- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
- Messages
- 22
Hey everyone,
I'm a biology student (Middlebury College, VT) thinking of starting up some research that looks at the learning capabilities of cephalopods (All well-treated, non-invasive, observation based!). Basically, in order to collect reliable and meaningful data, I'll need to culture multiple organisms in our college animal facility in order to run learning trials and study these interesting animals. I've been doing as much research as possible about this massive undertaking, and I understand that patience is a huge virtue. This is why I'm planning on starting the tank cycling process this spring in hopes of having livable conditions for the cephs starting late summer/early fall. This forum appears to be one of the top knowledge basins I've come across, and I was wondering if anybody had some general pointers that I should consider when putting together the tank setups and picking species.
The good news: We have ample space in temperature/light/anything controlled rooms, and can draw on (reasonable) funding. I have kept a wide variety of freshwater fish and plants for quite a while personally, and understand the need for quality equipment and careful planning. The animal facility staff and I are willing to spend lots of time keeping salt tanks in prep for the fall.
The bad news: Nobody really has a lot of experience keeping marine organisms. Last year we kept brittle stars, but due to a lack of equipment and knowledge I'm sure the setups weren’t ideal. (Basically mixing salt water to 1.024, letting it sit, adding to 25 gallon tank with multiple hang on filters+airstones, gravel substrate with hiding places, no fluorescent or compact lighting, just overhead ambient).
I'm in contact with as many people in Vermont as I can locate who have experience/knowledge about keeping salt tanks and especially cephs, but if anybody has any suggestions for our initial purchases (i.e., we're starting up some simple fish/live rock tanks, what would be smart so they easily convert to ceph tanks in a few months) I would GREATLY appreciate your input!
Thank you in advance,
-Outi
I'm a biology student (Middlebury College, VT) thinking of starting up some research that looks at the learning capabilities of cephalopods (All well-treated, non-invasive, observation based!). Basically, in order to collect reliable and meaningful data, I'll need to culture multiple organisms in our college animal facility in order to run learning trials and study these interesting animals. I've been doing as much research as possible about this massive undertaking, and I understand that patience is a huge virtue. This is why I'm planning on starting the tank cycling process this spring in hopes of having livable conditions for the cephs starting late summer/early fall. This forum appears to be one of the top knowledge basins I've come across, and I was wondering if anybody had some general pointers that I should consider when putting together the tank setups and picking species.
The good news: We have ample space in temperature/light/anything controlled rooms, and can draw on (reasonable) funding. I have kept a wide variety of freshwater fish and plants for quite a while personally, and understand the need for quality equipment and careful planning. The animal facility staff and I are willing to spend lots of time keeping salt tanks in prep for the fall.
The bad news: Nobody really has a lot of experience keeping marine organisms. Last year we kept brittle stars, but due to a lack of equipment and knowledge I'm sure the setups weren’t ideal. (Basically mixing salt water to 1.024, letting it sit, adding to 25 gallon tank with multiple hang on filters+airstones, gravel substrate with hiding places, no fluorescent or compact lighting, just overhead ambient).
I'm in contact with as many people in Vermont as I can locate who have experience/knowledge about keeping salt tanks and especially cephs, but if anybody has any suggestions for our initial purchases (i.e., we're starting up some simple fish/live rock tanks, what would be smart so they easily convert to ceph tanks in a few months) I would GREATLY appreciate your input!
Thank you in advance,
-Outi