Rotifers

[gopens]

I have had a rotifer culture going for about a month or so. During this time the bottom has become nasty with a brown slime. So yesterday I carefully took out about 2 quarts of culture water and rotifers leaving the nasty water behind. I then made up 2 quarts of fresh saltwater. After dumping out the nasty old water and cleaning the aquarium, I added the clean 2 quarts of old culture and the fesh 2 quarts of saltwater to the now clean aquarium. Now my question is did I do this ok. The reason I ask is because I have heard to use old tank water microwaved and sterile instead of fresh saltwater. This morning I checked the culture and they seem to do great. Whats your thoughts. Thanks

[tedr]

I do an approximate 25% water change every 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the build up of crud, and have had no problems.

Only question I have is if you're keeping your culture in one container (tank), what would happen if it crashes and you loose it all? I'm a firm believer in keeping rotifers in a few containers so that should one crash, you're still going. I use 5 one gallon square bottled water containers that I found at Dollar General and Big Lots. Drill hiole in cap, run rigid air line out of cap, and then flex line to a 5 gang metal air valve (plastic valve cannot be finely adjusted). I keep a few extra containers for water changes. Just something to consider.

[Mr James]

The first time I tried rots, I used 10g tanks. PITA!! I do my rots the same way I do my phytoplankton. 2L bottles lined with plastic bags. The phtyo is on the left and the rots are on the right. It was very rewarding, but at the same time, it was time consuming. I'll be growing again soon. I'm addicted!!





Phtyo in the fridge and rots fed every other night.

[gopens]

Originally posted by tedr
I do an approximate 25% water change every 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the build up of crud, and have had no problems.

Only question I have is if you're keeping your culture in one container (tank), what would happen if it crashes and you loose it all? I'm a firm believer in keeping rotifers in a few containers so that should one crash, you're still going. I use 5 one gallon square bottled water containers that I found at Dollar General and Big Lots. Drill hiole in cap, run rigid air line out of cap, and then flex line to a 5 gang metal air valve (plastic valve cannot be finely adjusted). I keep a few extra containers for water changes. Just something to consider.

so how do you cull a day. it seems that 1 gallon containers doesn't give you much room for growth. i like the idea but would like to get some more info like feeding. thanks

[tedr]

If all goes well, there are clown larvae to feed. If not, the corals in my 215 really enjoy the treat. Knock on wood, I've been able to carry a pretty good population in the containers. I'm beefing up numbers right now because of some clown eggs due to hatch Friday night.

As far as feeding, usually feed twice a day. I'll use DT or Reed
Mariculture's Rotifer Diet to beef up rotifers before feeding to fry. I'll also supplement with a mixture of flour, yeast, and fish food pellets blended with a hand blender. The rotifers pretty well clean it out of the water column, but it does have a tendency to crud the containers sooner, thus the water changes. This mixture is an economy thing, given the cost of DT and Rotifer Diet. I haven't gotten into culturing phyto, but will buy some periodically from club members at monthly meetings.

[gopens]

Originally posted by tedr
If all goes well, there are clown larvae to feed. If not, the corals in my 215 really enjoy the treat. Knock on wood, I've been able to carry a pretty good population in the containers. I'm beefing up numbers right now because of some clown eggs due to hatch Friday night.

As far as feeding, usually feed twice a day. I'll use DT or Reed
Mariculture's Rotifer Diet to beef up rotifers before feeding to fry. I'll also supplement with a mixture of flour, yeast, and fish food pellets blended with a hand blender. The rotifers pretty well clean it out of the water column, but it does have a tendency to crud the containers sooner, thus the water changes. This mixture is an economy thing, given the cost of DT and Rotifer Diet. I haven't gotten into culturing phyto, but will buy some periodically from club members at monthly meetings.

I also have some clowns eggs due to hatch on friday. I am not growing live phyto either. I have only been feeding the rotifers Roti-Rich from Florida Aqua Farmers. Whats your thoughts on this. I have been told that the Roti-Rich is all I need to feed the rotifers and that I don't need live phyto. I am getting frustrated because out of about 5 clutches of eggs, I have only been able to keep some alive for a few hours. But thats another story. If I have to start some live phyto, I will do so. I have been trying my butt off to raise these eggs. Thanks

[billsreef]

Get some phyto going. Roti Rich is OK, but you really need live phyto to get truly nutritious rotifers. Nanochloropsis is good and easy to culture, Isochrysus is better nutritionally but more finicky to culture.

[gopens]

Originally posted by billsreef
Get some phyto going. Roti Rich is OK, but you really need live phyto to get truly nutritious rotifers. Nanochloropsis is good and easy to culture, Isochrysus is better nutritionally but more finicky to culture.

Thanks. So i take it the Nanochloropsis is a hardier phyto. Will the Nano be enough. I really want to do this right. I am tired of doing this wrong. Do you grow both. Also what else do you feed your rotifers.

[billsreef]

The only thing I feed rots is phyto. A number of people have had decent luck with just nano, though Iso is considered the best by professional fish aquaculturists. The Nano is more crash resistant and more forgiving of mistakes. The tricks to Iso are sanitation and routine large scale harvesting to keep it in the exponential growth phase.

