Chapter 38 (continued)

Qing Mengzhu nodded, deciding to listen to him.

Chen Yi: "That's all for tonight. I'll come back tomorrow to check on the rearing tank. If everything's okay, we'll move the larvae out together."

Qing Mengzhu: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

After agreeing on a time, Chen Yi went back first.

Qing Mengzhu stared at the translucent daphnia-like larvae in the incubator, a look of anticipation appearing on her face.

If this box full of small shrimp can be successfully raised, our family will never lack shrimp to eat again.

After checking the incubator and confirming that the oxygenator was still running and that the water temperature and quality were fine, Qing Mengzhu went to sleep.

When he woke up, he looked at it again and found that the daphnia larvae of these shrimp were mostly still alive and looked quite healthy.

Once Chen Yi arrives, it can be moved to the cultivation pool.

At 10 a. m., Qing Mengzhu returned home after selling vegetables, and Chen Yi also came over.

Chen Yi asked about the shrimp, "How are they now?"

Qing Mengzhu led him into the house. "He looks very healthy. The little shrimp are swimming around in the incubator and are quite lively."

Chen Yi went to check on the zoea larvae in the incubator and then looked at the rearing tank.

The water temperature in the rearing pond is normal, the aerator is working properly, and the newly transplanted aquatic plants do not carry any small fish or insects, so they will not harm the juveniles.

With everything ready, Chen Yi and Qing Mengzhu together carried the entire incubator outside and carefully poured the daphnia larvae and water into the rearing tank.

After Chen Yi finished adjusting the equipment, he said to Qing Mengzhu, "Now we can prepare to feed them."

Qing Mengzhu: "Is it right to feed them with soy milk and egg yolks?"

The environment in their breeding tanks is quite different from the outside environment, and the food they are fed is also different.

Artificial feeding typically involves mixing soybean milk and egg yolks—grinding the two together in a high-speed blender, sieving the mixture, and then pouring it into the rearing tank for the daphnia larvae to feed on.

This is how we often feed them here.

Chen Yi gave Qing Mengzhu a heads-up. "Hey, the daphnia larvae's sudden change of diet has a relatively high mortality rate, so you need to be mentally prepared."

Qing Mengzhu nodded solemnly.

He had already read the data; when daphnia larvae change their diet, the mortality rate can be as high as 80% if they are not raised properly, and even if they are raised properly, the mortality rate is still around 20%.

That's just how bad things are in captivity, but the mortality rate for daphnia larvae is even higher in the wild, so there's not much to complain about.

When artificially breeding freshwater shrimp, farmers usually increase the number of hatched shrimp in order to obtain more surviving individuals.

Qing Mengzhu obtained these shrimp eggs from the Interstellar Mall. He couldn't increase the quantity this year, but as long as some of the shrimp survived, he could hatch more shrimp eggs next year.

No matter how many shrimp are produced this year, as long as they are eventually raised to adulthood, it will be a victory.

That being said, Qing Mengzhu carefully followed Chen Yi's recipe, crushing the soy milk and egg yolks, filtering them, and feeding them into the incubation tank. However, when the zoea larvae began to die, he still couldn't hold back his emotions.

He felt heartbroken when he saw the daphnia larvae floating in the water after they died, and he used a fine net to scoop them up. The mortality rate was about to exceed 30%.

Qing Mengzhu called Chen Yi to ask if he had any good ideas.

Chen Yi said helplessly, "Not for now. This is a difficult problem for every country. Things will get better once we get through this stage."

Qing Mengzhu: "Are there any other recipes?"

Chen Yi: "That's all, the ones I gave you before. Rotifers, brine shrimp larvae, and algae. If you want to try, you can buy some, isolate some of the daphnia larvae, and then try feeding them to them. But I personally don't recommend it. Generally speaking, feeding them soy milk and egg yolks is already very good."

Qing Mengzhu: "Let me think about it some more."

In the evening, Qing Mengzhu retrieved another batch of dead daphnia larvae.

Looking at the shrimp carcasses on the fine net, he felt he couldn't let things continue like this; he had to think of a solution.

