Project Orange

[James0816]

Been a bit on the updating of things....Not much has been happening actually. All the ladies have been kinda in a lull at the moment. Today is a different story though. Today I found (2) berried Propinqua's and (1) Amano.

So....being the winter months and heat is a factor...not to mention me still not building my racks yet......I took a bit of initiative and devised me a heat bath for (3) tanks. So here we go:
Start with (1) unused dirty 10g tank. Didn't even bother cleaning it. I tested one of the rearing tanks to see if they fit. Just a bit small so I added a piece of wood for support.

Here's the front view: Disregard the person taking the photo as Marvin the Martian looks on.

And a top view:

I filled up the rearing tanks with clean water. Then started filling the tank itself as high as I could without the small tanks floating. Added a heater and then the light:

And with the light on:

I currently have the heater on to adjust the heat to the mid to upper 70s. I'll be adding air stones in just a bit.

Quick and simple. I may even just throw some Java ferns and moss in the bottom for ambiance.

And if I'm lucky....tomorrow all three tanks will have a lovely lady in them.

 

[James0816]

Temperature check this morning on the heat was 83. A bit high for what I want so I changed out heaters with one that I can adjust better. If that fails, I'll go with a smaller one but not much flexibility. All expecting shrimps are still berried and waiting on me now.

 

[James0816]

Bath is still at 80 with the new heater. Time to change it out again. Gotta hit that magic 75 mark. Do believe I have a smaller one. If not...it's off to PetSmart. Ladies still waiting on me which is a good thing.

I got to thinking, if I put Java ferns in the bottom, I would have to be carefull when the zoea hatch to make sure to not contaminate the bath water with salt. Hmmm... Still think it's manageable though.

 

[XanAvaloni]

in GEEE neous! And if the shrimp grow larger than expected you already have a double boiler set up, with overactive heaters no less, to handle cooking.

wouldn't worry about javas or other sturdy plants in the bottom/cookpot tank. I've treated molly tanks with pretty heavy doses of salt during ich outbreaks and don't remember the plants ever being bothered. Unless you dumped the entire contents of one of the little breeding tubs into the 10 I doubt plants would even notice. And if you did? Just yank the plants out.

 

[James0816]

Temp check this morning is spot on. Will go and hopefully transfer some ladies shortly.

 

[James0816]

well...I just looked for the expecting Props, didn't immediately find them. I'll keep checking but it's not looking good. They must've know I was ready for them.the amano lady looks like she has several non viable eggs as well. I'll still isolate her and see what happens.

 

[James0816]

Caught the Amano lady and have her in isolation. More than half her eggs looks bad. Worse comes to worse...she dumps her eggs in the rearing tank and we start over. Still can't find the berried the Props. Looks like they are awash yet again. Disturbing. No action from the Ninja's either. It's like everything has stalemated at the moment.

 

[azolla]

Cool! Keep up the good work!

 

[James0816]

Mama Amano continues to hold onto the eggs. Surprises me a bit but that's a good sign. We'll see where it goes from here. I'll be doing a little work in the Cocama/Propinqua tank and see if we can't get the ball rolling again over there. The Ninja's have been displaying some most beautiful markings the past couple of days after their tank was trimmed up.

 

[James0816]

I think mama Amano cleared out the bag eggs. She did at least a partial dump. Kind of hard to tell in this setup but I'll get a better look at her when I do a water change.

I isolated a berried Propinqua two days ago. As of this morning, she's still holding. I'm not going to get my hopes up yet but we'll see. I have a partial water change on tap for her today as well.