How do you move your larvae?

[patrick]

I have been using a tiny little net for minnows, but it is still really hard to get then into it because the wire rim on it is so big I'm afraid I will crush them. If I'm going to be cleaning their tub every other day I'd like to know if anyone has some ingenious way of moving these tiny larvae so as not to crush them. I feel like their gills and bodies are so delicate it would be best not to touch them at all, but I don't know.

 

[dane]

why are you moving them?
whenever I moved them I used one of those green fishnet deals you use for fish tanks

 

[alberto]

Hello Patrick & Dane
I try not to move my as much as possible. Instead I use a turkey baste to remove as much of the old water as possible and then I add new water to the larva container very carefully!

 

[ian]

In early stage when they were really small, I used a airtube with a syringe at the end to suck it in.

When in midstage of the larvae stage, I used a small cup, a little smaller than shot glass.

When the get older that can live out of water for a short time, I simply move them as they walked on the java moss.

 

[jennifer]

For early larvae, I do what Alberto describes (turkey baster). If I want to put the larvae in a clean container, I pour them gently from one container to the other.

For later larvae (over 1.5 months old, roughly), I sometimes pour the entire container of water + larvae through a net, then dump the larvae into the clean container of water. This probably seems a bit rough, but I've never lost any this way. They are tougher than they look.

 

[meghan]

I can second that with Jen, they're pretty hardy. I have never had any problems dumping them from cup or bucket into a fine net then rinsing them into a clean container.

 

[francesco]

I use a spoon but I try to avoid moving them around in their early stages of development