feeding baby clownfish
- Thread starter bbfatty49
- Start date
Welcome to the fish breeding forum, bbfatty49.
Unlike me, Dman is very experienced breeder.
Here's what I did to start out.
Third attempt thread
click on that link.
Hope this helps,
Kathy
Unlike me, Dman is very experienced breeder.
Here's what I did to start out.
Third attempt thread
click on that link.
Hope this helps,
Kathy
JHardman
Premium Member
No offense to the OP...
But I do not see why people have such a hard time with the idea of culturing rots. If you use Instant Algae it is easy and not time consuming in the least. It takes maybe 5-10 mins a day tops. And if you plan a little the harvesting is quick and easy too.
But I do not see why people have such a hard time with the idea of culturing rots. If you use Instant Algae it is easy and not time consuming in the least. It takes maybe 5-10 mins a day tops. And if you plan a little the harvesting is quick and easy too.
does it matter if you leave the green water and rotifers going for a while if you dont need them if you dont always have baby clwn fish?
where do you get instant algae?
how do you do it for your clowns?
i emailed the frozen rotifers place and they said that their rotifers were more nutritous for the clowns and that it was made for aquaculturing clowns(biased of course) but what do you think of them? heres a link Frozen Rotifers or Larval Diet
where do you get instant algae?
how do you do it for your clowns?
i emailed the frozen rotifers place and they said that their rotifers were more nutritous for the clowns and that it was made for aquaculturing clowns(biased of course) but what do you think of them? heres a link Frozen Rotifers or Larval Diet
NicoleC
New member
Most larvae will not eat food that doesn't move. Hikari does enrich their rots before they freeze them, but they still won't move and dead food increases water quality issues. That's the same issue for larvae diets as well.
You may get SOME fish that will eat the dead food. Not many. If you just want to raise a batch or two for fun and see what happens, it might be worth a shot.
Rotifer culturing is not hard, although it takes some practice to get the hang of it, nor is it particularly time consuming. And far, far cheaper than buying frozen rotifers. You should be able to find someone to give you a starter culture for free or cheap in Houston.
You can put the rot cultures on "simmer" when not feeding any babies by keeping densities low, but focusing on learning how to get steady production is goal #1. Then you can fuss with increasing/decreasing production on demand. You do have to take care of them all the time unless you are willing to keep buying starter cultures and shipping them FedEx. Not cheap!
You may get SOME fish that will eat the dead food. Not many. If you just want to raise a batch or two for fun and see what happens, it might be worth a shot.
Rotifer culturing is not hard, although it takes some practice to get the hang of it, nor is it particularly time consuming. And far, far cheaper than buying frozen rotifers. You should be able to find someone to give you a starter culture for free or cheap in Houston.
You can put the rot cultures on "simmer" when not feeding any babies by keeping densities low, but focusing on learning how to get steady production is goal #1. Then you can fuss with increasing/decreasing production on demand. You do have to take care of them all the time unless you are willing to keep buying starter cultures and shipping them FedEx. Not cheap!
NicoleC
New member
I found IA to be dirty and a water quality problem. However, if you need a lot of phyto it can save you a LOT of culturing room and effort. Many breeders use it very successfully. Given the alternative, I use IA, too, but I am growing a little live phyto now to use in larval tanks to tint the water green so I avoid some water quality issues.
To slow down rotifer production, lower the temp to slow metabolism and reduce feeding to keep the population down.
When I have babies to feed, I feed the rotifers a combination of instant algae and a yeast-based food. I harvest half every 24-36 hours and enrich them for 12 hours in an enrichment media, then feed the larvae the enriched rotifers. I replace the 50% water I took out with new salt mix. I harvest every 12 hours, but rotate cultures so I can feed every 12 hours. For L-strain rotifers, keep the temp nice and warm around 82F. (I don't heat mine; I don't need many rotifers and I get more than I can use at 70-72F room temp and my cultures are more stable at a lower temp. I seem to be in the minority on that.)
On "simmer," I only feed a little bit of yeast each day and harvest half from each culture every 2 days, replacing the water with new salt mix. This keeps the density relatively low but healthy, and I can ramp up to "production" levels within a couple of days. Turn off the heaters or turn them down to 70F-ish.
Yes, harvesting a healthy culture more often makes you get MORE rotifers. It's wierd but true. I use Clor-Am-X in the cultures to reduce crashing from ammonia; rotifers are dirty critters.
If there's one thing I learned, you MUST keep to your maintenance schedule. Slacking off can get you a bucket full of dead smelly sludge very quickly. And I mean SMELLY! You can get the smelly sludge even if you are careful, so keep more than one culture going at all times and rotate maintence among the cultures.
To slow down rotifer production, lower the temp to slow metabolism and reduce feeding to keep the population down.
When I have babies to feed, I feed the rotifers a combination of instant algae and a yeast-based food. I harvest half every 24-36 hours and enrich them for 12 hours in an enrichment media, then feed the larvae the enriched rotifers. I replace the 50% water I took out with new salt mix. I harvest every 12 hours, but rotate cultures so I can feed every 12 hours. For L-strain rotifers, keep the temp nice and warm around 82F. (I don't heat mine; I don't need many rotifers and I get more than I can use at 70-72F room temp and my cultures are more stable at a lower temp. I seem to be in the minority on that.)
On "simmer," I only feed a little bit of yeast each day and harvest half from each culture every 2 days, replacing the water with new salt mix. This keeps the density relatively low but healthy, and I can ramp up to "production" levels within a couple of days. Turn off the heaters or turn them down to 70F-ish.
Yes, harvesting a healthy culture more often makes you get MORE rotifers. It's wierd but true. I use Clor-Am-X in the cultures to reduce crashing from ammonia; rotifers are dirty critters.
If there's one thing I learned, you MUST keep to your maintenance schedule. Slacking off can get you a bucket full of dead smelly sludge very quickly. And I mean SMELLY! You can get the smelly sludge even if you are careful, so keep more than one culture going at all times and rotate maintence among the cultures.
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