The Use of "Wild" Plankton as a Food Source

[sam11909]

I have been trying to find a food source that has a good variety and small size so that I can feed my coral. I not only want to feed lps, but also sps and some soft coral. My tank has the average variety of coral ranging from dendrophylia to acropora. Finding a food source that will fit them all is relatively hard and can get expensive quickly. As I was pondering how I would do this I thought, why mimic nature when You can actually use natural food that the coral would receive in their natural environment? I live fairly close to the Florida coast and have access to clean oceanic plankton every time I visit. I could collect the plankton and then either introduce it live or dead (frozen then thawed) so that my coral get a very large variety in food. I know that many coral foods do the same, but how much variety do they have and at what cost? This is just a thought. If you have ever tried this or have any info on it please post, I would love to learn more. I also wanted to know what you guys thought about it possibly contaminating the tank. Are there any parasites that could come with the plankton? Would freezing then thawing be better than live feeding?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sam11909]

I can't find a good video of one, but I would collect the plankton with a plankton net like this one. Plankton is very plentiful where I have been snorkeling. There are clouds of larvae near the bottom and surface.

 

[ctenophors rule]

I use live plankton for my fish cultures never for coral. I see some issues.

The copepods you can collect will be great, but in a 55 gallon reef, you would need many thousands to make any noticable difference.

I'm sure someone will chime in with issues of pathogens. I had a problem with a parasitic isopod, thats all. I consider it to be a fluke (ha its punny). I wouldn;'t worry about pathogens, but keep in mind it is always a possibility...and some parasites/pathogens can do harm to coral.

And, for the record, I think a frozen coral flat pack would be mroe than sufficient. Target feed the lps, and from their don't worry about it.

p.s.


keep in mind Theirs even a theory that an over fed sps coral will have stunted growth because of increased phosphate levels penetrating the epidermis, and mnay successful reefers don't bother feeding their corals. (though possibly for a different thread entirely)

And you might want to look into rotifer culture, easy to grow/ enrich.

 

[aquaph8]

Why not grow your own. That way you know exactly what your putting in your tank.

 

[sam11909]

I use live plankton for my fish cultures never for coral. I see some issues.

The copepods you can collect will be great, but in a 55 gallon reef, you would need many thousands to make any noticable difference.

I'm sure someone will chime in with issues of pathogens. I had a problem with a parasitic isopod, thats all. I consider it to be a fluke (ha its punny). I wouldn;'t worry about pathogens, but keep in mind it is always a possibility...and some parasites/pathogens can do harm to coral.

And, for the record, I think a frozen coral flat pack would be mroe than sufficient. Target feed the lps, and from their don't worry about it.

p.s.


keep in mind Theirs even a theory that an over fed sps coral will have stunted growth because of increased phosphate levels penetrating the epidermis, and mnay successful reefers don't bother feeding their corals. (though possibly for a different thread entirely)

And you might want to look into rotifer culture, easy to grow/ enrich.

Thanks, I might end up trying this in my 7.5g, maybe I'll get a better concentration of pods. Did you see any noticeable benefits when adding them?

 

[sam11909]

Why not grow your own. That way you know exactly what your putting in your tank.

I was looking at how I can diversify the food. Raising a certain species of plankton might not be all that the coral need to flourish. Maybe I can raise rotifers and occasionally bring in a more diverse food like collected plankton. This is all just theory, I have no idea how this would work out. Just a thought. :idea:

 

[el aguila]

Anytime you introduce anything into your tank - especially w/o quarantine - you are taking risks. I know someone that introduced a disease that wiped out the fish in his tank by adding a feather duster purchased from an LFS.

However if I lived on the coast, I'ld be using it sparingly and have on one occasion added wild plankton with no ill effects.

 

[sam11909]

I understand the risk. We are risking everything in our tanks every time we purchase or add something. QTing can help, but not always eliminate the risk. MY question is, will freezing the plankton and then spot feeding later be better than introducing live plankton and taking a risk? I see benefits both ways.

