Larval snagger & transfer losses

[KMatysek]

I am getting about 80% losses within the first 2-3 days of hatch (Ocellaris) and assume it's the technique I'm using in transferring larvae from my snagger (based on Kathy55g's design) to the larva tank.

Any tips? They all seem to congregate in a corner and I've found no easy way to get them out without a lot of stress (for me as well as them).

(Happy to be back on this forum. My female died last May and the new pair started breeding in January. I've had to brush off the cobwebs and this is the one area I don't seem to remember how I did it.)

Kathy

 

[dexterd]

use a cooking baster. (spelling??) That is how i harvest seahorses without netting.
Teresa

 

[KMatysek]

Thanks! I thought of that, but was worried it would be too stressful (given Wilkerson's comments about avoiding much flow when scooping them up with a bowl). Worth a try!

 

[Luis A M]

If you can´t pull the nest,2nd best is to siphon them out.

 

[KMatysek]

Hmm, I'm using the larval snagger which is a plastic box with a hole in the side and a pump, which is sucking the little guys out of the main tank and into the box. The problem I've had is how to minimize trauma in while getting them out of the box. Both a turkey baster and suction seem to be as much as - if not more than - the trauma I caused in scooping, and then ultimately pouring (not from any great height), them out. Maybe my initial losses are not due to transfer trauma but something else...

Thanks, I guess it's back to the drawing board!

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9389699#post9389699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
If you can´t pull the nest,2nd best is to siphon them out.

Scooping is much less effective.Siphoning is not traumatic.