[AquaCulture+]

Hello and good wishes to all you reefers!
Anyone had any luck in culturing rots and pods?
I'm just starting off and just got a 53 micron screen to decant them for water changes. Plan to split my starter culture in two tonight. Already decanted and seeded some into my sump so I'm sure some wil live on even if I have a nucler meltdown with the cultures. Splitting may give me a little breathing room. From my lab located deep under Chicago Jerry Aquaculture+

 

[dark horge]

Rotifers and Copepods?
Yummy.


What algal cultures and fortifiers are you using to fatten them up?

 

[Calvinc4s]

Copepod culture, where did you find that?

 

[tdwyatt]

Hello and good wishes to all you reefers!
Anyone had any luck in culturing rots and pods?... ... Splitting may give me a little breathing room. From my lab located deep under Chicago Jerry Aquaculture+

I do not currently have any live cultures now, but in the past I have run multiple cultures in 3 liter coke bottles with a manifold attached to each bottle. givese you some cheap space to run your initial cultures, good circulation but not too much, and room to expand if you need to suddenly. Nanochloropsis oculata will culture this way very well, makes feeding the rots much easier if you can have a staged culture medium that will maintain monospecie status while providing the phyto that you need without doing a 30 minute sieve procedure, etc.

If I get busy with a new clam farm, I will start them back up.

Calvin: check out Florida Aquaculture supply (I think it is florida-aquafarms.com) or Aquatico for supplies for this process, and read the handbook of aquaculture or check breeder's reg. for info and process documentation.

 

[Ray1214]

I have not tried pod cultures but I have had luck with rotifer, and phyto cultures. I have a Phyto Culture going right now. I got the starter culture from Florida Aqua Farms. And I use the micro Algae foods. I use the phyto to feed the rotifer culture, which I also received from Florida Aquar Farms. My wife built me a contraption very akin to a wooden Coke bottle carrier that I do my brine shrimp and rotifer cultures. My phyto is just 2 liter bottles and heavy lighting.

Ray

 

[AquaCulture+]

Well thanks to all you guys for some great great advice.!! In refrence to Calvinic4s I found a pretty cool place in Florida called Sachs aquaculture. There web adress is aquaculturestore.com
If you want to cantact them direct you can try [email protected]
I got super freindly service..paypal..and hard to find stuff. Hunting down scientific suplies really humbled me ++ A lot of scientific places want to sell you the moon on the first order! I'm going to mail them today and suggest they participate in the vendor area on the Reef Tank. In refrence to the reply "What are you feeding them?" Sachs co gave me some plankton feed plus I've been using some of the cool greenwater I get from a very primitive skimmer I modified (pretty old school rock wool diffuser job). What does anyone think about the nutritional value of this greenwater? With the 250 MH crankin 15 a day I seem to have a nice micro algea population. I have two spawning camel backs in there and they seem to be in filter feeder heaven
Thanks for the moral support and looking for any words of wisdom or any interesting tricks or antidotes. From my deep underground lab in Chicago Jerry Aquaculture+

 

[mojoreef]

If I get busy with a new clam farm

HAHA

 

[Krux]

i kinda wanted to try culturing some brine shrimp, but i hear my apartment is too hot. are there any other fish food type alternatives that i can try my hand at? i also wanted to make some clam and coral food and my first inclination was to make my own dt's but then i learned that is a cold water thing as well, and my girlfriend didnt like the idea of me running a shoplight inside the refrigerator, she said something about it ruining her night vision when she makes her secret midnight refer raids.

 

[tdwyatt]

HAHA

heh heh heh!!!

HEY!!!... It could happen...

 

[Jimmer]

i kinda wanted to try culturing some brine shrimp, but i hear my apartment is too hot. are there any other fish food type alternatives that i can try my hand at? i also wanted to make some clam and coral food and my first inclination was to make my own dt's but then i learned that is a cold water thing as well, and my girlfriend didnt like the idea of me running a shoplight inside the refrigerator, she said something about it ruining her night vision when she makes her secret midnight refer raids.

Generally brine shrimp is not nutritional at all for your SW creatures. Think of it as SW popcorn. Its filling, tastes pretty good but in the end does nothing nutritionally for you. Your better off making blender mush for your fish and inverts. I'm not sure of the proper means of feeding your clams but I'm sure Casey could jump in and enlighten you on that one.

RESIST the urge BUZZ!!!

 

[AquaCulture+]

I think that brime shrimp cultures are a worthy endevour even in a hot appartment! They hatch well at about 80 degrees. They are fun and fast growing creations perfect for ME the eternal tinkerer. I always have 1 culture hatching out in a bowl and then a tiny 5 gal plastic cube for grow outs. It's important to change water in grow out as they are messy little critters. I get a real kick out of siphoning out a whole bunch through a brine shrimp net and decanting them into a small remy glass (reel cool looking and pure gold as far as I'm concerned!)
Jimmer is right if you just hatch the shrimp and feed them. There value in nutrition is usually spent by the creatures in the first 18 hours. Alll small feeds can be HUFA enriched before feeding. Fish oil works well... I believe rots pods and freshly hatched brine will all eat algea and either eat or obsorb the fish oil. (I cut up some fish oil vitimins I find at walgreens but in the future I'll find a nice source maybee at an oriental grocery)If you really get into it you can culture micro algea for feed to rots and pods in an upsidedown 2 liter bottle. Same silinity as the tank so you can use water from water changes. Old water works well for brine shrimp cultures too. I'm a bit leary about using old tank water for rottifier or copods cutures as I fear that larger specimines will conaminate the cultures and consume them! (kinda the natural order of thing just please not in MY cultures!!) I'm getting pretty slick with the baby brines so if anyone has any questions or input GO FOR IT! (fish oil wil make you slick in any eventuality)I love the support and the forum!
From deep underground in my Chicago lab..
Jerry Aquaculture+

 

[Jimmer]

How big/long have you been able to grow your brine? When I was culturing them I only got them to last a day maybe 2 past hatching and they were obviously still really teenie tiny.

 

[AquaCulture+]

I've grown them out to adults! Frequent changes in water and a little food go a long way! Don't forget your airstone too!!
Jerry Aquaculture+

 

[Guest]

how do you make a culture for rotifers?

 

[AquaCulture+]

You can start a rot culture by purchasing a starter culture online. Dividing them into 3 or 4 different cultures (to protect against a nuclear meltdown) There is a great spot called aquaculturestore.com They will sell a starter for 19.95 and ship it free! Feed them micro algea twice a day and keep a low areation going. I harvest them regualrly and populate the sump in my lab and also re-seed my 55 showtank (bet my Manderin can't get enogh) I aslo ad some to my dwarf seahorse species specific reef. I always see the horses picking of the rots and baby brines I hatch out.
From deep underground in my Chicago lab
Jerry Aquaculture+

 

[Guest]

okay what is needed to startone up? besides the cuture????? tank?????? what.... lighting??????

 

[AquaCulture+]

I use some nice glass 2 liter uprights...(got to have a lot of glassware in my lab + slave to style) but some use the standard upsidown 2 liter. Light is not terribly important. Ambient lighting in the room is enough. light to moderate airation is good. Avoid airstones as you will get foam fractation. Slow bubbles to circulate. SG same as your tank as not to shock or kill them upon introducttion. Check out the sight I mentioned. Paul Sachs is pretty smart and the sight has a lot of info
From my lab deep underground Chicago Jerry Aquaculture+