Hello everyone,
I recently found some local "beach hoppers" (terrestrial amphipods that live near water; probably Traskorchestia traskiana) on the banks of my local brackish tidal slough. They were very beautiful, coming in shades of green, grey, orange, and red. They were also quite large-- up to 0.5 inches! I was so charmed by their appearance and jumpy antics that I collected a few specimens to study and built a temporary enclosure for them. Originally, I was going to release them after a few days, but they looked very satisfied with the home I had built-- they were healthy and active, and I had even seen them breeding a few times. As a result, I left them in the enclosure for about a week with some food while I went on vacation.
Upon my return, I was pleased to see that all of the specimens were doing well. There were even babies in the enclosure, which was a pleasant surprise! Because of this unexpected success, I have decided to share my methods of keeping these fascinating creatures below. Note that this may only apply to brackish beach hoppers, perhaps only those of this species or even this isolated population.
Really cool and interesting little animals. I'll be sure to collect more and build a bigger enclosure sometime soon!
Thanks.
P.S. I've been able to make them follow my finger with their heads-- it's so cute! They seem to have decent vision.
I recently found some local "beach hoppers" (terrestrial amphipods that live near water; probably Traskorchestia traskiana) on the banks of my local brackish tidal slough. They were very beautiful, coming in shades of green, grey, orange, and red. They were also quite large-- up to 0.5 inches! I was so charmed by their appearance and jumpy antics that I collected a few specimens to study and built a temporary enclosure for them. Originally, I was going to release them after a few days, but they looked very satisfied with the home I had built-- they were healthy and active, and I had even seen them breeding a few times. As a result, I left them in the enclosure for about a week with some food while I went on vacation.
Upon my return, I was pleased to see that all of the specimens were doing well. There were even babies in the enclosure, which was a pleasant surprise! Because of this unexpected success, I have decided to share my methods of keeping these fascinating creatures below. Note that this may only apply to brackish beach hoppers, perhaps only those of this species or even this isolated population.
- The beach hoppers are housed in a plastic jar with a very small amount of ventilation (think Amblypygi-style ventilation).
- A small layer of gravel was added at the bottom, and brackish water from the collection site was poured into the gravel. These amphipods can swim well but drown in pure water, so the gravel is essential.
- For later "refills," solutions of homemade brackish water are used (the exact concentration does not matter as these animals regularly deal with changing salinities and spend most of their time on land).
- I originally added crumpled paper towels for shelter (the normal kind from the store), but apparently the beach hoppers love eating it, so I guess it doubles as food.
- Fish food is a good supplement too since paper towels probably aren't the best nutritionally.
- And finally, these crustaceans are photophobic, but are fine as long as there's no direct light shining in their little faces.
Really cool and interesting little animals. I'll be sure to collect more and build a bigger enclosure sometime soon!
Thanks.
P.S. I've been able to make them follow my finger with their heads-- it's so cute! They seem to have decent vision.
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