Growing rotifers for clownfish larva
- Thread starter JHardman
- Start date
seafarm
Premium Member
Hi Everybody,
I just discovered this thread, and since itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s my products you are talking about Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m going to stick my 2 cents worth in.
We have segmented our algae products into two lines ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ aquaculture and aquarium products. They are both sold under the Instant Algae label. The aquaculture products are sold by the liter and are called by their latin names ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ such as Nannochloropsis. The aquarium products are sold in a variety of sizes, down to 100 mls, and are branded by function ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œCoral & Clam Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â.
The aquaculture products are more dense, for example the Nannochloropsis (18% dry weight) is a 3600 formula (makes 3600 liters of standard density algae) while ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (5% dry weight) is a 1000 formula, so about 27% the density ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ but they are both just Nannochloropsis. The ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œCoral & Clamââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (5% dry weight, 1000 formula) is similar to the aquaculture ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œShellfish Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (9% dry weight, 1800 formula) but also contains Nannochloropsis.
We dropped the density of the aquarium products because a few customers were running into problems with the high densities and using too much, or having to throw a lot out at the end of the 3 month shelf life. Our products have been developed for commercial hatcheries that go through bags or cases of Nannochloropsis each day - not for aquariums. The lower densities and smaller bottles make our products more viable in the aquarium market.
In terms of rotifer production, you should be able to produce about 500 million rotifers from 1 liter of Nannochloropsis, or 140 million from 1 liter of ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â. If you are going to be producing a lot of rotifers I would definitely by the Nannochloropsis aquaculture product. It is less expensive and you can split the bag into several small bottles and freeze the remainder. Nannochloropsis can be frozen for several years without any significant breakdown.
About lighting, rotifers donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t physiologically need light but they are phototrophic (will swim towards it). We maintain our rotifer cultures at between 6-9,000 per ml (yes, those really are the right numbers) in a completely black tank. We do that because it reduces the amount of unwanted growth from bacteria and invasive algae (algae spores can carry in the wind and get just about anywhere). We do use light as part of our filtration system to keep the rotifers swimming at the top of the filters and not setting out.
A couple of thoughts if you are having problems with your rotifers ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ lower the salinity and use Cloram-X or Amquel to control ammonia. We dropped our salinity to about 20 ppt and are getting MUCH better rotifer growth rates than at 30 ppt. We also have a constant feed of Cloram-X to detoxify the ammonia, which rotifers produce abundantly. Cloram-X is pretty cheap and well worth the cost.
Regarding HUFAââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s, components like EPA and DHA can be very important to larval fish survival. There are a lot of powders and liquids available for doing enrichment but you run into three problems: 1) it takes a LOT more time do add the additional step of enriching, 2) these products are ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œmessyââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ in your tanks and can easily foul your rotifer cultures, and 3) the bio-availability is typically pretty low. Fish larvae get their nutrients from zooplankton, which get their nutrients from microalgae in the form of phospholipids. Many of these enrichment products are made from fish oils and the fish have already converted the phospholipids into triglycerides which are not easily digestible to larvae so they donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t get good uptake. There are a lot of claims that you cannot properly enrich larvae without these artificial ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œsuper dietsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â, but if that were the case there would not be many fish in the ocean.
So thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s enough from me tonight. I'll monitor this thread and be happy to answer any questions that come up.
Randy Reed, Reed Mariculture
I just discovered this thread, and since itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s my products you are talking about Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m going to stick my 2 cents worth in.
We have segmented our algae products into two lines ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ aquaculture and aquarium products. They are both sold under the Instant Algae label. The aquaculture products are sold by the liter and are called by their latin names ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ such as Nannochloropsis. The aquarium products are sold in a variety of sizes, down to 100 mls, and are branded by function ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œCoral & Clam Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â.