["Umm, fish?"]

I am getting frustrated because out of about 5 clutches of eggs, I have only been able to keep some alive for a few hours.

They should be able to go a couple of days without any food at all. So, you need to look at your methed of transfer, the water you transfer them to, or parent nutrition.

Good luck!

[gopens]

yeah, thats was I was thinking. But I am useing broodstock water minutes before lights out. I have also tried both ways of transfer. I have used a soup bowl and a pen-light to catch them after they hatched. I have also been lucky enough that she spawns on a clay pot. I have transfered the pot the night of the hatch only to wake up and find dead fry. I feed the parents a mixture of flake, mysis shrimp, fomula 2 w/garlic. whats else could be causing the deaths.

["Umm, fish?"]

How often do you feed the parents? To satiation several times per day? Maybe try some fresh seafood. Any pictures of the eggs? Parent nutrition would be my guess.

Have you tried sterilizing the parent tank water before you transfer? Do you use greenwater?

Do you wash/filter your rots before you put them into the larvae tank?

Etc. So many issues....

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by billsreef
Get some phyto going. Roti Rich is OK, but you really need live phyto to get truly nutritious rotifers. Nanochloropsis is good and easy to culture, Isochrysus is better nutritionally but more finicky to culture.

I disagree as does a large partion of the aquaculture market. Live phyto is not needed and is not better in most cases. If your going for quality and volume, live isn't what you want, that's for sure.

We've been playing with different feeds for years now. We've got a new Rotifer Diet feed on the large volume market but unfortunatly it only comes in 10L containers. Europe has been gobbling them up as quickly as we can make them.

Nanno...not nano

[gopens]

Originally posted by "Umm, fish?"
How often do you feed the parents? To satiation several times per day? Maybe try some fresh seafood. Any pictures of the eggs? Parent nutrition would be my guess.

Have you tried sterilizing the parent tank water before you transfer? Do you use greenwater?

Do you wash/filter your rots before you put them into the larvae tank?

Etc. So many issues....

I feed the parents liberaly twice a day. what would be the point of sterilizing the tank water. Wilkerson said to just transer broodstock water. I don't use greenwater but i will add a bit of Roti-Rich when i add the rotifers to the fry tank. thanks

["Umm, fish?"]

what would be the point of sterilizing the tank water.

Your fish are dying for some reason. That is one way to control one of the variables. That's also why I asked if you were adding the rot water to the larvae tank. That's another way that you could be adding something to the water that's killing your fish. But, it could also be from the other direction: If you had been bleaching the broodstock water maybe you weren't managing to neutralize the bleach completely.

It's all about trying to figure out what the variables are and tweaking each one 'til you figure out what's going wrong.

I'm still betting on parent nutrition, though. Can you hand feed your clowns? If so, try to see how many mysis you can get them to take before they won't eat any more (especially mama). To be safe, I'd wear gloves.

[Coraldynamics]

I agree with GreshamH, live phyto are not needed to keep healthy rots going. I use Instant Algae's Rotifer Diet (simply highly concentrated Nanno) I keep it frozen and thaw only what I need for a months use. Nanno's cell walls are sturdy enough to handle freezing and thawing. Freezing will greatly increase the shelf life of the product.

My rotifer cultures are in great shape and all they get are IA.

Hope this helps.

[gopens]

Would the Roti-Rich that I use be considered an Istant Algae?

[ShannHell]

Where can you get Instant Algae? I quickly googled it, but I keep getting directed to pages that aren't actually selling it.

[nate4546]

Reed mariculture

[Coraldynamics]

Originally posted by gopens
Would the Roti-Rich that I use be considered an Istant Algae?

No it would not. Taken from Florida Aqua Farms regarding Roti-Rich "Our formulation of invertebrate food is a special yeast, microalgae based food that is fortified with a rich, full, vitamin mixture and specific essential trace nutrients. Tested and used at Florida Aqua Farms for over 13 years." Here is the linky to their website...
Roti-Rich


Link to Instant Algae...also can get there from GreshamH's little red house linky....

Reed Mariculture


I have used both, both are good foods. I prefer the IA though, JMHO.

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by ShannHell
Where can you get Instant Algae? I quickly googled it, but I keep getting directed to pages that aren't actually selling it.

We're working upgrading that 10 year old site You can get to the Reed Store from the IA sight but it's not suoer clear

FWIW< nothing but Reed Mariculture products are Instant Algae as it is a trademark of ours

The best bang for your buck is to do it like CoralDymanics said...buy 1 liter of Isntant Algae Rotifer Diet (I), divide it into smaller bottles, store all but one in the freezer and take them out as needed.

[GreshamH]

You can get to the Reed Store from the IA sight but it's not suoer clear

See, it's so not clear that even my sentance is effected

Upper right side is "order" link HTH

[ShannHell]

I will work my way through the maze From what I am reading, it will be worth it. I will try the method that Steve from Coral Dynamics uses.