emergency marine aquarium :-)

[andy smart]

Hi

My son came back from the seaside at the weekend with a bucket full of
shells (like they do). Unfortunatley among them were about a dozen
muscles and two small crabs which were still very much alive!

We're going back to the seaside on saturday, so I'd really like to keep
them alive till then so I can re-patriate them. I've still got them in
his bucket, and, working on the principal that ANY water was probably
better than none, I've added some filtered tap water hoping that the
sand and other materials mixed in with the muscle clump will add a bit
of salinity.

Any advice anybody might have on keeping them going till the end of the
week would be gratefully recieved.

andy (involutary marine aquarium keeper)

[Mark A. Odell]

andy smart > wrote in
:

> Hi
>
> My son came back from the seaside at the weekend with a bucket full of
> shells (like they do). Unfortunatley among them were about a dozen
> muscles and two small crabs which were still very much alive!
>
> We're going back to the seaside on saturday, so I'd really like to keep
> them alive till then so I can re-patriate them. I've still got them in
> his bucket, and, working on the principal that ANY water was probably
> better than none,

No, fresh water will kill them. Just filter the salt water with a pump and
hope for the best.

--
- Mark ->
--

[andy smart]

Mark A. Odell wrote:

> andy smart > wrote in
> :
>
>
>>Hi
>>
>>My son came back from the seaside at the weekend with a bucket full of
>>shells (like they do). Unfortunatley among them were about a dozen
>>muscles and two small crabs which were still very much alive!
>>
>>We're going back to the seaside on saturday, so I'd really like to keep
>>them alive till then so I can re-patriate them. I've still got them in
>>his bucket, and, working on the principal that ANY water was probably
>>better than none,
>
>
> No, fresh water will kill them. Just filter the salt water with a pump and
> hope for the best.
>
OK, so do I just add some ordinary salt here? If we were looking at bats
I'd be fine but I know zip about keeping marine species LOL

[Mark A. Odell]

andy smart > wrote in
:

> Mark A. Odell wrote:
>
>> andy smart > wrote in
>> :
>>
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>My son came back from the seaside at the weekend with a bucket full of
>>>shells (like they do). Unfortunatley among them were about a dozen
>>>muscles and two small crabs which were still very much alive!
>>>
>>>We're going back to the seaside on saturday, so I'd really like to keep
>>>them alive till then so I can re-patriate them. I've still got them in
>>>his bucket, and, working on the principal that ANY water was probably
>>>better than none,
>>
>>
>> No, fresh water will kill them. Just filter the salt water with a pump
>> and hope for the best.
>>
> OK, so do I just add some ordinary salt here? If we were looking at bats
> I'd be fine but I know zip about keeping marine species LOL

They sell Instant Ocean at pet stores. Instructions on the package will
tell you the amount per gallon. Typically, you'd have a salinity gauge and
mix up the sal****er in a separate bucket, get the salinity right, then
match temperatures, finally, water change (about 5% per week). You will
need some good water flow via pump to keep them going.



--
- Mark ->
--

[MH]

A pan of boiling water for about 10 mins
rinse thru
eat with Vinegar & Garlic and some bread & butter

YUM YUM YUM


"andy smart" > wrote in message
...
> Hi
>
> My son came back from the seaside at the weekend with a bucket full of
> shells (like they do). Unfortunatley among them were about a dozen
> muscles and two small crabs which were still very much alive!
>
> We're going back to the seaside on saturday, so I'd really like to keep
> them alive till then so I can re-patriate them. I've still got them in
> his bucket, and, working on the principal that ANY water was probably
> better than none, I've added some filtered tap water hoping that the
> sand and other materials mixed in with the muscle clump will add a bit
> of salinity.
>
> Any advice anybody might have on keeping them going till the end of the
> week would be gratefully recieved.
>
> andy (involutary marine aquarium keeper)