5/17/15 - We seem to have hit our mortality spike this weekend. I just had the water tested again on Friday, so I know quality is not the cause. As of tonight we have found 24 dead, but I still counted 19 alive - bringing the total that we know about to 43. The vast majority of the ones that we've found dead (with the exception of the one that I posted a picture of on 5/15) are very tiny. The first 4 that we found seemed to be a case of wrong place wrong time, and they weren't noticeably smaller than the others. I'm wondering if these others were perhaps the last eggs to hatch and were slow to hatch because they were so small or maybe they are so small because they were at the very end of the hatching cycle and just weren't as healthy? I had read on other journals that there is usually a rolling hatch of approximately 7-10 day, but Legs' eggs hatched for somewhere around 18 days. It was a full 21 days before we were sure there were no more eggs. Regardless it is hard to see them die.
Today the kids shook some shrimp out of the seaweed at the beach and we brought it home to offer the hatchlings. Some accepted being hand fed and seemed to try to eat it, but the shrimp are still quite a bit larger than the hatchlings. Others worked (some successfully) to catch them on their own after we added some to the tank. I'm not sure how much they managed to eat, but it was nice to offer something different. We also added another bottle of tigger pods, but this time I turned off the filter for about 20 minutes to try to give them a chance to secure a location in the rocks so they didn't just get sucked right into the filter. I cleaned the filter before I added them, so I'm hoping that will help give us an idea if the hatchlings are catching and eating them, or if they are just flowing right into the filter.
It seems to me that with our experience, the small hatchlings still come to the glass in the evenings, but the ones that are a little bigger seem to be staying hidden/camped out in the rocks. I am beginning to notice some frequent hiding spots, so I'm often able to count more than just the ones on the glass. This past week I've noticed that the ones I'm seeing on the glass are noticeably smaller than the ones on the rocks and small even compared to the size of the early hatchlings when they first hatched. This is why I'm wondering if the later hatchlings just aren't as hearty as the earlier ones.
Here is a picture of one of the hatchlings trying to eat the shrimp.
Today the kids shook some shrimp out of the seaweed at the beach and we brought it home to offer the hatchlings. Some accepted being hand fed and seemed to try to eat it, but the shrimp are still quite a bit larger than the hatchlings. Others worked (some successfully) to catch them on their own after we added some to the tank. I'm not sure how much they managed to eat, but it was nice to offer something different. We also added another bottle of tigger pods, but this time I turned off the filter for about 20 minutes to try to give them a chance to secure a location in the rocks so they didn't just get sucked right into the filter. I cleaned the filter before I added them, so I'm hoping that will help give us an idea if the hatchlings are catching and eating them, or if they are just flowing right into the filter.
It seems to me that with our experience, the small hatchlings still come to the glass in the evenings, but the ones that are a little bigger seem to be staying hidden/camped out in the rocks. I am beginning to notice some frequent hiding spots, so I'm often able to count more than just the ones on the glass. This past week I've noticed that the ones I'm seeing on the glass are noticeably smaller than the ones on the rocks and small even compared to the size of the early hatchlings when they first hatched. This is why I'm wondering if the later hatchlings just aren't as hearty as the earlier ones.
Here is a picture of one of the hatchlings trying to eat the shrimp.