N.v.v. larvae update

[ester]

I now have plenty of hatched larvae, I'm guessing around 30+ as I've stopped counting.
They all go from the hatching setup into a larger rearing setup for now (dimensions: 20x20x30 cm).

The larvae prefer to hide in the plants floating near the surface. Fortunately riccia fluitans is happily spreading, attempting to form 1 inch thick carpet near the surface.
Some daphnia have been breeding in the setup as well and there are plenty of mini daphnia available. I also put in plenty of tubifex which, since taking this picture, has dug itself into the sand and is hopefully multiplying as well.

 

[jennifer]

Awesome, Ester! When I raised Notos, I usually found that I had a lot more of them than I thought I had. The eggs tend to have a 100% success rate, so it's easy to end up with more than you think you have. Good luck!

 

[terry]

Well done with the larvae ester! Hope they make it to adulthood! Is that a sort of waterlily in your tank?

 

[ester]

All of a sudden a lot of the noto larvae are dying. So far mostly the ones whos yoke isn't completely gone yet.
Any ideas what might be causing this?

 

[ester]

I lost all larvae in the rearing setup. Looking back the only addition to the setup in the past two weeks has been one of those window cleaning magnets. Perhaps something leached out of the plastic to which only the noto larvae are sensitive. I have two larvae left which I took out of the setup earlier this week and fortunately the female is still laying eggs. I took about 15 eggs out of the breeding tank today.
I'll do a bunch of water changes and have removed the magnet, hopefully that was it.

 

[ralf]

Ester, don't "put all your eggs in one basket". I'd try to raise some of the hatching larvae separately in small groups. Even small tubs or jars will be sufficient. I even know of people raising larvae individually in Mason jars. You can spread the risk of total loss this way and maybe also guess at negative impacts affecting your larvae.
That way you wont have a cycled tank and you will have to conduct frequent water changes in your tubs. However, it's just small amounts of water and you can keep the small tub really clean (I use the thin airtubes for siphoning the debris). After experiencing similar losses with my offspring of very different species I have abandoned the method of mass-raising larvae in just one setup.

 

[ester]

I will spread the larvae over several setups too now, and leave the large setup empty for a while. I now have 3 separate setups and will add more as new eggs are laid.

 

[ester]

3 larvae have hatched and are doing well. The female is still laying strong.. 15 eggs in the past 3 days!

 

[miriam]

Hey Ester,
How are your larvae doing now or didn't any survive? Did your female lay more fertile eggs or not?

 

[ester]

My larvae didn't survive unfortunately. The female produced fertile eggs for about a month, then 3 months of duds.

Hopefully I'll get a new chance next year

 

[charles]

Sorry to hear that your larvae did not survive...I'm having trouble raising my alpine newt larvae that have, it's like they start to get there front leg's and then they die????

 

[miriam]

It's a pity to hear that Ester.
I'm considering to keep some noto's myself, haven't made my mind up completely, but I sure do like this species.