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2019 update...

Last time, I had 5 baby's in a small round jar, the jar turned out to be a bad idea (because of the small opening), lost two babies a few months back and had a hard time trying to get the other 3 out.

Anyway the good news...

I'm sitting here looking at 3 free floating babies in my main tank (Tank 1) only spotted them this afternoon. There are a couple of berried Females in there, so there should be more on the way.

I'm not going to try and catch anything, learnt my lesson from last time. If I change my mind on catching the new baby’s they will be going in a large tank, with a better opening.

Tank 3 - the jumbo tank - has one berried Female that I spotted yesterday, hopefully more end up berried, as I would like a lot more of these jumbo Opae. They might even be a different Opae offshoot.

A couple of months back, Tank 2 went through a bacteria bloom, turning the water cloudy, the bloom went away by itself, didn’t cause the Opae any problems. They are acting their normal selves. Just waiting on the Female’s to become berried, then I’ll be 3 for 3.


I've been busy since September (2018), so have not really done much to the tanks except a normal water change right after getting back from holiday in August, and just feeding every now and then.

When I get a chance, I'll do a reading on the sg of the water in each tank.

Free floating babies in Tank 1: 4

Great signature

Gotta love the light sensitivity of the baby Opae, makes taking group shots a breeze...

On roll call... I had six this morning.

Or at least I did until a couple of hours ago, when I took the image.

As I write this post, I've just spotted a lurker in the back, making the count 7.

@odin - would you count this as a successful colony.

Nice!

Congratulations!

Unfortunately, the baby Opae that I had in tank 1 did not make it.

The good news is at least 1 Female in Tank 3, became berried in January and the babies started being released nearly two weeks ago.

I’ve taken some out to try and get better odds of survival. There is still 12 babies floating in Tank 3, and over 7 in a second jar, with a rock that is covered in algae and there is a lot of food around.

I have a feeling that there is not enough of the right food for the babies.

I often read that people divide the baby opae to increase chance of survival. Do you have an idea xhat may cause death of the opae? Salinity, food, temperature, bzing close to older opae? I cannot find any information about this...

zlatan2601 wrote: ↑18 Feb 2019 17:17 I often read that people divide the baby opae to increase chance of survival. Do you have an idea xhat may cause death of the opae? Salinity, food, temperature, bzing close to older opae? I cannot find any information about this...

What I'm doing now is similar to what I did last year.

Water in the small jar is from the tank I took the babies from (tank 3).

I've also added:

• a rock that is covered with algae.

• a small amount of moss ball, that has a bunch of filament algae I got from Oden.

• added mulm from the tank floor

• scraped some of the algae off the tank 3 wall and put it in to the jar

• added crushed food and Spirulina

• 3 bacteria balls

For me, I think it's food related.

And they wouldn't survive in the original tank? Because I think there is plenty of food in there?