Project Orange

Morning check looked well. Tons of zoea floating about. Still many, many eggs on the bottom. I'm starting to think these may not actually hatch. I will work on seperating them today and placing them in a seperate container just in case. Once all the eggs have been removed, the zoea will begin their journey downstream.

Since I have two more females with eggs and they are close together by date, I am only going to work at full sea salinity with this first Amano group.
 
Water change in the zoea tank today. That proved to be a real challenge but I got through it. I had to use a brine shrimp net and some small tubing. Wound up dipping the net too far and got some zoea. Hopefully I was able to recover all of them. It was < 10 so not a big impact.

The zoea are now transitioning to full salt water. My plan is a slow introduction even though studies say it is not neccessary. This is the first round with Amano's so I'm going to start at ground zero. I'm dripping in 2x35ppm at a rate of (1) drop every 2 seconds. The water change took the level to (4) cups. I'll add (4) cups of the 2x and then 2 additional cups of phyto mix at full sea water. I wanted to start introducing the phyto at the same time as the salt but not sure if that would cause initial salinity level problems. In the end, it will all be 35ppm anyway, just don't want to go any higher in the mean time. Maybe a salt water expert can assist with that.

Also, back in Propinqua world, we now have another berried female there. Definately will need a couple extra small tanks to work with being that the ladies are spaced out time wise.
 
I think I may have waited too long to introduce them to salt water and subsequently .. feeding. Very brief check this morning, I didn't see very many zoea floating about. I did find a few hanging on the walls and a few in the water column. Again, this was just a brief check but definately should have seen a lot more.

I never did get the tank up to full sea water last night. The drip was started too late in the evening and I eventually shut it off when it was time to retire for the eve. The plan is to start it back this afternoon when I return. But may be too late.

In either event, this was a good lesson learned on the Amano's. Unlike the Propinqua, all the eggs did not hatch out. This is where I lost a day as I waited for them to. Then of course the human factor comes in as I waited so long to make the initial move to salt. Judging by the amount of zoea I saw between yesterday and this morning, I would say the move to salt and feeding of phyto really should take place immediately after hatching with no waiting period. A very most, no more than (2) days after hatching. So if the next females have the same pattern, the unhatched eggs will be removed the same day and the transfer to salt will begin.

By my calculations, the next two females should be ready in about a week. I will examine them today just to be on the safe side and may even isolate them today depending on what I find.
 
Wow! I can't believe I missed this thread for this long. What an interesting project/projects. Ty for sharing this stuff. Can't wait to see more. :)
 
Still have quite a few zoea in the tank so I guess the loss isn't too bad. Definately notice the difference in numbers though. I would give a rough guesstimate at < 100 now.

I have the salt drip going again. Actually it's been going for a couple hours now. I'm also in the process of introducing the phyto. I'm doing a coctail of Nannochloropiss and Tetraselmis. If the zoea survive these next few days, I will introduce a very small amount of Golden Pearls.

Temps have been holding steady in the tank at 72.

Getting ready to go check on the other two Amano ladies. I saw the one Propinqua and she is fine and has a nice grouping of eggs in her carriage.
 
Pretty soft actually. Wha cha thinkin?
 
Definately have > 100 zoea in the tank. Since the tank is nice and green with the phyto, it is very hard to see much in there. I did spot a few on the sides but that was pretty much it. So....I did the light test.

I turned off the over head light on the tank and used a small mag flash light. As soon as I turned it on and shined it into the tank, it was like static cling! lol Within a second, the side of the tank was litterally covered with zoea. Was pretty hilarious actually. But is was a good way to guestimate how many survivors are in there. I'm half tempted to do that once a day as it pretty much guarantees they will be active as they are drawn to the light.

Approaching the one week mark.
 
I have the salt drip going again. Actually it's been going for a couple hours now. I'm also in the process of introducing the phyto. I'm doing a coctail of Nannochloropiss and Tetraselmis. If the zoea survive these next few days, I will introduce a very small amount of Golden Pearls.
Click to expand...

I have a dumb question. Why not feed phyto plankton out of a bottle and save your self some trouble? Why do you need to culture the phyto yourself?
 
Now where's the fun in that? :)

Seriously though, cheaper and easier in the long run.
 
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