well he gave birth, and calurpa question

[ssantac]

Well we mixed up our dates and he gave birth in the DT. My wife said she was able to seperate out about 15, floating in a plastic bowl in the DT

My question is also since they were born in this tank, before I move them can i also put some calurpa in with them sort of as a natural hitching post and/or in the sump???

Also should I mix some DT water in the new tank with fresh saltwater so as not be such a shock?


THX

 

[Peka]

You can use fresh new clean saltwater... don't worry about shock. I would not recommed using water from the DT. I would also not recommend putting any macro in with them due to the chance of hydroids when you start feeding the brine...

Think sterile at this point.... you want to keep the baby tank where you raise them as pristine as possible....

 

[Peka]

And, also, keep in mind that this is a difficult task that you are taking on. Don't get discouraged if you loose some or all. There will be other broods. With each brood, you can change your method to what works for you and you learn something. What works for others is not always what works for you. Remember though, change only one thing at a time with each brood so you can narrow down what it working and what is not.....

 

[ssantac]

Thanks for the encouragement Peka!

They already started courting again 1 day after.

Well my wife put the calurpa in with them 1st thing for something to hitch to as she read somewhere that it was a good thing. So I guess damage (if any) done, I decided to leave it and see how it goes.

We are also keeping logs of how its going, and what changes we've made to the tank now that its up and running. We dont have high expectations for this brood as most were pulled from the sponge of an aquaclear 110, but surprisingly there are now 12 left that seem to be doing ok overall.

I have a light about 1/2 way down the tank...feeding reef stew right now...switching to BBS tommorow...but they still hang around the top. Some swim down, some dont, and they dont really attempt to even hitch yet. I also increased the flow slightly from where it was (about 42gpm on the return to maybe 52-ish, also increased bubbles on other side) to try to move the water more so they dont have as much chance to be just floating on top.

We also do all pump and air off for about an hour every 4 hours so they can eat, and we have watched them snick up food so at least they are eating.

To prevent them from getting sucked into a filter again, I am getting a plastic fishbowl and cutting a hole in the side and putting netting over it so around a day or so before we think he'll give birth we can seperate him out.

So...thats all for now!

 

[ssantac]

Well...for anyone interested...and then there was 1. Out of all 19 we have 1 left. But it appears to be healthy, swimming around and eating like crazy.

For the full update:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17767421#post17767421

 

[Peka]

Itching can be a sign of ammonia... the more water quantity, the less chance of the large ammonia spikes...and having even one left at this point is fantastic... each day is a success....