Where do I start?

[Opcn]

I've just purchased the following 11 algae from Carolina biological supply the only two I am familiar with are Acetabularia and Ulva, where can I go to find out about the others?

ACETABULARIA SP
DUNALIELLA SALINA
ENTEROMORPHA INTESTINALI
STEPHANOPTERA SP
ULVA SP
AMPHIDINIUM CARTERI
ECTOCARPUS VIRIABILIS
ACROCHAETIUM SAGRAENUM
BANGIA FUSCOPURPUREA
CALLITHAMNION HALLIAE
POLYSIPHONIA CALIFORNIC

 

[Samala]

I would try AlgaeBase for some information. Culturing information is going to be spotty though. Enteromorpha intestinalis is very similar to Ulva, just smaller "sheet" size and it will spiral to a degree. Likes the same lighting and water conditions.

Callithamnion, iirc, liked very little light. Its a fuzzy purplish macro, yes?

I would love to see photos if you have the means/chance when these arrive. Several of them I've never seen in person, or in a tank setup.

>Sarah

 

[Opcn]

Half of them aren't even on Algae base, most unfortunate.
I've got two tanks, one is a 24 Aquapod that I'm about to switch to MH and the other is an empty nanocube that I'm about to put a gallon of mineral mud into (unfortunately the equipment is set to arrive the day after the algae) I'm going to put what I think is cold water into the nanocube and keep it at around 72. I'm going to be growing some larger preditory fish on in this tank as well, to sell back to the LFS.

 

[Samala]

It appears that several of these algae are in the microalgae group, small in size and span benthic and pelagic lifestyles. Are you culturing these as well in the tanks? Or in a more contained culture system as for other phytoplankton?

It looks like Amphidinium, Dunaliella, Stephanoptera and potentially Arcochaetium are all microalgae.

Interestingly, I found an abstract about Arcochaetium from 1968 (boy is that way back!) suggesting that some of these previously classified microalgae in the genus may have been part of the lifecycle for macroalgae belonging to other genuses.

For the microalgae culturing, I would follow general Guillard's formula (f/2) protocol. You may want to check out www.dunaliella.org and hit the DunaBase for more info on this. Seems that this particular algae is being used as a scientific model.

>Sarah

 

[Mike4284m]

Dunaliella is a biflagellated alga, single celled. They are used as model systems for chloroplast and flagella work. I've worked with the closely related Chlamydomonas before, which is quite easy to culture. As they are free swimming single cells, I guess they may be useful as a food source?

 

[Samala]

That's a good point on the food perspective Mike. Interesting. I wonder what their nutritional profile would look like.

I loved working with Chlamy. Almost too easy. Now that I'm on to larger systems, getting the data I need takes a lot of work!

>Sarah

 

[Mike4284m]

AAhhh, you called it Chlamy too! I did some very cool stuff with flagella using these guys. When you work with them extensively you find out they almost have a cult following

Sorry for the side track.

 

[Opcn]

I call it Chlamy too.

I'm a little disapointed to find out that some are microagleas, although I suppose I will culture them, I just got an order from reed mariculture and now I really regret not ordering some generic algae nutrients.

But I got my acetabularia today and its beautiful, a little pale, hopefully that will change.

 

[Samala]

If you have access to typical lab chemicals you can whip up your own f/2. (That's an assumption based on your "chlamy" reference though.. )

Recipe for Guillard's formula.

Basically sodium nitrate, sodium phosphate, traces and a wee bit of vitamins, if you have them. You can get away without the vitamins for a week or so without major problems.. so long as you aren't assaying cells for anything important in the mean time.

The wilted Acetabularia is typical for shipping shock in this species. It just doesn't take shipping well. Expect most of the gametangia to fall off and the remainder to wither and die back in a monthly (or so) cycle. In nutrient rich conditions, it will come back readily, and may invade the rockwork if its the dominant alga.

I have a few rocks full of it, but cant seem to send it to anyone and have it survive long term.

>Sarah

 

[Opcn]

My dwarf zebra hermits have been cutting a swath through the acetabularia, but I've been noticing the tops all over the place, So they might be tearing into the hair algae below it or they might be eating the acetabularia, do alot of things eat this stuff?

 

[Opcn]

I got the rest today, in 6" test tubes, I was expecting cups, I should have gotten the collected algae set.descriptions from top to bottom, pictures will follow.

DUNALIELLA SALINA- Green sediment
ENTEROMORPHA INTESTINALI- Dark green very twisty
STEPHANOPTERA SP.- Cloudy green water with green clumps
ULVA SP.- Flecks of light green, rather opaque
AMPHIDINIUM CARTERI- Cloudy silver brown water
ECTOCARPUS VIRIABILIS- Golden Brown hairy clumps
ACROCHAETIUM SAGRAENUM- Fuzzy red purple balls
BANGIA FUSCOPURPUREA- very small fuzzy red balls
CALLITHAMNION HALLIAE- Fuzzy pink cotton candy like.
POLYSIPHONIA CALIFORNIC- Brown hair algae looking clumps.