Eggs Arrived Today

**DWhatley** · May 05, '12, 12:51am

Sue,
TEMPT her, TEMPT her!

**cuttlegirl** · May 05, '12, 10:01am

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 05, '12, 1:51pm

Once I can get some decent "adorable" photos, we'll get her, D.

OK, so what have you all had the most success with while trying to keep live mysid "live"? My very expensive cargo arrived this morning (it actually works out to about $1.00 a piece if you need these on a Saturday) and I want to set them up in a way that gives them the best chance for survival. Getting a week out of them would be awesome because I doubt they will all be used up by the cuttles before then since only two have hatched and those aren't eating yet)

As soon as the mysids arrived I carefully poured them into a small container (but bigger than the bag they were in). I keep walking by and suctioning up their water and slowly dripping it back in again to get some aeration in there, but what do I want to set up for them for the next several days? Do I want a small tank with HOB filter? Do I want an airstone in there? What salinity should I keep them in? I believe they prefer low salinity (.014?) while the cuttles are in .025, so do the mysids die shortly after being added to the cuttle tank because of the salinity difference? Should I try to slowly acclimate the mysids to a higher salinity so they live longer in the cuttle tank?

I can't believe the insanity of this hobby - sometimes it even amazes me!and I'm one of the insane ones! I am actually stressing over keeping alive these microscopic squiggles that "normal" people would not even notice or give a second thought to. And the epitomy of craziness is when you are examining the plastic bag they arrived in with a magnifying glass and flashlight to make sure you didn't miss any in the bag!

Thank goodness for this forum where us crazies are "normal".

Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 05, '12, 3:54pm

I kept mine in a cooler, with a heater and an airstone. Granted, I didn't have much success keeping mine alive... Soon, soon they will eat little shrimp.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 05, '12, 4:00pm

Originally Posted by cuttlegirl

I kept mine in a cooler, with a heater and an airstone. Granted, I didn't have much success keeping mine alive... Soon, soon they will eat little shrimp.

K, I know this is probably only a 4-6 week thing with the mysid shrimp but I need to get them out of the plastic container and into something where they have a better chance, and, what the hell, might as well take on another challenge, right? Wouldn't it be awesome if I could find a way to keep them alive long enough to possibly thrive? With all the tanks I have running in the house it would be a nice tasty treat for all of them.

Biggest challenge is keeping the water clean. If I am supposed to feed the mysids to cut down on cannibalism, then the water is going to get polluted quick and that will kill them. I'm gonna dig around in the basement through all my bins and bins of equipment and find either a HOB filter or maybe a sponge filter and stick them in a small tank. After all, it's the weekend.... setting up another tank sounds like more fun than cleaning the house. LOL
Sue

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 05, '12, 4:02pm

Sorry, another question about the cuttlefish eggs:

I got a bunch in a few days ago that were all connected so obviously they were all laid at the same time. Why would it be that two already hatched and the rest haven't? Should I assume these two that are hatched are pre-mies?
Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 05, '12, 6:02pm

Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo

Sorry, another question about the cuttlefish eggs:

I got a bunch in a few days ago that were all connected so obviously they were all laid at the same time. Why would it be that two already hatched and the rest haven't? Should I assume these two that are hatched are pre-mies?
Sue

No guarantee that they were laid at the same time, or even by the same female. Females will lay on top of eggs that are already there. I don't know if they are cuing on the presence of eggs or on the optimum, safe place to lay eggs. In my aquarium, my female always chose the most difficult place for me to retrieve the eggs...

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 05, '12, 10:06pm

Ugh, this live mysid challenge is ridiculous. I went to the shore for a few hours to flip rocks and try to catch critters and when I got home a few hours later, all the live mysid that arrived this morning were dead. EXCEPT for the 5 that I put in the breeder net with the two cuttles.... they are alive and well. So is the secret to keeping the mysid alive to put them in a breeder net in one of my tanks? I was going to set them up their own tank but since I caught so many neat things at the beach I'm going to set up a tank for that and I'm afraid the mysid would get eaten in there by the ghost shrimp.
Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 05, '12, 10:27pm

I had that happen before. I guess you need to spread the mysids out. My cooler was big (probably three feet by 2 feet) and I had a few inches of water so there would be a large surface area for oxygen exchange. Maybe you could spread the mysids out in breeder nets in all of your tanks?

Might was well try to offer some of the things that you caught at the beach. They can eat food that is as big as they are, once they figure out how to capture prey.

**DWhatley** · May 05, '12, 11:42pm

I asked Paul about keeping them and he said they use a "sweater box" container. When I inquired about shape of such an item he said it was like one of those boxes you keep sweaters in under the bed

So, CG's low water with lots of surface area fits the description. I only tried mysis twice without success but I did not attempt the suggested arrangement.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 06, '12, 12:01am

Hmmmmmm..... interesting. So if the "surface area" is the key, wouldn't that mean using a 5-10 gallon tank with an airstone in it would be good, too? I can't imagine how I'd run any type of filter in a sweater box and since I'm going to be needing live mysids for probably the next 4 - 6 weeks I would imagine I need to clean the water somehow? I placed an order for another 200 a while ago and also sent Paul an e-mail asking for tips on how to keep this next batch alive longer. Wonder if I'll get the sweater box answer, too.
Sue

**DWhatley** · May 06, '12, 12:14am

No, a 5 or 10 gallon tank has nowhere near the surface area of the "sweater box" idea. If I remember (it has been a long time), the size of the plastice container he was suggesting would be close to 2' by 3' but maybe only 8"-10" deep. If you look up raising mysis (there are a couple of references floating in the forum but I have lost them), you will discover that the major problems noted are the amount of space required which coincides with the long and low box thinking.

This part of raising them is why I have never put them in my larger tank. I would love to have four or five in the 140 but getting through the first few months is just more than I have been willing to do (so far

)

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 06, '12, 2:02am

OK, I thought the large surface area was related to a need for oxygenation and that I could substitute the surface area for an air stone. But perhaps the large surface are is so that they don't cannibalize as much. Still, I came home to find my batch dead after just a few hours... not eaten, but dead. Yes, I need to read more articles... off to search some more. The part that I struggle with is keeping the water clean in a sweater box. We're basically talking about a large flat box of stagnant water which somehow doesn't seem healthy. (shrug)
Sue

**tonmo** · May 06, '12, 8:35am

Oops - just read this thread, and added it to the homepage slideshow, then saw this last post. Sorry you lost these! But thanks for sharing your story here for others to learn from.

**cuttlegirl** · May 06, '12, 1:24pm

Tony,

She only lost the mysids, not the utterly cute, absolutely adorable cuttlefish hatchlings...

**tonmo** · May 06, '12, 1:51pm

thanks for the clarification!

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 06, '12, 2:45pm

You jinxed me, Tony.... I just lost one.

**tonmo** · May 06, '12, 4:17pm

**cuttlegirl** · May 06, '12, 8:01pm

So sorry...

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 06, '12, 8:53pm

Originally Posted by cuttlegirl

So sorry...

Trying to stay positive, reminding myself that this is common and that I KNEW going into this that there would be heartbreak and disappointment. One is still alive (but not eating to my knowledge) and the remaining eggs still look good. There is a new shipment of live mysids coming in Tuesday or Wednesday so I've been talking to the eggs telling them NOT to hatch for another day or two. :)
Sue