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FAQs on Culturing Food Organisms: Rationale/Use
Related Articles: Culturing
Food Organisms,
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Reproduction, Marine
Ornamental Fish Culture, Mysids,
Related FAQs: Food Culture 1, Food
Culture 2, & FAQs on Marine Food Culture:
Sources (Info., Starters, Products, ...),
Selection of Culture Species,
Tools/Materials, Culture Techniques,
Feeding Food Organisms, Culture
Pests, Predators,
Troubleshooting/Fixes, &
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 1,
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 2,
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 3, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition
4, Frozen Foods,
Coral Feeding, Brine Shrimp, Algae
as Food, Vitamins, Nutritional
Disease, Coral Feeding,
Growing Reef Corals, |
Mmm, to boost the growth, color, reproduction, health of (possibly
too or mis-crowded) systems with much in the way of filter and/or
larger plankton feeding life.
For study, fun... profit? |
Capturing and culturing my own plankton - 3/24/04
Hi,
I go out
to the sea often, and I'm thinking of hauling up plankton with my
plankton net. <Cool> Is there anyway to keep the plankton alive <Need a
holding place onboard. With good aeration and proper water parameters
and conditions.> and get them to reproduce like those commercial ones?
<Well, this is a loaded question. There are a few books out there on the
subject but the one most offered and used is:
http://www.seafarm.com/products/index.htm> What do I have to feed
them with? <depends on the plankton. Some derive nutrition through
sunlight, phyto, detritus, rotifers and other planktonic animals on down
the line> Any advice is appreciated, <The books are the best place to
start. Try these links:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Culturing+plankton
and be sure to do your best to identify your plankton. Not an easy task
culture plankton. I told you it was a loaded question!> thanks. <Thanks
for being part of it all. ~Paul> DIY DT's
I want to make
my own DT's. From what I have found, all it is saltwater in a jar that
sits under light and kept warm for a week or two. The water will turn
green and then you have DT's. Is this true?
<Not exactly.>
If so
how can they sell it for $16.00? There has to be more to this.
<Please take a look at the following articles:
http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/r_toonen_102500.html
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/ds/index.htm>
Thanks so
much for your time!
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>
Sustaining Microfauna population in a closed system 3-23-2008
Hello Crew,
<<Tia…>>
I'm interested in establishing a plankton
population in my aquarium.
<<A very worthy interest in the world of
aquaria.>>
I was thinking about adding a batch of mixed phytoplankton
and then a smaller batch of mixed zooplankton.
<<Must be done
tactfully and “with purpose” lest they all end up food or filter/protein
skimmer fodder.>>
I'd like to add some more diversity to my tank as
well as give my clowns something to snack on throughout the day.
<<If you haven’t already do look into a refugium, it can help to server
this purpose.>>
My tank is near the end of its cycling process, so I
don't have any livestock at the moment.
<<A good time to think about
your microfauna population.>>
However, I plan to only have a pair of
maroon clowns, a BTA, various macroalgaes, and a cleanup crew consisting
of Nassarius snails and various inverts from IndoPacificSeaFarms.com.
<<Said species can still decimate your microfauna populations if you
aren’t careful.>>
Basically, only my clowns and anemone will eat the
plankton, so I'm thinking that there might be a chance of sustaining a
population due to not having a bunch of corals.
<<Will still be
difficult in a closed system, do consider refugia.>>
BTW, my tank is
an 86.4g tall with a 30g sump. What do you think of this idea?
<<Sounds good, though without a safe haven for the microfauna to breed
it could be a waste of money. Do look into refugia as well as breeding
phytoplankton in a remote receptacle....keep searching reading WWM>>
TIA,
Random Aquarist
<<Adam J. WWM Aquarist.>>
Copepod Production 5/9/08
Hi,
<Hello>
I have a 55 gal
reef with 75 lbs of live rock that has been set up for nearly 1 yr. At
first I started with a primitive filter system (a
BioWheel and very
cheap skimmer) while it was difficult to keep my nitrates low, I had
tons of copepods. I have upgraded to a sump (sorry don't know how many
gallons) a refugium (with 3" of miracle mud, live rock rubble, and macro
algae) and a better quality protein skimmer. My nitrates have
consistently stayed at zero for over 6 months, but I never see any
copepods.
<Being eaten?>
I even try to look past the macro algae
in the refugium and I never see anything there either. I've seeded the
refugium several times with copepods, but I never see the population
increase. What can I do to increase the pod population. I am asking
because I want to eventually keep a Mandarin Dragonet, but want to make
sure that I can supply his needs by increasing the pod population in my
display tank and by culturing them in a stand alone.
Many thanks for
your assistance.
<You're welcome and do read here and related
FAQ's/articles below text.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav2i1/Pods/pods.htm
James
(Salty Dog)>
Culturing Live Food, 7/9/08
I am looking for guidance on
culturing live food. Doing such is driven by interest rather than a hard
requirement from my tank's inhabitants. I have a 24 gallon nano-cube
(which I wish I had never gotten since it provides no flexibility
whatsoever. A little bit bigger system with a sump/refugium would have
definitely been the way to go. but I digressed).
<I think many people
find this to be true once they get their tanks going.>
The tank has
been running for 2.5 years, and it houses 2 Percula Clown fish, 1 small
Pipe Organ coral, 1 small colony polyp, and a couple of dwarf crabs and
snails.
The clown fish readily accept flake foods and seem happily
fed. On rare occasion I have fed them newly hatched baby brine shrimp
which they loved.
Also, the tank does have copepods that came in from
the live rock. The clown fish hunt the copepods, but the copepods mostly
hide in the live rock and substrate. The copepods are also very small,
being barely visible to the naked eye. Usually it requires a 30x eye
piece to get a good look at them.
<Eye strain for sure.>
There
seems to be a couple of choices of easily cultured live foods: brine
shrimp, copepods (larger Tiger pods and smaller Harpacticoids pods),
rotifer's, and Mysid shrimp. The live food(s) would be cultured in a
dedicated vessel. My questions are as follows:
1) Is anyone of the
cultured foods listed above more useful than the others given my tank's
inhabitants?
<The pods and Mysid by far.>
2) Would introducing any
of cultured foods 'live' be harmful for the current tank's population of
copepods? It is my understanding the Mysid shrimp are voracious and
would likely not only consume the current tank's population of copepods
but also would likely consume each other. I want to feed the tank, not
establish a new biological order.
<More likely it would strike some
sort of balance eventually, but how many Mysid could survive long term
is hard to say.>
3) Culturing brine shrimp to adulthood would require
that they be enriched before feeding them to the tank. would this be
worth the effort?
<Not in my opinion, easier to just feed the fish
the food directly, the brine itself adds almost nothing.>
4) Should
brine shrimp eggs be de-capsulated before hatching them? Asked another
way, can adult fish eat them with the shells still attached or is
this just a concern for fish fry?
<Mostly a concern for smaller
fish.>
5) Would the soft corals benefit from the addition of any of
the listed cultured live foods?
<Probably marginally.>
Thank you
much for your guidance.
<I highly suggest checking out the works of
Dr. Adelaide Rhodes, she gave a great presentation at this year's IMAC,
and is an expert on what you are trying to do.
http://www.essentiallivefeeds.com>
<Chris>
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