He squatted beside the breeding pool, then suddenly remembered something, took out his phone, opened the Interstellar Mall, and scanned the shrimp corpse with the Mall Assistant.

The Mall Assistant quickly provided the result: fertilizer, 0.78 Star Coins for 500g.

It turned out to be fertilizer. Qing Mengzhu looked at the shrimp carcasses in the fine net, then at the zoea larvae in the rearing pond, and simply pointed her phone at the rearing pond.

The Mall Assistant scanned again, and the results came back quickly: juvenile shrimp, Superior Grade, 5.15 Star Coins for 500g.

This price is much higher.

Qing Mengzhu stared at the data provided by the mall assistant, feeling somewhat gratified.

Unfortunately, the Mall Assistant didn't provide any further information, and he didn't know how to stop the death of the daphnia larvae.

Qing Mengzhu squatted by the cultivation pool for a long time, constantly using her mobile phone to check information about the daphnia larvae.

There's very little useful information online, and most of it seems unreliable.

The only certainty is that the mortality rate of daphnia larvae in the breeding pool is normal. In fact, the mortality rate of daphnia larvae bred by many people is ridiculously high, especially for beginners, who often suffer total annihilation.

He received help from Chen Yi, and the results were actually quite good.

After seeing this information online, Qing Mengzhu felt a little better and finally had the appetite to eat.

He went into the kitchen, too lazy to cook, and decided to just boil some noodles for a quick meal.

The blender I used to make soy milk this afternoon hasn't been cleaned yet; it's just sitting in the kitchen sink.

Another sink contained tomatoes, cucumbers, and bok choy, all of which he brought back in the evening.

He walked over, intending to wash some vegetables to make noodles.

As he washed the vegetables, he suddenly stared at them thoughtfully.

Given the high mortality rate of daphnia larvae, could it be due to improper diet?

It was at least a "Superior Grade" daphnia larva, but the soy milk and egg yolks he fed it might not even reach the "Good Grade" level.

Perhaps higher-grade food could improve their survival rate?

Thinking of this, Qing Mengzhu didn't even bother with dinner and quickly took out her phone to search for shrimp food on the Interstellar Mall.

He searched for a while but couldn't find any information about shrimp feed.

He quickly changed his keywords and started searching for things like brine shrimp and artichokes.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it either.

Qing Mengzhu's mind raced. After searching for a while, he simply put his phone in his pocket and decided to go to the field to pick some vegetables.

Since daphnia larvae can eat algae and soy milk, they can also eat vegetables that have been blended into a puree using a high-speed blender and then filtered.

The vegetables grown in the field are always of a higher quality than ordinary soy milk and egg yolks.

At worst, he can isolate some of the flea larvae for experiments later. Since the mortality rate is already so high, taking some out for experiments is not a big deal.

With that thought in mind, he quickly went out into the yard, took out his electric scooter, and rode off to the vegetable garden.

Hearing the commotion, the two dogs ran over from the backyard to investigate, only to see his electric scooter disappear from sight. They barked and chased after it.

In the midst of his busy schedule, he turned around and waved, telling the dog to go play and not to worry about him.

Qing Mengzhu drove the electric car directly to the front of the vegetable garden.

He wanted to pick tomatoes; besides chili peppers, tomatoes were probably the highest quality crop in the field right now.

Upon entering the tomato field, before he could pick even a few tomatoes, he noticed the lotus leaves and flowers in the pond beside it.

Lotus leaves and lotus flowers are of a higher quality than tomatoes. Since we're going to use a high-speed blender to crush and filter them anyway, we might as well just pick the lotus leaves and lotus flowers directly.

He had scanned it a few days ago; the tomatoes were rated "Good Grade+", while the lotus leaves and flowers were rated "Fine Grade- ".

Qing Mengzhu then turned around and ran to the pond, intending to pick more lotus leaves and lotus flowers.

While picking flowers, he suddenly noticed the lotus seedpods that had been exposed after the flowers had withered.

There are lotus pods in the pond, but only a few.

Should we feed the daphnia larvae with lotus seeds?

Thinking of this, Qing Mengzhu untied the boat from the pond and rowed it into the depths of the pond.