Rotifers...No time to culture

[ufans]

My Maroon Clownfish laid eggs and I need to find a good food source for the babies once they hatch. I know that rotifers are the best, but I don't have the time to culture them. The eggs are about 4 days old and I am very busy this week. What are my alternatives?

I am looking for live rotifers to use as food for just a few days. I would rather not spend >$50 on trying to get live rotifers shipped from FL or CA, but I don't see any other options. The only thing left is just to accept a low survival rate and try to do a flake/phytoplankton mix. Will that even produce any life?

I am not trying to become a breeder.... just trying to be a good daddy to my fish. So, if I just decide to be more responsible for the next breeding cycle then I am good with that.

Anyone want to trade Rotifers for baby clownfish. I figure 5 babies per 1mil rotifers is a good trade I really don't have the option of keeping the babies anyway.

 

[rsman]

if you dont have the time or space, then see if you can trade the eggs for a starbucks


lfscultures.com will sell you enough to start off a few, for like $8

 

[FMarini]

you might try another tract here.
My personal opinion is to actually buy the rots/greenwater premade, and it won't be $50 more like $25, but either way its still money

However based on your above post I say --Try to find someone willing to take the eggs off your hands

 

[ufans]

I would like to raise the eggs, but would give them away if possible. But, the eggs are on a base piece of LR so I have to wait until they hatch.

The cost of the rotifers (live or cultures) isn't much... it is the shipping cost that kills you.

 

[rsman]

1 small rotifer = 8
1 small algae = 8
shipping = 4
total $20

you can get by without the algae, but franks probibly right, get both, without further culturing (an option), or buying more than 1 shippment, these wont be enough to get any more than a few hundred fry to NHBS, but its an option.

 

[Nagel]

Not sure how it applies to Maroons, but my ocellaris (blacks and oranges) seem to get through metamorphisis in about a week, so by that time you could switch to BBS.

Otherwise its tough to get the newborn fry to eat. They like to see movement to coax them to eat. Frozen rotifers don't elicit the same response, so you really don't have many other options.

I would say for a batch of 200 eggs (much smaller than a maroon nest), I harvest about 4 gallons of rotifers per day (2 gallons, twice per day) for 7 days, so thats 28 gallons of rotifers..

Its worth it to culture them, as it is also "free food" for your reef when your clowns don't need them.

 

[NicoleC]

Your best alternative is to let them go. There will be another hatch... and another... and another! And there's no way you can raise them all.

Your kids might enjoy raising a batch or two, though.

 

[ufans]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7241466#post7241466 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nagel
Not sure how it applies to Maroons, but my ocellaris (blacks and oranges) seem to get through metamorphisis in about a week, so by that time you could switch to BBS.

Otherwise its tough to get the newborn fry to eat. They like to see movement to coax them to eat. Frozen rotifers don't elicit the same response, so you really don't have many other options.

I would say for a batch of 200 eggs (much smaller than a maroon nest), I harvest about 4 gallons of rotifers per day (2 gallons, twice per day) for 7 days, so thats 28 gallons of rotifers..

Its worth it to culture them, as it is also "free food" for your reef when your clowns don't need them.

Wow... 28 gallons of rotifers. I certainly don't want to pay the shipping for that so I guess culturing is the only option. I have the raising tank setup so I guess I will just test that part out with this batch and do the culturing for next batch. I guess I will just do a dryfood+phyto mix and BBS.

 

[Kathy55g]

But if you are culturing them, the ones you don't feed to your clownfish double or almost double each day, so he probably has a 10 gallon culture going.

As Nicole said, your best alternative is to let them go. Your kids can watch how the eggs change, and on hatching night, let them stay up with a flashlight to see the babies as they come out and swim toward the light.

Get a bucket of rots started, and in a week or two with the next nest, give it a go with raising the larvae. I would not waste my energy on trying to raise them without rots. You will have a lot more fun, and less discouragement (=less larval death) with rotifers than without.

Good luck, and have some fun with them!

 

[Nagel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7243232#post7243232 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kathy55g
But if you are culturing them, the ones you don't feed to your clownfish double or almost double each day, so he probably has a 10 gallon culture going.

Close! 3 x 5.5g cultures = 16.5 gallons.

And I agree with Kathy. Chances are slim otherwise, and discouragement would be high. You could use this batch to try you hand at making a larval snagger since they are laid on a base rock. It takes a little tweaking to get it right, so use this clutch for practice..

FWIW, I started my 16.5 gallons of rotifer cultures with a single liter of rotifers. Just feed them, and harvest them regularly (adults that have stopped producing daughters are worthless in a culture as all they do is eat your phyto). I find that even when I am not needing them for clowns, I still need to harvest regularly to keep the culture strong. Sounds odd, harvest them regularly to make more, but its the truth!

 

[ufans]

How do you add rotifers to the tank? Will that water basically be a water change...?

 

[rsman]

ideally you wont add any rotifer water to the larval tank, strain the rotifers thru a screen and add that.

 

[Nagel]

Rotifer water will pollute a fry tank in no time at all! You always want to strain them as rsman said. I use a 53 micron screen and then use some of my fry tank water to wash the rotifers off of the screen.

 

[imbuggin]

just started

just started

I just started my culture and had a few questions.

I feed DT's as needed

1)DO you use regular salt water or less salinity in the culture?

2)Do you just need to add water to the culture as need and never "change it" & dump junk out of bottom once in a while?

3)How often and how much should I harvest. I do it in a 6 gallon jug. Do I empty out 1 gallon or so each time thru the screen?

Thanks

 

[jacob30]

Get some instant algae (DT's will get expensive)

1. Salinity of my rotifer culture is 1.016.

2. filter rots, dump about a third of water out, add fresh mixed water (a large water change can crash them), get rid of junk at bottom

3. Every day about half of rots for healthy culture (but you can do less)

 

[km133688]

rotifers are pretty easy if you need them to be. I know I am doing a bad job of it, but I have not changed harvested of changed rotifer water for two weeks. I just feed them once a day to keep some alive. A 5 gallon bucket works for me.

When I need them I just ramp up to as many 5g buckets as I am willing to pay algae food for. Then I feed twice a day and harvest each day. Rotifers comming out of my ears.

I used to grow my own algae but it was a pain in the butt. Just one more thing taking up my time. A few extra dollars and my time frees up, worth it.

I find the hardest part is to know how much to feed, so let me ask you guys who also keep 5g buckets of rotifers.

how much do you feed each bucket, and how often?

Thanks, good luck all, Kevin

 

[imbuggin]

instant algae

instant algae

I have heard I can use instand algae to feed my rotifer culture. Does anyone know where I can get instant algae?

 

[jacob30]

http://www.reefnutrition.com/phytofeast/rotiferdiet2.asp