The aquaculture products are more dense, for example the Nannochloropsis (18% dry weight) is a 3600 formula (makes 3600 liters of standard density algae) while ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (5% dry weight) is a 1000 formula, so about 27% the density ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ but they are both just Nannochloropsis. The ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œCoral & Clamââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (5% dry weight, 1000 formula) is similar to the aquaculture ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œShellfish Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ (9% dry weight, 1800 formula) but also contains Nannochloropsis.
We dropped the density of the aquarium products because a few customers were running into problems with the high densities and using too much, or having to throw a lot out at the end of the 3 month shelf life. Our products have been developed for commercial hatcheries that go through bags or cases of Nannochloropsis each day - not for aquariums. The lower densities and smaller bottles make our products more viable in the aquarium market.
In terms of rotifer production, you should be able to produce about 500 million rotifers from 1 liter of Nannochloropsis, or 140 million from 1 liter of ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRotifer Dietââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â. If you are going to be producing a lot of rotifers I would definitely by the Nannochloropsis aquaculture product. It is less expensive and you can split the bag into several small bottles and freeze the remainder. Nannochloropsis can be frozen for several years without any significant breakdown.
About lighting, rotifers donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t physiologically need light but they are phototrophic (will swim towards it). We maintain our rotifer cultures at between 6-9,000 per ml (yes, those really are the right numbers) in a completely black tank. We do that because it reduces the amount of unwanted growth from bacteria and invasive algae (algae spores can carry in the wind and get just about anywhere). We do use light as part of our filtration system to keep the rotifers swimming at the top of the filters and not setting out.
A couple of thoughts if you are having problems with your rotifers ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ lower the salinity and use Cloram-X or Amquel to control ammonia. We dropped our salinity to about 20 ppt and are getting MUCH better rotifer growth rates than at 30 ppt. We also have a constant feed of Cloram-X to detoxify the ammonia, which rotifers produce abundantly. Cloram-X is pretty cheap and well worth the cost.
Regarding HUFAââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s, components like EPA and DHA can be very important to larval fish survival. There are a lot of powders and liquids available for doing enrichment but you run into three problems: 1) it takes a LOT more time do add the additional step of enriching, 2) these products are ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œmessyââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ in your tanks and can easily foul your rotifer cultures, and 3) the bio-availability is typically pretty low. Fish larvae get their nutrients from zooplankton, which get their nutrients from microalgae in the form of phospholipids. Many of these enrichment products are made from fish oils and the fish have already converted the phospholipids into triglycerides which are not easily digestible to larvae so they donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t get good uptake. There are a lot of claims that you cannot properly enrich larvae without these artificial ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œsuper dietsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â, but if that were the case there would not be many fish in the ocean.
So thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s enough from me tonight. I'll monitor this thread and be happy to answer any questions that come up.
Randy Reed, Reed Mariculture
JHardman
Premium Member
oceanarus said:Thanks for the detailed insight Randy. Good to hear from someone who grows rotifers for a living.
Looking forward to getting my package on Wednesday
Ditto, but my package will be here on Thursday. :lol:
BTW, Randy has provided me with excellent customer service. I placed my order yesterday a national holiday, and he took the time out of his labor day weekend to provide me service and information when I had no expectation of anyone even working.
oceanarus
New member
JHardman said:BTW, Randy has provided me with excellent customer service. I placed my order yesterday a national holiday, and he took the time out of his labor day weekend to provide me service and information when I had no expectation of anyone even working.
Ditto :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
seafarm
Premium Member
The information about the ICRS system is at www.rotifer.com. We ended up getting over 10,000 rotifers per ml in continuous production with a 50% daily harvest.
We worked with Aquatic Eco Systems to develop an inexpensive commercial rotifer system, and it's working exceptionally well so we've stopped further development of the ICRS systems. You can see a picture of the AES system at www.rotifer.com.
Randy Reed
Reed Mariculture
We worked with Aquatic Eco Systems to develop an inexpensive commercial rotifer system, and it's working exceptionally well so we've stopped further development of the ICRS systems. You can see a picture of the AES system at www.rotifer.com.
