Help with larvae

[mark]

Hey all

I have problems with raising the larvae from my verrucosus. The larvae die after a few days. I don't understand it because I've never had any trouble with raising triturus or cynops larvae.

They're kept at a temperature of about 25 degrees. I had 2 setups: 4 larvae in a little box from the chinese and 10 larvae in a small container of about 1 liter. There are a few plants in both setups. They're fed tubifex.
Does anyone know what's wrong?
Should it be better if I added an airator to get more oxygen in the water?

Please help me before I have no larvae left.

Thanks mark

(Message edited by mark_ on May 29, 2004)

 

[TJ]

Hi Mark. I always have better luck with larvae when I use some aeration, though I don't always use it. Actually, I prefer to use a small filter to maintain water quality, rather than an airstone. That's also how I raised my verrucosus. Also, if you're having problems with your larvae, you should give the survivors as much space as you can and try to keep the temperature down. A small amount of water in a small amount of space can go bad surprisingly fast, especially when tubifex worms are involved and temps are high. When I'm using shallow tubs for larvae, I make daily changes of half the water. Good to see you've got some plants in there with the larvae. Good luck with them!

 

[mark]

Thanks Tim

I've put in an airstone and now the larvae have stopped dying. Today I'm going to divide the 9 left in 2 groups so that they have a bit more room. Do you think I should get the temperature down a bit? Because I've read that John Clare believes the water should be about 24 degrees?

Greets mark

 

[chris]

Mark
keep the water warm but aerated. Warm water hold less oxygen than cold, but the larvae do much better and grow faster and larger aat 24C
(sorry to contradict you Tim... :/ )
Chris

 

[mark]

Thanks for the quick reply Chris.

I think I will keep the water at 25 degrees, and I will keep an airstone in.
I hope it will work.

Greets Mark

 

[TJ]

No problem, Chris. I'm just saying I believe it's easier to maintain good water quality for larvae when the water is cooler than when its warmer, especially when tubifex are present in the water. I'll defer to you, John and others when it comes to what temp is best for raising larvae of this species