Ok....we're ready for the third attempt at this. I found a berried female today. Plan will be to keep her in the tank for 1 week and then isolate her. The question will be about other females that may get berried during this time.
All phytos are growing nicely. I will be able to conduct both brack and sea tests this round.
- crosses fingers -
So far we have two volunteers for this round of testing:
This little lady is working over a plant floating up top:
I think they are toying with me. Went down to check on things this morning and I'll be darned if both females didn't drop their eggs. Very discouraging. Going to have to do a round of testing to find out if anything changed. Not even a week after developing. Hmmmm....
Three others are saddled so I'll be patient and just wait for the next round. Be nice to at least get the second phase of the project for once. ;o)
Disregard. I found both berried females. Not sure how I missed them earlier. I counted all the shrimp and didn't see the berries the first time. Maybe I wasn't fully awake just yet.
Feel much better now.
Tried to construct the Phyto culture station and slightly miscalculated for my needs. That and it seems the height is just a bit short. Will increase it just a tad and it should be good to go.
Fresh Dunalliela Salina sample should arrive on Dec 2. I'll get that going just as soon as it arrives.
Found another berried female today.
I would like to come up with a better way to house the females while in isolation. Right now it will be just a small critter keeper and and air stone to keep a slight circulation going. This will result in me doing constant water changes. I would like to come up with something that I can keep in tank which will keep the water fresh and at the same time hold the zoe in without them getting into the main tank. But that's for another day.
And the Phytoplankton Station is now operational. I cannot take credit for the design as I found it on a Reef site. It was bigger than I was thinking so I had to rearrange some things around. Looks like it will do serve it's function just fine.
Here it is assembled. I still have one station to add to it but I'm waiting to start another culture before bringing it online.
And here it sits under the 45g tank. This was the initial setup prior to installing the light and air pump.
Fully functional. Cultures from right to left:
Tetraselmis in 1.026 salinity, Isochrysis Galbana in 1.026 salinity and Nannochlropsis in 1.014 salinity.
I need to tidy it up a bit and adjust the tubing. The rigid tubes are held in place with rubber grommets. I may investigate a little more compact design if I can find a couple PVC fittings.
myles (29th Apr 2011)
Dunaliella Salina arrived today. Added a starter culture to the Phyto station. Starting this culture at 1.014 salinity to team up with the Nanno.
This weekend the gals go into isolation until the eggs hatch. We are definately all set to take it to the next level.
Now we wait.
All (3) berried ladies continue to do well. I forgot to snap pics today. One thing I would like to do, is come up with a better isolation area. I was thinking of one of those betta habitats but not sure that will work. I don't like the small confines. Maybe just set a few of these small critter keepers.
Sweet looking set up. Realy love the way you managed to do that with pipes. Good luck too you, and i will keep an eye on this thread. Never saw this specie before.
Talk about determination. Grrrrrr. Decided that I would go the the dip and pour specimen containers and a very good call it is. Came home today and one female had managed to get out of her isolation. And needless to say, her eggs hatched!
So here's the story. After I find she had escaped, I then decided to immediately move the other lady out into one of the new containers. I filled it with water and then transfered her. While getting it arranged, I noticed some weird things on the glass. Closer examination revealed ZOEA! Kewlness!
Been spending the last hour trying to find what I could in the tank. Using a big dropper, I would suck them out of the tank and place them in the new container with the female. Which might be a bad idea in itself if the other lady doesn't drop her eggs tomorrow.
Not sure how many I was able to find but it wasn't that much so far. Around 20 or so. Will go back down shortly and see if I can locate more. They should be good for one more day then they take the salt plunge.
Took some pics but not all that great. Will try again.
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