Good news! There’s definitely more than one baby. I haven’t been able to capture more than one in a single picture, so I don’t have any proof, but take my word for it! Although it’s difficult to say for sure, I estimate that there are roughly 10 healthy baby shrimp in the tank. Of those 10, it seems that 2-3 have a blue tinge, while the rest are slightly red or orange. At this stage of their lives, their color isn’t fully developed, so I’m interested to keep a close eye on their color in the future. This shrimp below seems to have a blue-greenish tinge, which I am particularly excited about!
How do Video Games Fit into Education?
I’ve always enjoyed playing games. As I said in my Minecraft post, I was an avid Minecrafter back in the day. A few other games I’ve enjoyed playing are Stardew Valley, Civilization VI, and Cities Skylines. And of course, I used to spend many hours trying to convince my mom why an extra hour of the latest Mario or Pokemon game was actually really beneficial for my brains development. I can’t say I ever really convinced her, but using video games as an educational tool has always been something that I’ve been interested in.
I want to keep these posts mostly short and sweet, so I’m going to explore one game that I think has some educational value, rather than trying to create a comprehensive list.
This game, called Kerbal Space Program, has a lot of educational potential in my opinion. In this game, players create rockets to fly wherever they want, for any purpose they want. The interesting part of the game is that it realistically follows aerodynamic and orbital physics. There are a TON of intricacies in this game, and far more than I could explain in a single blog post. In order to get a better understanding of how the game actually works, please check out this really interesting video below of a Mars Rover engineer building a Mars Rover in the game.
Molting and Exoskeletons
Although I had done my research and knew about molting before adding shrimp to the tank, my first encounter with an exoskeleton got me feeling a little uneasy. However, they’re nothing to fear!
Notice Anything?
I know it’s blurry, but see if you can spot the anything interesting! Hint: it’s somewhere below the bigger shrimp in the center of the frame.
Good News or Bad News… I’m not sure yet!
The good news is that Big Blue seems to have given birth, as she is no longer carrying any eggs with her. The bad news is that I don’t see any babies. I’m trying my best to not jump to conclusions either way. I know that even if perfectly healthy, the baby shrimp would still be extremely small, and I sometimes have trouble finding the largest of the shrimp. On the other hand, I know that if water parameters are not stable, there’s a high chance of the eggs not making it.
Those are all the updates I have for now. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and my eyes peeled.
Podcasts as an Educational Tool
I’ve never been a big podcast guy. I like reading and I like listening to music, and so you would think it would have been a natural progression for me at some point. I think that in some ways, I feel like I’ve missed getting on the podcast train, and it can be a little awkward hearing people discuss their favorite podcasts when I have nothing to offer. However, a presentation from some classmates helped me start to catch up. Through class input and discussion, my eyes were really opened up to the huge potential for this form of media. For personal use, I think scientific podcasts sound really interesting – one that peaked my interest was hidden brain. I’ve also been a huge fantasy nerd my entire life, so the idea of a Dungeons and Dragons podcast is also super intriguing. Again, I don’t have a huge breadth of knowledge in this area, but I believe Critical Role is the most popular.
Mothers-to-be in Action
Not much text to add here, just wanted to share a few more videos of the shrimp.
Take a look at Big Blue moving her eggs around in order to oxygenate them!
Also, I noticed another mother-to-be in the tank! I’ve creatively named her “Big Red”
Her eggs are a bit more difficult to see due to her coloration, but you should be able to see them moving around below her.
A Very(!) Welcome Surprise
These past few days, I’ve been feeling pretty anxious about the shrimp. I seem to find them grazing on algae less, and they still are indifferent about veggies or other kinds of food I provide. To make matters worse, I hadn’t seen Big Blue for almost a week. In a tank this large with so many plants or rocks to hide behind, it isn’t uncommon for me to not see a specific shrimp (I can distinguish a few shrimps based on distinct markings, colorations, or size) for a day or two, but never have any been missing for this long. I was almost certain he was dead.
But, after a week of despair, I was met with the best kind of surprise! Big Blue was back, hanging out on the filter. And she wasn’t alone!
I don’t know about you, but I was blown away when I saw this. I’m incredibly proud of this photo. Please click below to see some videos I took as well!
Unconferences
In EdTech, I was reintroduced to the term “unconference.” An unconference is essentially a user-generated conference. Participants are able to choose and potentially lead whatever topic they are interested in. A big part of unconferences are the idea that participants can choose to learn about what they really are interested in. I had heard of it before, but I had never been able to experience it first hand. Luckily for me, our instructor ran us through a mini unconference that I think was really useful for not only learning about unconferences, but also learning about the actual topic I chose to learn about.
Below, I’ve attached a video showing an overview of an unconference that happened here in Victoria in 2015.
Breeding the Shrimp!
If I’m being completely honest, there’s not much that goes into breeding Neocaradinia shrimp. Not that I’m complaining! Basically, ensure that your shrimp are comfortable and unstressed. That means proper water parameters, appropriate places to hide, enough food, etc. After that, simply let nature take it’s course!
From birth, a shrimp will need roughly 3-5 months before it reaches breeding age. As long as the conditions above are met, and there are compatible mates in the tank, you should have babies within a month or so. An indication of a female shrimp that has reached breeding maturity is the development of whats called a “saddle.” The saddle of a mature female shrimp can be found right behind their head, and it’s actually undeveloped eggs located in their ovary, although it just looks like a small discoloration at this stage. I tried to take a good picture of this, but I wasn’t able to get a good angle. I’ve attached a YouTube video below which shows it pretty clearly at around 0:18.
I think that the gestation of these shrimp is particularly interesting because they have live births, meaning the mother will carry her eggs until they become fully capable adolescents. Another thing I find fascinating is that you can actually clearly see these eggs underneath the mother as she carries them.
Check out this link for more information about the breeding of these shrimp!