classroom captive breeding program
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
hobogato
New member
thanks for all the comments
olin, thanks for the input - was planning on having the students divide into workgroups like you suggested, but hadnt thought about the experiment part. i will try to pick up some of those gobies as well, since i dont expect any reproduction for quite a while with all of these species.
pheonix, when i have the funds i will try another potters. i also want to make sure the survivor is going to make it - not the best eater yet. some of the fish were donated by some local reefers and the rest were ordered thru an lfs
olin, thanks for the input - was planning on having the students divide into workgroups like you suggested, but hadnt thought about the experiment part. i will try to pick up some of those gobies as well, since i dont expect any reproduction for quite a while with all of these species.
pheonix, when i have the funds i will try another potters. i also want to make sure the survivor is going to make it - not the best eater yet. some of the fish were donated by some local reefers and the rest were ordered thru an lfs
hobogato
New member
two bits to report today....
1. everyone made it thru the first night in the system without any problems
2. with exception of the mandarins, everyone ate frozen food this morning!! started them off with brine and mysis and will add more variety next week.
also, the tesselated blennies have destroyed the nice even sand bed in their tank to make all kinds of burrows and hiding places - i wonder if this means they are trying to set up a happy home...
1. everyone made it thru the first night in the system without any problems
2. with exception of the mandarins, everyone ate frozen food this morning!! started them off with brine and mysis and will add more variety next week.
also, the tesselated blennies have destroyed the nice even sand bed in their tank to make all kinds of burrows and hiding places - i wonder if this means they are trying to set up a happy home...
Hi Hobogato and Olin,
I am very interested in this thread and your comments. I teach Marine Science & Environmental Science to 11th & 12th graders, and am trying to start a similar project, but on a smaller scale, with just clownfish for now. I have a pair of Ocellaris that lay eggs every two weeks, so we are going to try to raise the fry in the classroom. I've written a grant to obtain 6 small tanks and the related equipment, but I'm not sure how I'm going to divide the work and projects among my 5 Marine classes. They ALL want to partcipate, but I'm only going to be able to run six 10 gallon tanks, at least for now. Money is a major concern, and our economy here in Florida is horrible right now. I asked for tank/equipment donations in our school newsletter, but didn't get any.
My classes average 24-26, so approx. 6 groups of 4 students per class. I figured I'd divide fry up amongst them. Or maybe one class would take the first hatch, another class the second, and so on. But I doubt that would go over well for the classes that would have to wait. We have a 55 gallon for grow out later. We also have an up and running 75 gallon with a bonded pair of maroons, a royal gramma, dart fish, and a pair of pajama cardinals and xenia (LOTS!), mushrooms, and anthelia. Any suggestions on the logistics for all the classes? Hobogato, how big is your classroom? Can you post a photo of the setup of the entire room?
I am very interested in this thread and your comments. I teach Marine Science & Environmental Science to 11th & 12th graders, and am trying to start a similar project, but on a smaller scale, with just clownfish for now. I have a pair of Ocellaris that lay eggs every two weeks, so we are going to try to raise the fry in the classroom. I've written a grant to obtain 6 small tanks and the related equipment, but I'm not sure how I'm going to divide the work and projects among my 5 Marine classes. They ALL want to partcipate, but I'm only going to be able to run six 10 gallon tanks, at least for now. Money is a major concern, and our economy here in Florida is horrible right now. I asked for tank/equipment donations in our school newsletter, but didn't get any.
My classes average 24-26, so approx. 6 groups of 4 students per class. I figured I'd divide fry up amongst them. Or maybe one class would take the first hatch, another class the second, and so on. But I doubt that would go over well for the classes that would have to wait. We have a 55 gallon for grow out later. We also have an up and running 75 gallon with a bonded pair of maroons, a royal gramma, dart fish, and a pair of pajama cardinals and xenia (LOTS!), mushrooms, and anthelia. Any suggestions on the logistics for all the classes? Hobogato, how big is your classroom? Can you post a photo of the setup of the entire room?
hobogato
New member
eileen, you do have a bit of a scheduling issue there. i have three classes with a total of 80 students (i also teach 70 physics students). with my program students will pick which part of the program they want to help with and they will do all mainenance and feeding, etc. the rest of my room is just a big rectangle with lab tables in the middle and computers around two walls. it can seat 28 comfortably, but more if needed.