Randy Reed
Reed Mariculture
finding nemo
In Memoriam
This needs to be at the top, great information
iSpeakWhale
Member
seafarm,
Recently my clowns have mated and I don't have any plans to rise this year but will be looking forward to it the beginning of next year. So I've been reading and looking for home type culturing for these fry.
Since you guys are located in San Jose, I'm just wondering if you guys have a walk-in store and you guys can show me how your product works. I would like to also purchase/pick up the product if possible as well.
JHardman,
How did your culturing turn out? Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve been debating on what to purchase for my first culturing...
Recently my clowns have mated and I don't have any plans to rise this year but will be looking forward to it the beginning of next year. So I've been reading and looking for home type culturing for these fry.
Since you guys are located in San Jose, I'm just wondering if you guys have a walk-in store and you guys can show me how your product works. I would like to also purchase/pick up the product if possible as well.
JHardman,
How did your culturing turn out? Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve been debating on what to purchase for my first culturing...
seafarm
Premium Member
Hi iSpeakWhale,
We do have an office in San Jose (actually Campbell) that you are welcome to come by during the week (9-5). We don't culture the rotifers here but with a couple of days notice I can arrange to have rotifers brough here from the farm. We do stock all of our algae products here. You can get directions at www.ReedMariculture.com/contact.asp.
Randy
We do have an office in San Jose (actually Campbell) that you are welcome to come by during the week (9-5). We don't culture the rotifers here but with a couple of days notice I can arrange to have rotifers brough here from the farm. We do stock all of our algae products here. You can get directions at www.ReedMariculture.com/contact.asp.
Randy
poissonist
New member
HELLO I HAVE A SPECIAL CONTRACT WITH marine life french company. I USE 8 LITERS PURE NANOCHLOROPSIS PER MONTH FOR 150 EUROS! they create this price because i experiment high load of fishes and animals in my aquarium. they can do the same for anybody if you contact Sebastien.
Also i read many many articles how to maintain brachionus, harpacticoides, other zooplanctons and instead of loosing many hours per day i have a small protocol Which work pretty good!
i only want to feed my fishes dragons and others corals stars ....and have visual effect that my aquarium is like the ocean.
i am close to achieve to maintain copepodes and mysis for low cost and time at densities unbelieavable!
(my biological load for 100 LITERS IS EQUIVALENT TO 3000 LITERS COMMONLY FOUNG IN PRIVATE AQUARIUMS AND I CONTINU TO EXPERIMENT HIGHERS LOAD.....)
So i use a 100 LITERS AQUARIUM WITH LIGHT which goes empty by gravity using dosing pipe plus electrovanne. it is empty each 7 TO MAX 10 DAYS;AT THE BOTTOM I USE JBL SINTOMEC FOR 600 LITERS TO MAINTAIN BACTERIA!!!! TO AVOID AMMONIAC!!!
Tip:i introduce 2 TIMES PER DAY: LIVE CELLS FROM BAKERY MORNING AND EVENING FOR MULTIPLICATION ONLY AND 0.5 LITERS EACH 2 or 3 DAYS (economy economy) JUST TO MAKE IT RICH (not to feed).
I MAINTAIN BRACHIONUS AND LITTLE COPEPODES AND OTHER UNIDENTIFIED ZOOPLANCTONS; NOW I CAN COUNT ABOUT 50 BRACHIONUS PER 20ML;EACH 15 DAYS I RECEIVE A LITTLE QUANTITY(freely) OF NEW BRACHIONUS TO BE SURE THAT I HAVE ALL THE TIME blooming. Each 15 days i receive 4 liters PHYTO AND LITTLE BRACHIO;
All this can feed about 200 CORALS BOTH SOFT AND HARD AND PLENTY WORMS CLAMS GORGONES....I THINK IT IS CLOSE TO WHAT I WAS DREAMING.....FOR MANY YEARS!
