[odin]

16th August 2016
I raised the tank temperature up to around 24deg C and ive been feeding the tank fish flake once a week and i noticed one of the Alpha's scurrying around berried. I really need to get the spare tank setup right for some larvae, its matured but the SG is very low, i will raise the spare tanks salt up to marine and dump a lump of live rock in it.

One of the alpha's; The berried alpha;

[Ann]

Looks great! Only one flake feeds them all, Odin?
Ann

[odin]

I usually drop about 6 or 7 slightly torn up, ive also added 2 of the zebra nerites into this tank to help clean up the algae as the alphas dont really seem very interested in it like the Opae ula shrimp. Speaking of which.. the single Opae ula that came with the alphas is still in the tank and is living happily along with nearly 20 Alphas, i guess they dont eat them!

[opae ula related]

Wow! in 2 months time! This is great.

[odin]

I will see if there are any more when I feed them at the weekend, they know when they are going to get fed too which is pretty cool, if I mess with the tank or knock the lid they continue to hide for a few mins then they all come out and look for food. I feel bad when I've knocked the tank doing maintence or by accident because they come out to scavenge but find nothing

[Ann]

They're just like all pets and people too. They know about being fed.
Ann

[odin]

I added some Macroalgae into this tank as the ball has grown a fair amount, I noticed another 2 maybe 3 berried Alphas! Roll on payday so i can buy some supply's to make the spare tank into a make do marine tank and get some liverock

[Ann]

Do you mean marine fish?
Ann

[odin]

Do you mean marine fish?
Ann

Yes Ann, a marine fishtank but just for the Alpha's larvae. The larvae will only survive around 6 days or so in the brackish water (from past breeders) trying to successfully breed these shrimp. Aparently the larvae in the wild make their way back to the sea into a higher salt content and feed off of living creatures in the ocean water. They dont have a long lasting yolk sack like Opae ula do so once its gone (around 4 or 5 days) they run out of food an die.

Here is a quick video i shot today feeding their tank, its bad quality because i used my phone but you can see a few of the berried moms if you watch careful and squint your eyes a fair bit.

[Ann]

Wonderful video. I did see the moms. I didn't realize that the babies couldn'tive for long in the brackish water. Great information.hank you.
Ann