And then there was one...
Well, we've had an exciting month with more triops in the tank than we've ever had before.
Once they'd got big enough to see and count, it turned out there were eleven of them, and they put away fish food and carrot peelings at an alarming rate as well as grazing all the algae off the sides of the aquarium.
But this proliferation seems to have come at a cost. When we've had only one or two, they've hung on for a couple of months; this batch haven't lasted nearly as long. Maybe they are more stressed when there's a lot of competition, and hence use more energy fighting over food and avoiding being predated by their siblings; maybe it pushes them to complete their life cycle faster. Or perhaps after four generations of cloning they are suffering some genetic consequences, although given the immense age of the species that seems unlikely.
At any rate, they have been 'burning out' and coming to a standstill much sooner than any of the previous incarnations we've had. There was one particularly black day a week or so ago when we went from eleven to four in a single night. And tonight there is only one weird little life form trundling around on the sand, and even he/she/it seems to be slowing down, so my guess is that by morning the tiny battery will be flat and it'll be time to dry the sand out and put it aside for next spring...
And on a completely unrelated topic, I've been (and still am) wrestling with a plotless-but-pretty AotB bondage scene and adding very sporadic updates to my current rambling Booshfic, which are here if you want them: 15, 16, 17 and 18. Real life seems determined to get in the way of my writing but I am equally determined not to let it succeed!
Once they'd got big enough to see and count, it turned out there were eleven of them, and they put away fish food and carrot peelings at an alarming rate as well as grazing all the algae off the sides of the aquarium.
But this proliferation seems to have come at a cost. When we've had only one or two, they've hung on for a couple of months; this batch haven't lasted nearly as long. Maybe they are more stressed when there's a lot of competition, and hence use more energy fighting over food and avoiding being predated by their siblings; maybe it pushes them to complete their life cycle faster. Or perhaps after four generations of cloning they are suffering some genetic consequences, although given the immense age of the species that seems unlikely.
At any rate, they have been 'burning out' and coming to a standstill much sooner than any of the previous incarnations we've had. There was one particularly black day a week or so ago when we went from eleven to four in a single night. And tonight there is only one weird little life form trundling around on the sand, and even he/she/it seems to be slowing down, so my guess is that by morning the tiny battery will be flat and it'll be time to dry the sand out and put it aside for next spring...
And on a completely unrelated topic, I've been (and still am) wrestling with a plotless-but-pretty AotB bondage scene and adding very sporadic updates to my current rambling Booshfic, which are here if you want them: 15, 16, 17 and 18. Real life seems determined to get in the way of my writing but I am equally determined not to let it succeed!