wARNING: THIS IS INCREASING MY BIO LOAD VERY FAST IN THE AQUARIUM AND I AM GOING TO INSTALL A BUBBLE KING 500 TO CLEAN ONLY 100 LITERS!(i do not count my refugiums which are 2OO LITERS). SO IF YOU WANT TO TRY THIS KIND OF EXPERIMENTATION BE AWARE TO CONSIDER ALL MACHINES VERY BIG COMPARED TO THOSE USED FOR CLASSIC AQUARIUMS.....
oTHER EXEMPLE I USE 250W HQI PLUS MANY 150W!!! MY WATER CIRCULATION IS MORE THAN 200 TIMES THE VOLUME OF AQUARIUM ETC ETC ETC; I ALSO HAVE 200 KG LIVE ROCKS AND 3 DSB, climatization, deshumidification, and i use alcool and acetate at unbelievable levels which is other stories...
I WOULD LIKE TO EXCHANGE INFOS WITH PEOPLE DOING THE SAME SO YOU CAN CONTACT ME: screwci@wanadoo.fr
Also i read many many articles how to maintain brachionus, harpacticoides, other zooplanctons and instead of loosing many hours per day i have a small protocol Which work pretty good!
i only want to feed my fishes dragons and others corals stars ....and have visual effect that my aquarium is like the ocean.
i am close to achieve to maintain copepodes and mysis for low cost and time at densities unbelieavable!
(my biological load for 100 LITERS IS EQUIVALENT TO 3000 LITERS COMMONLY FOUNG IN PRIVATE AQUARIUMS AND I CONTINU TO EXPERIMENT HIGHERS LOAD.....)
So i use a 100 LITERS AQUARIUM WITH LIGHT which goes empty by gravity using dosing pipe plus electrovanne. it is empty each 7 TO MAX 10 DAYS;AT THE BOTTOM I USE JBL SINTOMEC FOR 600 LITERS TO MAINTAIN BACTERIA!!!! TO AVOID AMMONIAC!!!
Tip:i introduce 2 TIMES PER DAY: LIVE CELLS FROM BAKERY MORNING AND EVENING FOR MULTIPLICATION ONLY AND 0.5 LITERS EACH 2 or 3 DAYS (economy economy) JUST TO MAKE IT RICH (not to feed).
I MAINTAIN BRACHIONUS AND LITTLE COPEPODES AND OTHER UNIDENTIFIED ZOOPLANCTONS; NOW I CAN COUNT ABOUT 50 BRACHIONUS PER 20ML;EACH 15 DAYS I RECEIVE A LITTLE QUANTITY(freely) OF NEW BRACHIONUS TO BE SURE THAT I HAVE ALL THE TIME blooming. Each 15 days i receive 4 liters PHYTO AND LITTLE BRACHIO;
All this can feed about 200 CORALS BOTH SOFT AND HARD AND PLENTY WORMS CLAMS GORGONES....I THINK IT IS CLOSE TO WHAT I WAS DREAMING.....FOR MANY YEARS!
wARNING: THIS IS INCREASING MY BIO LOAD VERY FAST IN THE AQUARIUM AND I AM GOING TO INSTALL A BUBBLE KING 500 TO CLEAN ONLY 100 LITERS!(i do not count my refugiums which are 2OO LITERS). SO IF YOU WANT TO TRY THIS KIND OF EXPERIMENTATION BE AWARE TO CONSIDER ALL MACHINES VERY BIG COMPARED TO THOSE USED FOR CLASSIC AQUARIUMS.....
oTHER EXEMPLE I USE 250W HQI PLUS MANY 150W!!! MY WATER CIRCULATION IS MORE THAN 200 TIMES THE VOLUME OF AQUARIUM ETC ETC ETC; I ALSO HAVE 200 KG LIVE ROCKS AND 3 DSB, climatization, deshumidification, and i use alcool and acetate at unbelievable levels which is other stories...
I WOULD LIKE TO EXCHANGE INFOS WITH PEOPLE DOING THE SAME SO YOU CAN CONTACT ME: screwci@wanadoo.fr
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