phytoplankton in larva rearing tank

L

LARRYTHEBIRD

New member
Ive tried to raise 3 clutches of clowns with no sucsess. On all three time i didnt add any phytoplankton to the larva rearing tank. I saw the article in coral magazine where it say to add 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of phytoplankton and 2 gallons of water out of the parent tank. I did this last night. I cant see how many larva i have because the water is to dark green. Did i add to much phytoplankton? Can you add to much phytoplankton? and how do you tell if your feeding to many rotifers if you cant see in the tank. Im sorry for my ignorance but i really want to figure this out. Thank for all your anwsers in the past and the anwsers to this>
 
thats what i tried the 1st 3 times and then i read the article in coral magazine so i thought i would try it. Is that what everybody does on this site. feed rot.s and not put any plankton in the larva rearing tank.
Thanks for your input.
 
I don't think the larvae will eat the algae directly. Check out the tread on how to grow rots. That will help a lot. You can also check out Reed Mariculture's site for info. They have a lot of good foods/starter kits for rots and Instant Algae.
 
The reason to put phyto in the larvea tank is to give your rots something to eat while the fish try to catch them. You don't need much at all. I put a few drops of phytofeast, which is maybe 1/8th a cup in homemade phyto terms in a 10 gal.

What signs are you seeing in your larvea while they perish?? I don't think you are attacking the problem correctly.
 
Definately feed the rotifers richly with phyto or commercial dead algae before feeding to the larvae.

Definately, tint the water green or slightly cloudy with phyto. It is best to use live phyto as it does wonders for the water quality. The live micro plants absorb nutrients and produce oxygen for your fish. In addition, and very importantly, they provide food for the rots that aren't eaten right away. A starved rotifer is not nutritious for the larvae. :D
 
thank you all. Im feeding rots also i just guess i put to much phytoplanton in there and cant see larva unless they come to the top. lol they seem to be doing fine when i do see them. i guess the rots will slowly eat the greenwater so i think im just going to leave it thick.
 
My guess is that the article in the coral magazine was talking about adding algae to the larvae tank for a technique called "greenwater technique". GT is commonly used in commercial hatcheries to provide contrast, helping the fish see better. In a commercial tank the water is perfectly clear and the baby fish have a hard time seeing the sides which results in "nose bumping syndrome", and in capturing their live feeds because they have no sense of proportion on how close or far away the organisms are. By adding a bit of algae (live or dead, doesn't matter as long as it stays suspended) to the water column the larvae are able to see MUCH better and it significantly increases their success in feeding. Larval fish only have a little bit of energy reserve and it takes energy to dart after their prey, so the more successful they are - the higher the survival rates.

Note that only a little bit of algae is needed for this, just enough to tint the water.

Some additional benefits are that it does feed the rotifers, and some of the algae is actually passed directly into the fish's intestinal tract where it can be absorbed, and used to stimulate the bacterial flora needed for digestion.

You can find a lot of good information about Greenwater Technique by Google'ing it.
 
Larry:
What happened to the last (3) batches of babies? I don't think the phyto is going to be the direct cause for the failure/success.
 
1st time i was to rough moving them(strained them through a plankton collector) 2nd i think i=the temp changed to much when i did water changes. 3rd i didnt have enough rots or greenwater.
thats my best guess, could have been anything. im very new at this so im sure there will be more mistakes to come. this morning is day 2 and i could finally start seeing the bottom of the tank alittle. i only found 1 dead still not clear enough to see how many i have but looks like about 60 to 100. so maybe this will be the batchthat some make it.
 
day 3 looking pretty good. I dont know if i still have all the larva but i still got a bunch. (is it bad that i feed so many rots the 1st day that i havent had to feed any yet. im going to do my 1st water change tonight(20%) should i use the plankton collector and get some of the rots out. ive never seen so many silver bellys.
 
Last edited:
I would remove some rots with the WC. The ROTs will develope in the tank faster than the fish and become tougher prey. I don't remember the time period off hand. Not ideal for the fish larvea at first. They become better swimers and harder for the fish to catch. You want to make life as easy as possible for the fish.

Try to do more water changes of smaller volume daily. When you do a water change, siphon the crud off the bottom of the tank. This keeps the water from going bad. I use 1/4" air line tubing and can normally get away with removing a pint or two a day.
 
thank you!! I'm probably going to do a 10% change when I get home and another 10% about 3 hrs later before I cut the lights off. does that sound about right . how much water volume do you have in your rearing tank?
 
Use a 10 gal. as raising more than one hatch is just to much work for me. 20% in one night is more than you need unless you have a problem in the tank. It might be to much of a shock as well. Just keep siphoning the bottom of the tank daily and replace the water you remove.
Test the tank for amonia and keep it at 0.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

LClay
Turning rusty water collector into outdoor pond
Replies
14
Views
598
SantaMonica
S
P
50 Gallon Stocking Help
2
Replies
21
Views
912
Urka
U
S
Nutrient Export
Replies
5
Views
658
wvned
wvned
A
Feeding regime
Replies
1
Views
146
griss
griss
DPauley
Bonnethead Shark Collection and Care in Home Aquaria
Replies
3
Views
234
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Back
Top