Project Orange

Thx Que. Morning check and all is still holding out well. No hatching to report. Temp stayed steady at 72 throughout the night. A very good sign. I expect it to bump up to around 78 during the day with the light on. This of course will change when the light stays running full time after the eggs hatch. The double air line is doing a nice job at keep a constant circulation in the tank. Now granted, there are no larvae in here yet, but judging by the particles in the water, it will work out well.
 
Tank temp maintained at 72 all day today. I might have the light in just the right spot it appears. Still debating to lower it a little more just to try and get that extra little bump in temp for the larvae. Right now though, I'll leave it where it sits.
 
Mama still holding. I'll do a small water change today to clear the waste from the bottom of the tank. Give her a couple more small flakes of food too.
 
Closer and closer we get:
AmanoWithEggs_042611.jpg


Water change in the holding tank and gave her one algae flake to snarf on. I think she appreciated that. ;o)

Temp in the tank was at 75 today. Other than a permanent frame, I will say the height of the light is spot on.....for now.
 
Everytime I look at that pic, I always thing of an amusement park ride. They must be going "weeeeeeee" when mama flaps her swimerets. ;o)
 
And we have a hatching!

Funny story, my daughter was downstairs with me checking on the tanks. She saw the Amano's in their home tank and asked how many were in there as she thought I only had (2). Told her there were (6) in the tank; (3) male and (3) females. Then she saw the berried females and I told her the other one is in the rearing tank waiting. She went to look at it and then said they all hatched out that there were babies everywhere. I went over to look and sure enough, her under carriage was empty and tons of larvae all over the place.

This kind of dispells one item with the Amano's in regards to hatching at night. This morning when I turned the light on, she was still holding. So sometime between 0600hrs and now, they hatched under the lights.

Using a small flashlight for an added light source, I placed it in the opposite corner from where mom was. I then gently lowered a small tupperware bowl in and scooped out mom. Wound up getting a few larvae too but nothing a dosing dropper couldn't take care of. I then placed the female back into the home tank and she was happy. :)

Stay tuned for more....
 
Here are some notes on this hatching:
- Approximately 18 days after noticing the berried female
- Female was in the rearing tank for (3) days prior to hatching
- Rearing tank temp: 74 degrees
- Day 1 of first brood: 28-Apr-2011

Here are some quick shots. Lighting is pretty bright so I adjusted them the best I could for viewing. Was hard to get good focus due to the lighting and subject size of course.

These three photos show the unhatched developed larvae. Taking a closer look, you can see a few that are not developed and will have to eventually be removed.
AmanosHatching3_042811.jpg


AmanosHatching2_042811.jpg


AmanosHatching1_042811.jpg


And a short video clip:
[YT]m0LhBBq4my4[/YT]

Judging by what I see, there will be more hatching (hopefully) throughout the rest of the day. I'm strictly guessing at this but my logic stems from seeing the developed larvae as depicted in the pics. Mama Amano dropped every egg. It's wasn't like other dwarf varieties where the female carries all the eggs until they all hatch.

Hopefully there is enough current going in there to keep them viable. So far it seems to be just enough. It is keeping the suspended in the current and not bouncing off the wall or such.

My initial plan was to start sending them downstream as soon as they hatched. Seeing that there are still quite a few left to hatch, I will wait about (2) days to begin their journey to the sea.

Plenty of Phyto and Golden Pearls at the ready. I'm also looking at using APR (Artificial Plankton Rotifers) as well.
 
Didn't notice any new hatchings. Not sure if they were any or not but it didn't seem like anything changed with the unhatched ones. Makes me wonder if those will hatch out.
 
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