the ground. My megalopas clutch to the sand after some days.

After all, it's just a new arena for all of us. Still experimental-stage. So try whatever you think may work best.

[kuza]

Thanks, it's worth a try.

I've found the zoea and megalopa clutch the ground, in fact my zoea feed on the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs that were always on the bottom, I think that's what gave them that nice orange color. The zoea would sue those front feeler mouth parts to hold the bottom, where the megalopa grab stuff with their main legs.

I will try some aquarium calci sand, I have a nice beta TV fish bowl I just cleaned up to use.

[kuza]

Nat, how big are the pools in your transition tank? I can't tell by the picture, but you have 2 salt water pools, is that to prevent them from eating each other or did you just not have a big enough pool?

I have a few sizes to choose from but I'm not sure how big it should be, or deep.

[kuza]

Yea, I see. It's much easier with a kreisel-tank.
Can you separate the megalopa in a small aquarium? In this stage they don't need so much water-movement.
Aquarium coral sand.

I have playsand here, do you think it would be just as good since it's like beach sand? I could run tot he store and get some real Aquarium coral sand if you think that would be the better choice.

[Nat_addicted to HC's]

I used aquarium sand. The play sand made my pool cloudy. Experiment with it first & decide then. My trans pools hold about 200ml from memory

[Rocky]

I have playsand here, do you think it would be just as good since it's like beach sand? I could run tot he store and get some real Aquarium coral sand if you think that would be the better choice.

I managed to wash my playsand down really well (it just took some time) so it might be worth a shot In this case it was for my frog tank

[wodesorel]

Playsand will be silica, a saltwater aquarium sand will be coral based (aragontie). Playsand should be inert, while the coral sand would buffer the pH and provide extra calcium. If others have used coral-based sand with success, I would use that!

[kuza]

ya I'll pick some up tomorrow. As of tonight I can no longer keep count of them all, and there's still more zoea left. I estimate around 30 megalopa at this point, and maybe 50-100 zoea left.

It's really crazy to see one swimming around holding another one out in front of him making a meal out of him, I feel so bad I want to break them up

[naalide]

Since wodesorel and Nat_addicted to HC's answered the sand-question, while I was sleeping, I skip it.
To bad with 6 or more hours time difference.^^

30 megalopa and still dozens of larvae sounds very good!