 

[tcmfish]

I think it is a great idea! I don't frequent this forum much, usually hang out in the reef fish forum, but if I ever am in one place long enough to set up a tank, I am going to do this. Not only do you get plankton for the food, if your pumps don't destroy it you can get all sorts of cool sponges and barnacles growing in the tank.

I have a plankton net, they are fairly expensive, but sea gear is based out of Melbourne, FL and make quality nets. Most of their nets can be purchased through aquatic eco systems.

You will have to size sort it however, with different size meshes. It is easy to make sieves using different size mesh (also can be bought at aquaticeco) glue to some 4" or 6" PVC sections. If you don't care about collecting the larger sizes of plankton, you can just use a brine shrimp net and then pour it through like a 25um size sieve. That will give you the small copepods and get rid of the phytoplankton and dinoflagellates and ciliates.

I have collected plankton trying to raise fish larvae, and it is great for that. Wild plankton is much more nutritious than rotifers and brine shrimp! Many of the trickier species are raised on this. Like RCT angels, and the angels in Taiwan, and many pseudochromis do better when raised with some copepods throughout the life cycle.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Also you can't grow your own because many of the species of copepods are canabalistic and you can't achieve densities high enough to meet the demand. Plus then you need algae cultures, you can use paste, but some of the copepods are more picky than rotifers on their algae preference. Plus most of the species people culture have large nauplii and aren't suitable but only the biggest larvae or coral with large mouths. Tiger pods and things like that. When you collect wild plankton it is easy to size sort and get what you want, a little time consuming but not hard and you don't have to maintain anything.

Up in Melbourne here I have used plankton from the Indian River Lagoon (Intercoastal Waterway), but the best plankton comes from the inlet (Sebastian in our case), that way you can stand on the bridge and let the water come to you instead of walking (ha, lazy). If you time the tides right you get ocean water, otherwise you might catch the tide when its switching and you won't get much water movement, or you will get river water, which isn't bad, but the ocean water provides better plankton.

If you can find a nice causeway, pier, or dock to walk along to tow your net that will work, or if you have an inlet bridge where you drop it down from.

I wouldn't worry to much with pathogens or parasites if you size sort it. If you dump in everything, I don't think it would be beneficial. I would try and get just the smallest of plankton, in the 25-55um size.

 

[tcmfish]

double post

 

[thecichlidpleco]

As a gov't employee that collects plankton as a living, the words that you use "clean oceanic plankton" are misleading. Chances are that the relatively clean plankton are likely not, especially if you are collecting near-shore due to our human processes. Not saying it isn't possible, but seriously consider where you are getting your catch from, how far out it is, how close to a marina, how close to any sort of industry/agrulculture. And unless you have a microscope, it is unlikely for you to be able to eyeball parasitic copepods and the like, which they are a lot to say the least.

 

[sam11909]

I think it is a great idea! I don't frequent this forum much, usually hang out in the reef fish forum, but if I ever am in one place long enough to set up a tank, I am going to do this. Not only do you get plankton for the food, if your pumps don't destroy it you can get all sorts of cool sponges and barnacles growing in the tank.

I have a plankton net, they are fairly expensive, but sea gear is based out of Melbourne, FL and make quality nets. Most of their nets can be purchased through aquatic eco systems.

You will have to size sort it however, with different size meshes. It is easy to make sieves using different size mesh (also can be bought at aquaticeco) glue to some 4" or 6" PVC sections. If you don't care about collecting the larger sizes of plankton, you can just use a brine shrimp net and then pour it through like a 25um size sieve. That will give you the small copepods and get rid of the phytoplankton and dinoflagellates and ciliates.

I have collected plankton trying to raise fish larvae, and it is great for that. Wild plankton is much more nutritious than rotifers and brine shrimp! Many of the trickier species are raised on this. Like RCT angels, and the angels in Taiwan, and many pseudochromis do better when raised with some copepods throughout the life cycle.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Also you can't grow your own because many of the species of copepods are canabalistic and you can't achieve densities high enough to meet the demand. Plus then you need algae cultures, you can use paste, but some of the copepods are more picky than rotifers on their algae preference. Plus most of the species people culture have large nauplii and aren't suitable but only the biggest larvae or coral with large mouths. Tiger pods and things like that. When you collect wild plankton it is easy to size sort and get what you want, a little time consuming but not hard and you don't have to maintain anything.

