Microfood culture: phytoplanktons, Rotifers, ciliates, Artemia, and copepods
- Thread starter FMarini
- Start date
SantaMonica
Well-known member
The pods that grow in the periphyton usually do most of the feeding.
Copepods are fairly easy to grow, but to grow any amount of them does require a predator free environment. Within your tank, you will get some copepod growth, but the mandarin and other fish will keep those numbers low.
Given more copepods are pelagic then benthic, how can that be?
SantaMonica
Well-known member
I'm sure there are all types of pods there.
Indeed there are many types of copepods. However, for larval fish feeding, it's the planktonic species you want. Not the benthic species that you would find in the periphyton.
Yes, there are all types of species of copepods there... but less then in the water column. Your rebuttal is meaningless.
The bulk of copepods are palegic.... thus the bulk of feeding done by copepods is palegic. Even most benthic copepods feed in the water column and not off substrate.
Gresh is quite correct. Indeed, if someone came to me and said, "Bill I need some wild caught copepods", I would be grabbing a plankton net and the boat keys.
lokii_37
New member
I finally got around to getting my Nanochloropsus last week. So far it seems to be doing pretty good, at least in my inexperienced eyes. It is a much darker green then when I started greener.
I was wondering what a good cell/ml count is for a home culture?
Right now using the stick that I ordered from Florida aqua farms with my algae disk I am at about 19mil/ml, 2 cm until the dot disappears.
Also I was wondering about adding more of the f/2 fertilizer. it seems to be growing well so the nutrients must be getting used up. Should I wait until I spilt my culture in 1/2? and if so, when I add more do I dose based on the entire volume of my culture vessel or just to replenish the 1/2 I split off?
I was wondering what a good cell/ml count is for a home culture?
Right now using the stick that I ordered from Florida aqua farms with my algae disk I am at about 19mil/ml, 2 cm until the dot disappears.
Also I was wondering about adding more of the f/2 fertilizer. it seems to be growing well so the nutrients must be getting used up. Should I wait until I spilt my culture in 1/2? and if so, when I add more do I dose based on the entire volume of my culture vessel or just to replenish the 1/2 I split off?
herring_fish
Crazy Designer
I took a break from culturing zooplankton because of a vacation crash of my display tank after 20 years in the hobby but now I am ginning up to restart everything again. Now, I'm planning my next moves.
I grow plankton for my corals, not to feed larval fish so my motivation is different but this is the place to get good information and would appreciate a little help.
While my method for growing zooplankton is a little strange, it is automated and that works for me. I want to grow several different cultures at the same time to have all the variety that I can get. Artemia is easy to grow. I can keep the rotifer cultures running, hands off, for many months without cleaning or crashing using one food, when I add something that most people like, it crashes pretty quickly.
If I continue to feed it, the crashed culture chugs right along as though I planned it that way. After repeating the same experiment several times I thought, "œWhat is that cloudy stuff?" Is it of any value to the corals in the main tank, particularly the Non-Photosynthetic ones?"¦or is it dangerous?
I have looked at growing bacteria on purpose but haven't thought it through. I figured that bacteria would fill in a few niches. I tried growing Reef Bugs and found that the culture container grew long white filaments on most of the surfaces. This was somewhat expected but more work has to be done in that area. Reef Bugs gives me a clean resulting product but I think that I would have to harvest it manually. At lease I know that it is not just snake oil. Most bacteria cakes or grows a slime or something. That means maintenance.
I thought about simply metering out vodka into a culture vestal. I want for the bloom to happen in the container so that I could introduce less hungry bacteria. Putting vodka directly in the display tank for food, in addition to taking up too much oxygen, can mess with the nitrate levels without reducing the phosphates. That can throw things out of balance for my tank. Has anyone had any luck with bacteria?
Finally, is anyone getting anywhere with ciliates? I would guess that Ohad's work is proprietary. I read that brown jelly disease is linked to ciliates. Are we talking about a different set of strains?
I grow plankton for my corals, not to feed larval fish so my motivation is different but this is the place to get good information and would appreciate a little help.
While my method for growing zooplankton is a little strange, it is automated and that works for me. I want to grow several different cultures at the same time to have all the variety that I can get. Artemia is easy to grow. I can keep the rotifer cultures running, hands off, for many months without cleaning or crashing using one food, when I add something that most people like, it crashes pretty quickly.
If I continue to feed it, the crashed culture chugs right along as though I planned it that way. After repeating the same experiment several times I thought, "œWhat is that cloudy stuff?" Is it of any value to the corals in the main tank, particularly the Non-Photosynthetic ones?"¦or is it dangerous?
