Hi there.
The very long ride ended with me bringing home 7 bimac hatchlings. Unfortunately, at this point, I can only find 6 of the 7. My first challenge was to find a way to safely transport them for 3 hours. The "Mom" suggested I bring a 5 gallon bucket but I was afraid that three hours of sloshing around in a bucket in a car would stress them too much and they'd ink themselves. I decided to find some live rock that fit tightly into the bottom of the bucket so that they could have something to hang onto, and that's what I did. Of course the fear there was that the rock would shift and hurt or kill one of them. Very stressful ride - I cringed at every bump in the road and after the winter we've had in New England, the roads are in TERRIBLE shape.
I got them home about 10:30 p.m. and started the careful search for the tiny critters in the bucket. They were all hanging onto the rock so as I spotted one I would gently encourage him onto my finger, then relocate him to the acclimating container that was floating in the 20 gallon tank I had set up. Unfortunately I have only found 6.... hopefully the last one is happily tucked away inside a deep nook or cranny of the live rock. First lesson learned..... only give them solid rock to hang onto during transport. I had provided a very porous, open, airy type of rock with hundreds of hiding places. I guess I'm lucky only ONE is MIA.
I slowly started changing out their original water with my tank water but that was probably overkill because the salinity of both were spot on the same (.026) and the temperature was within one degree (68 degrees versus 69 degrees). There was a lot of fighting going on in that acclimating container so I knew I had to separate them soon. I had set up 5 separate containers within the 20 gallon tank so started placing one in each with a piece of live rock rubble. Then I siphoned out live mysid (from my rapidly depleting mysid supply) and placed 3-4 in each container. Unfortunately a lot of them are escaping the breeder traps and swimming freely in the 20 gallon tank. This morning when I checked on my remaining mysid supply they are dying off fast so I siphoned out alll the live ones I could get and turned them loose in the 20 gallon tank. Have already ordered another batch.
This morning (after a "nap" since I was up most of the night looking for the seventh one) I nervously approached the tank. I can't believe how scared and nervous I was - I was so afraid they'd all be dead! To my relief they are all breathing (which I can only tell by using a magnifying glass and flashlight) but they are very inactive. I have no idea if that's normal or not. When they were in Boston they were all in one, bare bottom, baron tank and they moved around a lot to avoid each other's attacks, but now that they are separated they are pretty sedentary. Then again, they've been through a lot in the past 12 hours.
If I can't find the seventh one in the next hour I am going to rearrange things in the 20 gallon and just place the large piece of rock in the tank with him hidden in it. I can't keep it in the bucket much longer or that water will become unhealthy.
I took some videos last night during acclimation but I can't figure out how to get them on here. Do I have to post them somewhere else, first? (like Facebook?)
Sue