Category Archives: critters

Here is the high-tech equipment that I’m using to photograph my plankton. The center of attention is two microscope slides sealed together with a 3mm gap betwixt. You wouldn’t think that depth of field would be an issue with a … Continue reading →

Yesterday the ‘Borneo orange’ zoes started metamorphosing into post-larvae. The visual change isn’t very dramatic, but their behavior is totally different. Rather than hovering in the water column occasionally puttering backwards, now they perch in one place and occasionally zoom … Continue reading →

24-hour lighting may work after all.  The ‘borneo orange’ zoes in the tank second-from-the-left, specific gravity 1.008, are thriving.  That’s well below what I would have guessed, but a bit of googling suggests that that’s right in the middle of … Continue reading →

I got home late tonight and fed the critters after the lights were off. Most of the shrimp seem to eat whether it’s light or dark… a few are nocturnal, but none seem to be exclusively diurnal. As I was … Continue reading →

So… all those little tanks with varying salinities have turned so green that I can’t tell what’s going on in them. Maybe there are still some larvae in there… I’m not really sure how to tell at this point. I … Continue reading →

The eggs glued to the tummy of the above shrimp are hatching today, a few at a time. I’ve made a few attempts at raising the larvae with no success. No one seems to have any idea what species it … Continue reading →

Next stop was a ‘butterfly farm’.  Every town in Malaysia seems to have one of these. The brochure says “Behind what is visible to you visitors is a complicated yet systematic operation consisting of extensive R&D and breeding activities that … Continue reading →

  I got back a few days ago, and took the above photos of larvae in the leftmost (aerated, unheated) tank.  There were a few post-larvae and quite a few late-stage larvae.   The middle tank (heated, unaerated) had no … Continue reading →

One of the females’ eggs have been hatching, a few a day, for several days.  Today, at last, all the rest hatched in a lump.  I returned both grown-ups to their home, strained the contents of the bowl through a … Continue reading →