My try without live rotifers:

Kathy55g · #1 01/20/2007, 08:06 PM

I have a nest hatching tonight, and my rotifers have crashed for the second time in 3 weeks.
Not sure what is going on there, I think I have ciliates....

Can't pick up rots at the university, because it is Saturday, so I'm going to try to raise them on Golden pearls, Oto A and BBS. I also have frozen rots that I may add to the mix.

Wish me luck, or give me suggestions!

Cheers,
Kathy

tmays · #2 01/20/2007, 08:22 PM

Good Luck, and get those rotifers going again!

EMBRYOGUY · #3 01/20/2007, 08:51 PM

with dry food, about after 5-10 min after feedings. i take a pipet, turkey baster, and blow on the bottom. this will push uneaten food up into the water colum again. so the babies have another chance to feed. ill repeat this for a few more intervals. than siphon after final attempt.

good luck!

melissa77 · #4 01/20/2007, 09:34 PM

please put all your experience for us to read, i also have a nest hatching in 2 days and i have golden pearls and frozen and artificial rots.... i will try anyway....

Kathy55g · #5 01/20/2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by embryoguy
with dry food, about after 5-10 min after feedings. i take a pipet, turkey baster, and blow on the bottom. this will push uneaten food up into the water colum again. so the babies have another chance to feed. ill repeat this for a few more intervals. than siphon after final attempt.

good luck!

Great idea! I'll try it.

mwp · #6 01/20/2007, 10:37 PM

There's a sidebar in Wilkerson's book about feeding exclusively prepared foods. Page 169. Mortor and Pestle crushing of spirulina basically. 2 vacumings per day. Several feedings per day. Use of antibiotics to keep bacterial at bay (to help prevent complete fouling of the water I presume).

All I can say Kathy is GOOD LUCK and keep us posted

Matt

David M · #7 01/21/2007, 12:13 AM

Must be something going around, my rots crashed last week too. I had those cultures going over a year

Anyway I ordered new stuff from Reed and got it in time.

Kathy, do you have ANY live? IME frozen works very well but it's necessary to have some live to get the larvae feeding. In general it is commonly accepted that motion is what triggers the feeding response.

Best of luck and we'd all love to hear that you get normal results with no live rots

Kathy55g · #8 01/21/2007, 08:17 AM

There are remarkably few rots. Either the ciliates got them (how?) or I got some brine shrimp in my rotifer culture (more likely).

Trouble is, I don't have very many frozen ones either.

Anyway, it was not a huge nest. The electricians tape I had on my mini light opened up and I think too much light came in on the snagger. It seems that the largest collection I have ever gotten from a nest was when I had a poorly functioning pen light that had just a pin size of light showing. I now think that too much light allows the parents to see too well, and they snap up the babies before I can snag them.

This morning i gave the larval tank just enough live phyto to tint it green, and the babies came off the back wall. Then I added the tiniest sprinkling of golden pearls (50-100 micron size). The larvae appeared to be striking it. I think their tummies may be filling up. Not sure.

A lot of them are hanging at the bottom third of the tank, striking at something! They seem to be migrating to the places where I sprinkled the food. I hope they can digest this stuff.

Perhaps there is hope!

Kathy55g · #9 01/21/2007, 08:19 AM

Does anyone have a good handle on what the temperature should be? I don't think I should use the usual 84, because it may take these guys a little longer to find and hunt the food. On the other hand, the faster I can get them to bbs the better. Ehh...

spk · #10 01/21/2007, 08:55 AM

kathy,

good luck with this.

Steve

Kmiec123 · #11 01/21/2007, 11:00 AM

Best of Luck/Wishes....Carl

Kathy55g · #12 01/21/2007, 01:51 PM

I did a little test with GP and the tank water in a test tube. It really does hang in the water for a while. Hopefully long enough with 3 feedings a day to get these guys big enough to eat BBS.

Noof · #13 01/21/2007, 06:56 PM

Kathy,
I got two through with no rots so it is possible.
I found that you could feed them then clean the tank shortly after and then repeat the process as much as possible they will eventually take the powdered food. Problem is that there is a lot of maintenance for two fish.

Kathy55g · #14 01/21/2007, 11:27 PM

Oh, when you said two, I started thinking it was two hatches. Two fish is not a lot, but an accomplishment, none the less.

I can get some rots at the University tomorrow afternoon, so these little swimmers may survive after all.

I fed them some frozen rotifers and they seemed to get all excited by them, and appeared to be striking them. I haven't lost more than a couple larvae so far. We'll have to see what the morning brings.

mwp · #15 01/21/2007, 11:44 PM

Kathy, I say if you're this far in with a no-live-rots test run, why not stick with it? When those rots show up from the university tomorrow, start your cultures up, but keep feedin' those frozen rots and Otohime A perhaps - I bet they can do it! Of course, it really isn't my place to suggest you should experiment with your fish, but from my point of view you've "already gone this far..."

Matt

Noof · #16 01/22/2007, 02:33 AM

Kathy,
See above motto...... and I quote MWP

You only need to raise one...

I thought two was overkill.

mwp · #17 01/22/2007, 02:41 AM

MP (the W is in there only cause it won't take a 2 character login!)

Kathy55g · #18 01/22/2007, 07:48 AM

I've considered carrying on with the experiment. I would just hate to see them die when I could do something about it. We'll have to see if I can make it to the University today.

My company has decided to make some changes, and there is a rumor of layoffs. Meetings are this morning. I may be retired before long. If the atmosphere after the meetings is negative, I'l head to the university. If there is something important I need to do, well, the larvae will have to wait.

David M · #19 01/22/2007, 11:24 AM

Quote:

I may be retired before long.

Could actually be a mixed blessing, you'd be surpried what you can do with clownfish when you devote full time to it. Whatever decisions are made at least you have already laid the groundwork for a fallback occupation, and working from home does have it's benefits. Best of luck on the meeting outcome.

Kathy55g · #20 01/22/2007, 11:59 AM

It looks like I'l remain employed. I could alternatively work for the university and take advantage of their tuition reimbursement for my soon to be college aged children.

I really doubt that my fishy enterprise could possibly replace my current pay and benefits. I'll keep on keeping on for now.

Kathy55g · #21 01/22/2007, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David M
Could actually be a mixed blessing, you'd be surpried what you can do with clownfish when you devote full time to it. Whatever decisions are made at least you have already laid the groundwork for a fallback occupation, and working from home does have it's benefits. Best of luck on the meeting outcome.

Thank you very kindly for the well wishes. And the positive outlook. I do feel fortunate to have the options that I do.

K

Kathy55g · #22 01/22/2007, 09:50 PM

Got some rotifers and fed the larvae and their little tummys expanded very satisfactorily. This did not happen with the dry food or the frozen rots. It took them minutes to capture the live prey. There was a visible difference. No learning curve whatsoever!

Kathy55g · #23 02/08/2007, 10:05 PM

The results are in: There are many misbars in the survivors of this group, and surprisingly the misbar is similar on most of them. The middle bar comes only part of the way down. I wonder if an experiment is in order.

Split a hatch into three parts. Feed the first part from day one on, the second part from day 2, the third part from day 3. I wonder if there would be a progression in the misbarrs.

Funny results.....

Kmiec123 · #24 02/08/2007, 11:00 PM

Isn't that what is called ora Teardrop Clowns?? Get the Snowflake thing down, or Picasso, and you got something

Interesting.