phytoplankton

[cbrandel]

Hi all,
Beautiful weather we are having here tonight. Shoveling is such fun...well...maybe not.
But anyway, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to donate a small amount of phytoplankton culture. After 2 years of fighting, my clownfish have decided to be best buddies. They layed eggs about 12 days ago. That set hatched 4 days ago. I wasn't sure if the eggs would really be fertalized, being the first time for the happy couple, but about 150 little clownfish larve hatched about 1/2 hour after the lights went off.
The horney couple then proceeded to lay another set 2 days later. With everything I had read, I though they would wait atleast a week, but who knows.
I though I would make an attempt to raise this batch of eggs. I know I can get a rotifer culture started from rotipods, but I'm not sure how to get a batch of phyto started quickly.
I would be more then willing to pick it up from anywhere in the cities and I think I would probably only need a cup or so. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Carol
p.s. Are directions to the next meeting still going to be e-mailed or are they going to be on the web site?

[KarenH]

Carol,

Regarding the next meeting, it's February 13 at our house. Send an email to dhighness@hotmail.com and I'll reply with the directions. I have the impression that I'm not supposed to post the directions publicly.

Regarding the clownfish spawning, I'm in the same boat but it's my pair of orchid dottybacks. The male is in a cave he dug under a rock, tending a ball of eggs. I'm not prepared enough this time around to raise them--if anyone else on this board has extra tanks, rotifers, and all the right stuff to raise them, let me know and you can come over and rescue the larvae.

[Dwayne]

cbrandel - DT's will provide a quick source of phyto for the rotifers. Since it is concentrated, a little goes a long way. This could also be used to start a phyto culture.

KarenH - For some reason I seem to have a few tanks that could house some larvae. I would be willing to put the larvae in a spare Roti-Pods tank to see what happens. I've been trying to catch my clownfish eggs hatching, but I've been unsuccessful so far.

Dwayne

[KarenH]

Dwayne--
I missed rescuing the first batch of larvae. Apparently you have to catch them on the night the male is "hatching" the eggs, then shine a flashlight at the top of the tank and the larvae will gather in the light. However, the dottybacks are doing the cave-digging again so I think there will be another batch. Send your phone number to dhighness@hotmail.com so that I can call you on the right day. Thx.