Hi Eileen, sounds like your setup is off to a great start. There are a LOT of ways to do aquaculture using "found" items. I started my first aquaculture business as a starving undergrad with one tank, and a lot of dumpster diving for discarded plastic containers. Here are a few things that work great and are (nearly) free. 1 or 2 liter soda bottles. Culture plankton in the clear ones, and larvae in the green ones (or wrap black construction paper around the clear ones). This way you can have maybe 4/class with 5-10 larvae/bottle/hatch, so each group will have a batch. For the larvae, cut off the narrow tops so you can access the larvae. Keeping everything at an appropriate temp is a problem, but if you have the 55 set up with a heater, you can make a shelf inside out of eggcrate and zip ties and use the growout tank to temper the larval tubes. Just use a rigid airline with no airstone in the bottles - at 1 bubble/second, you can run a ton of these bottles off a single air pump.
Don't forget the rest of the community for donations - as part of our class, since there were science students who didn't like science, they were on a marketing committee. They went into the community or called around to fish stores and did a market survey. Best of all they got sponsors for both equipment and $, and they even negotiated a few pricier pieces of used equipment from stores (lights, skimmer etc), with the agreement that if our fish spawned, we would pay them for the items in fish, or if not, we would bring the gear back at the end of the year. Since the gear was already used, the fish stores agreed (and at the end of the year, they were all paid in fish)!
Don't forget the rest of the community for donations - as part of our class, since there were science students who didn't like science, they were on a marketing committee. They went into the community or called around to fish stores and did a market survey. Best of all they got sponsors for both equipment and $, and they even negotiated a few pricier pieces of used equipment from stores (lights, skimmer etc), with the agreement that if our fish spawned, we would pay them for the items in fish, or if not, we would bring the gear back at the end of the year. Since the gear was already used, the fish stores agreed (and at the end of the year, they were all paid in fish)!
hobogato
New member
here are the pics - i snapped them as we moved the babies to their new net breeder
in a glass holding bowl
closer
plastic transfer dish - relatively easy to use and little stress on the babies, although one did ink a bit because i moved a little too fast.
closer
couple of buddies in the new net breeder - notice the net is inside out to keep them from getting tangled in the seam
thru the glass pic
all six after they settled in under the chaeto (i carefully moved it to take the pic from above)
in a glass holding bowl
closer
plastic transfer dish - relatively easy to use and little stress on the babies, although one did ink a bit because i moved a little too fast.
closer
couple of buddies in the new net breeder - notice the net is inside out to keep them from getting tangled in the seam
thru the glass pic
all six after they settled in under the chaeto (i carefully moved it to take the pic from above)
hobogato
New member
not sure where to find them online, sorry.
you may check in at tonmo.com, captive raised ones are available there periodically.
well, mixed news this morning. last week, the two smallest hatchling cuttles died and this morning only the largest two of the initial 6 were still alive. at least one of them is eating tho, since i put in several live mysis on friday and none are left now.
also, three of the remaining four eggs hatched this weekend, so hopefully they will all make it.
you may check in at tonmo.com, captive raised ones are available there periodically.
well, mixed news this morning. last week, the two smallest hatchling cuttles died and this morning only the largest two of the initial 6 were still alive. at least one of them is eating tho, since i put in several live mysis on friday and none are left now.
also, three of the remaining four eggs hatched this weekend, so hopefully they will all make it.
buttons buster
New member
glad to see that the tanks are doing well 
Marchingbandjs
New member
Sweet, lucky kids, keep us updated
hobogato
New member
ust got back from feeding the school critters and cleaning the lone cuttle's net breeder (yes, only one of the nine that hatched made it to easy feeding size). it was really mad at me and inked quite a bit.
also dropped off the salt water acclimated black mollies, they will be food makers for this cuttle and the other three i have coming in this week.
the tesselated blennies have rearranged their tank changed into their dimorphic colors again and the dark blue one is really fat - probably gravid.
also, the female skunk cleaner is very gravid.
didnt have the camera with me today - will try to get some pics tomorrow.....
also dropped off the salt water acclimated black mollies, they will be food makers for this cuttle and the other three i have coming in this week.
the tesselated blennies have rearranged their tank changed into their dimorphic colors again and the dark blue one is really fat - probably gravid.
also, the female skunk cleaner is very gravid.
didnt have the camera with me today - will try to get some pics tomorrow.....
hobogato
New member
ok, got some pics of the blennies and their eggs, as well as the gravid cleaner shrimp
not so good pic of both blennies
just the female - she only turns this color when nesting, gravid, and just after laying eggs
the eggs (layer of gray specs on the inside wall of the lower right barnacle) - dont have cultures of rotifers yet, so we will not be collecting this batch of larvae
gravid cleaner shrimp - there are two
not so good pic of both blennies
just the female - she only turns this color when nesting, gravid, and just after laying eggs
the eggs (layer of gray specs on the inside wall of the lower right barnacle) - dont have cultures of rotifers yet, so we will not be collecting this batch of larvae
gravid cleaner shrimp - there are two
ThunderTang
New member
Man I wish i was at this school, your students are so Lucky:thumbsup:
