Adding water

[Harry]

Every week or so, water evaporates out of my two tanks (small containers). So I gently add distilled water, running it carefully down the side of the glass so as not to disturb anything. This seems to be a tremendous wake-up call to the Opae. They all come out from the rocks and become very active as soon as I add the water. It's very cool to watch and confirms that the group is alive and well.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Dang, Harry, I may have to try that with my new 10 gallon tank. The most I ever see is three out of nearly 25 of them.

The tank is covered, though, so in order to do it I may have to drain a bit of the water first...

The berried opae did show up for the first time in a week today!

[Harry]

I find that it's in their nature to exhibit different behavior at different time. Typically, I see a small percentage out and about. I guess that's enough for me. I'm not sure that draining water and adding it back in will work to bring them out. When the water evaporates, it concentrates the salt and minerals. Adding in distilled water reduces the concentration back to its original level. Maybe that is what they are responding to.