Leaderboard

Well, the run is over, and unfortunately no settlement. In the last month I had lost all but one of the older larvae and I just got back from a week away and had lost the last one in that time. I believe most of the losses were happening around a molt, around the end of the predicted timetable, but it's tough to say for sure. I have some video of a newly dead larvae (second to last one) which appeared to have its main body carapace splayed open somewhat (presumably a molt) but with some eye twitching still going on. Honestly, I'm not sure what could have caused that, especially since they seem to leave each other alone (even larvae months younger seem to be untouched.) This last loss was probably nutrition related - on my trip I had no new artemia hatching, and while I tried to stock the tank with that and copepods and then regularly had them fed with phyto, I had my doubts it was enough, and the bucket it had been moved into had a bit of a hydroid infestation which was consuming at least some of that food too. My guess is that last one was from the March batch, since it had been way over 5 months since February. That means my record for how long they've lived is about 4.5 months. Sad, but where to go from here? First, I've got another vacation at the end of August, so I'll start trying to collect larvae again in September. I'll try keeping the bucket warmer - I've got an inkbird and a bigger heater now and it should allow for more control and consistency, but the higher temperature should speed growth somewhat. I found that leaving the top open farther significantly reduced the temperature, so hopefully the controller will keep it much more consistent. I'll try to stay on top of salinity management a bit more - they seem pretty tolerant of high salinity and big swings (39ppt and 2ppt in one day), but I don't want to make that a habit, it doesn't take a lot of checking. I'll use my newer version of the bucket insert (wide mesh in the bottom, deeper chamber, in-wall air lift pump.) I want to keep consistent water changes, not to a huge degree, but minimum once a month and twice a month preferable (this is more often than this batch got.) I also want to do something about nutrition, and while it's not sustainable with these buckets and my water change schedule, starting from maybe just before the first or second water change I want to feed the larvae from frozen food. Maybe reef frenzy like my main tank gets, maybe something like PE calanus. I read in a paper that their larva were fed fresh meaty foods, and while it would be a great normal food for every day feeding if they were being held as part of a larger system, it will definitely pollute it, so I think trying it out as a nutrition supplement before water changes should hopefully get some extra vitamin input without the ammonia buildup. I already observed them eating their deceased siblings, and the bodies would be gone within 12 hours or so, so they can definitely handle large meaty foods after a bit of development, so even if the food settles on the mesh bottom, it will probably be good for them. I've also been observing a pretty significant loss of larvae around day 10 in most of the batches. Not sure of the cause, but in case it is nutritional, I'll try to preempt it with some frozen food (or something I come up with) around day 8, then a water change. The water change alone didn't seem to do the trick - it's not a cleanliness issue - but maybe the nutrition is. So, a hiatus for a month, and then maybe come January of next year I'll be caught up to where I've already gotten to and have a shot at settlement in February. These timetables are insane