While searching for new means to keep the a system that could house Jellies, I did some initial research on keeping Jellies. Ultimately, my search results turned out poorly. I found very little information on keeping ephyrae, and mainly information on keeping the medusas (which repeated kreisels). I drew up a couple of ideas for potential systems, but ultimately scrapped them all. Some ideas I had involved using a nalgene bottle or similar reusable water bottle to house the ephyrae. One of the issues I ran into was a way to keep the system clean easily, as the narrow nature of the bottles is not very conducive to easy water changes. I began toying with other ideas, and drew up a prototype test system (which is in the process of being set up) involving a 2L coca-cola bottle cut in half. The bottle cap is removed and a bubbler is put inside the top. The top is then covered to prevent water from escaping onto the wet table, and to keep the system sealed. Ultimately, this system has to stay sealed, because there are no means to create a filter for a water output, plus that is not what I want to test. A closed system can help determine exactly how resilient the C. fuscescens are, along with giving an idea of what environmental standards affect them most.
Lastly, I decided the environmental conditions I would like to test in future months. We've been getting some good polyp growth, but strobilation will be difficult to force, because it is a stab in the dark in the truest sense of the metaphor. First off, salinity and temperature are the first two conditions I would like to test. After talking with a staff member for the aquaculture room at the Georgia Aquarium, Chris, I learned that iodine concentrations may also affect the polyps. It would be interesting to take measurements of other water conditions (pH, alkalinity, nitrate, and ammonia to name the main ideas) to see if there is any correlation between them and the number of ephyrae produced.
While searching for new means to keep the a system that could house Jellies, I did some initial research on keeping Jellies. Ultimately, my search results turned out poorly. I found very little information on keeping ephyrae, and mainly information on keeping the medusas (which repeated kreisels). I drew up a couple of ideas for potential systems, but ultimately scrapped them all. Some ideas I had involved using a nalgene bottle or similar reusable water bottle to house the ephyrae. One of the issues I ran into was a way to keep the system clean easily, as the narrow nature of the bottles is not very conducive to easy water changes. I began toying with other ideas, and drew up a prototype test system (which is in the process of being set up) involving a 2L coca-cola bottle cut in half. The bottle cap is removed and a bubbler is put inside the top. The top is then covered to prevent water from escaping onto the wet table, and to keep the system sealed. Ultimately, this system has to stay sealed, because there are no means to create a filter for a water output, plus that is not what I want to test. A closed system can help determine exactly how resilient the C. fuscescens are, along with giving an idea of what environmental standards affect them most.
Lastly, I decided the environmental conditions I would like to test in future months. We've been getting some good polyp growth, but strobilation will be difficult to force, because it is a stab in the dark in the truest sense of the metaphor. First off, salinity and temperature are the first two conditions I would like to test. After talking with a staff member for the aquaculture room at the Georgia Aquarium, Chris, I learned that iodine concentrations may also affect the polyps. It would be interesting to take measurements of other water conditions (pH, alkalinity, nitrate, and ammonia to name the main ideas) to see if there is any correlation between them and the number of ephyrae produced.