Day 57, 24, 21.

Both of the land babies are now in black turbo shells so I can’t tell them apart anymore, but both are still happily climbing and eating.

Numbers are down somewhat in the kreisels (predation) and a few of the megalopa that I moved to the transition tank are still looking good and strong.

Also set up an intermediate tank just as an experiment. Some of the stage five that looked very ready to transition to megalopa (they get sort of bulgy and pregnant looking with all those extra legs ready to pop out…and/or their eyes start to get farther apart) I moved into that intermediate tank. It’s a 2 1/2 gallon beta tank with sand and shells in the bottom and about 3” of heated and aerated saltwater. The idea being that they will have more camouflage and places to hide and will hopefully be better able to transition without getting eaten. After they are megalopa I can move them to the transition tank.

So, yeah, I lied when I said it got easier today, because I made another tank for me to monitor. Doh! Let’s see… that’s how many now?

1) big tank

2) kreisel #1

3) kreisel #2

4) transition tank

5) baby tank

and now

6) the intermediate tank.

Oh, and two mason jars of brine shrimp I have to keep warm, aerated, and hatching and spaced out so there’s overlap. Yowza. My crab room is full of air pumps, heaters, lights, and bubblers. 😜