Up in Melbourne here I have used plankton from the Indian River Lagoon (Intercoastal Waterway), but the best plankton comes from the inlet (Sebastian in our case), that way you can stand on the bridge and let the water come to you instead of walking (ha, lazy). If you time the tides right you get ocean water, otherwise you might catch the tide when its switching and you won't get much water movement, or you will get river water, which isn't bad, but the ocean water provides better plankton.

If you can find a nice causeway, pier, or dock to walk along to tow your net that will work, or if you have an inlet bridge where you drop it down from.

I wouldn't worry to much with pathogens or parasites if you size sort it. If you dump in everything, I don't think it would be beneficial. I would try and get just the smallest of plankton, in the 25-55um size.

Thanks for the great information! Sorting them by size is a great idea! I haven't thought of that. I will be collecting at either St. Andrews in Panama city or Bald Point near Panacea. Both have good piers, plentiful plankton, and good water flow especially when the tide is changing.

 

[sam11909]

As a gov't employee that collects plankton as a living, the words that you use "clean oceanic plankton" are misleading. Chances are that the relatively clean plankton are likely not, especially if you are collecting near-shore due to our human processes. Not saying it isn't possible, but seriously consider where you are getting your catch from, how far out it is, how close to a marina, how close to any sort of industry/agrulculture. And unless you have a microscope, it is unlikely for you to be able to eyeball parasitic copepods and the like, which they are a lot to say the least.

If I do collect, I will wait until the tide is coming in so that i can get the plankton coming from the farthest away from the shore. I hope this will cut down on any polluted specimens that might exist in the area.

 

[yardboy]

I've collected from St. Andrew's, just as you say, on the rising tide. I seemed to have excess nutrient issues when I did it, with a plankton net and also using heavily plankton-laden water for changes. After 4-5 months I finally quit and got my algae issues under control and never did it again. I was really hoping to get some new growth of marine life but never noticed anything spring up from the plankton dosing. I never got anything bad either though. And the small fish I had in the tank went wild every time I'd put the results of filtering with a plankton net in the tank!

 

[sam11909]

Would it be better to add it slowly, maybe freeze some and introduce some live? Are there any negatives to freezing it and using it as you would any frozen fish/coral food? I only make it there 2 or 3 times a year.

 

[mscarpena]

If your only going to do this 2-3 times per year I would not waist your time or risk adding anything negative to your tank. Think about it if you only had a proper diet 2-3 times per year you would not be healthy. There is a wide variety of frozen foods available and that is what I would use. Also if you do it I would definitely freeze to kill everything then feed. Also with all the pollution it will be greatly concentrated in your tank and IMO not worth the risk.

 

[sam11909]

I do feed frozen food regularly, but I thought I would add wild plankton to have a little more variety even if it is only 2-3 times a year. Plus, if I freeze the plankton I collect, I can then use it more often. I am also not really worried about polluting my tank with what I collect. There is pollution in the ocean, but it seems that our tanks have just as much if not more than the pollution that is in most parts of the ocean. Our tanks take junk from the air and stuff from when we put our hands in the tank. Unless you are washing off your outer layer of skin, you are always adding contaminants to the water. I understand that there is a small risk, but I would think that pros definitely outweigh the cons. I would think that the leftover organics would be the biggest problem with adding larger amounts of plankton, but that's for another thread.

 

[ctenophors rule]

your coral are probably already getting everything they need from the frozen.

Are you trying to do this to maintain a greater diversity? I'm asking because calanoid copepods wont last long in a reef tank, certaintly not long enough to become a reproductive community.

Never sampled the sebastion inlet, but have done the next one just south on the docks in front of the smithsonian ( I'm lazy too I suppose)