I have looked at growing bacteria on purpose but haven't thought it through. I figured that bacteria would fill in a few niches. I tried growing Reef Bugs and found that the culture container grew long white filaments on most of the surfaces. This was somewhat expected but more work has to be done in that area. Reef Bugs gives me a clean resulting product but I think that I would have to harvest it manually. At lease I know that it is not just snake oil. Most bacteria cakes or grows a slime or something. That means maintenance.
I thought about simply metering out vodka into a culture vestal. I want for the bloom to happen in the container so that I could introduce less hungry bacteria. Putting vodka directly in the display tank for food, in addition to taking up too much oxygen, can mess with the nitrate levels without reducing the phosphates. That can throw things out of balance for my tank. Has anyone had any luck with bacteria?
Finally, is anyone getting anywhere with ciliates? I would guess that Ohad's work is proprietary. I read that brown jelly disease is linked to ciliates. Are we talking about a different set of strains?
herring_fish
Crazy Designer
Can I buy starter cultures anywhere. Are they easy to grow?
Can't buy them from us... we're pretty much the only source for euplotes free (vector/pathogen free!!!) rotifer cultures.
They are literally everywhere. Grow some algae or rotifers, they'll show up. Will a useful one show-up? Dunno.
Yes, they are easy to grow, but in a co-culture with other stuff is where they grow the best. They grow the best where you don't want them, in other words.
ichthyogeek
New member
Finally finished reading this!! So, even though I'm still in the planning stage of breeding, I have a few ideas that I'm wondering might work.
1) automated feeding: could I position 4 running cultures of larval food (for example: rotifers) at different locations in a rearing tub, and have them drip during the daytime, providing a constant source of food for the larva? Specifically, if I were to take 4 5-gallon jug rotifer cultures, and attach a spigot to each culture, and drip the food in, topping off with rotifer food (live nanno/iso), would the rotifers be able to keep a viable population, while feeding the tank?
2) Adding in live food to the tank: what about adding adult calanoids, whose nauplii are suitable food organisms for the larva? For example: a mix of Parvocalanus crassirostris, Pseudodiaptomus serricauldatus and Tangerine Reef Pods, whose nauplii are 40-100, 65-70, and 100-200 micrometers in size, and with adult sizes of 200-300, 700-850, and 2000-2500 microns respectively (as per fusedjaw.com's table) in the larval tank, with adults feeding on microalgae and nauplii, and the larva/fry feeding on the copepod nauplii and adults as they grow, until they transition to non-live foods, speaking of which:
3) Freezing excess copepods: Freezing excess copepods, and introducing the dead copepods to the larva/fry to help transition them to dead food.
Finally, why tetraselmis and isochrysis for copepods, and nannochloropsis and isochrysis for rotifers?
1) automated feeding: could I position 4 running cultures of larval food (for example: rotifers) at different locations in a rearing tub, and have them drip during the daytime, providing a constant source of food for the larva? Specifically, if I were to take 4 5-gallon jug rotifer cultures, and attach a spigot to each culture, and drip the food in, topping off with rotifer food (live nanno/iso), would the rotifers be able to keep a viable population, while feeding the tank?
2) Adding in live food to the tank: what about adding adult calanoids, whose nauplii are suitable food organisms for the larva? For example: a mix of Parvocalanus crassirostris, Pseudodiaptomus serricauldatus and Tangerine Reef Pods, whose nauplii are 40-100, 65-70, and 100-200 micrometers in size, and with adult sizes of 200-300, 700-850, and 2000-2500 microns respectively (as per fusedjaw.com's table) in the larval tank, with adults feeding on microalgae and nauplii, and the larva/fry feeding on the copepod nauplii and adults as they grow, until they transition to non-live foods, speaking of which:
3) Freezing excess copepods: Freezing excess copepods, and introducing the dead copepods to the larva/fry to help transition them to dead food.
Finally, why tetraselmis and isochrysis for copepods, and nannochloropsis and isochrysis for rotifers?
What you are describing is essentially continuous culture. It can be done, and done very well. However, it requires a higher level technical infrastructure (read expense) and is tricky to maintain in both adequate feed levels and viability.
As for the choice of algaes. Simple, copepod nauplii don't do well on nano as it's too small. They need the larger algaes such as Tet and Iso, while the rots do well on Iso and very small nano.
As for the choice of algaes. Simple, copepod nauplii don't do well on nano as it's too small. They need the larger algaes such as Tet and Iso, while the rots do well on Iso and very small nano.
