|
|
|
#3
11-09-2009, 04:19 AM
|
||||
|
||||
Rotifers are almost the same as phyto but with a slower bubble rate.
However you must feed them every 4 hours, or provide live phyto to always keep the water a slightly green color. Phyto is simple get some live and add to a 2 litre bottle, there is a special food Called Guillard's F/2 you can find this online. Some prefer to use the miracle grow and essential elements to produce the same type of food. 
|
|
#4
11-09-2009, 02:06 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
If you are going to culture rotifers with phyto, you will need a lot of it.
They go through it so fast it's unbelievable. I also culture brine shrimp adults on a large scale and they don't consume anywhere near as much as rots do. You also have to keep the rot cultures away from the phyto cultures as they will crash the phyto very fast. I've had problems even with them in different rooms. Don't use the same equipment to culture the rots and the phyto. I no longer use phyto for the rotifer culturing and instead use a powdered product that I mix in a blender with water and is called Algamac Protein Plus. It means a little more frequent cleaning than with phyto, but I don't have to keep siphoning out culture water to add the needed phyto. You can used powdered spirulina if that is available to you. Depending on what you are using the rotifers for, you will most likely need to gut load them with a fatty acid profile food first. If it's for clownfish fry or seahorse fry, you will definitely need products like the Selco type emulsions I used to use, or the Algamac 3050 powder that I now use. (even though the Algamac Protein Plus has some of the 3050 in it) If you are just feeding the rots to your tank, then spirulina powder is an excellent food for growing and you don't need to gut load to feed to the tank. As for fertilizer, I started years ago using Miracle Gro but stopped when I found out it has chemical elements not needed and not wanted in reef tank water. Even if you don't use the greenwater in your aquariums, but use it to feed rotifers or brine shrimp, they ingest this chemical laden phyto and take it to the aquarium where it "outs" when the fish/corals/inverts produce their feces after eating the rots or shrimp. If the rots/shrimp are just to feed fish fry then I don't know if it is detrimental to them. I quit using the Miracle and always use the F/2 now. You can order mass packs that make up four litres from Florida Aqua Farms, or you can order smaller quantities already mix up like from Reef Crew in Ontario. http://www.reefcrew.com/index.php?op...id=5&Itemid=30
|
|
#5
11-09-2009, 03:54 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
http://www.seafarm.com/
I have bought from these guys a few times. they are awesome to deal with... and about the best prices I could find. Hope this Helps Neal
__________________
Way too much time and money has gone into this hobby....and yet, I CAN'T STOP
|
|
#7
11-09-2009, 11:43 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Thanks great info, but no one has said what salinity my water should be to culture the rots. I m using these to feed my tank, coral, inverts....ect So if there is any easier way to do this then culturing rots please let me know. So what are the brine shrimp for? Is this better then rots? This "f/2" is this what its called or is there a name for it? Thanks again everyone for the info!!
|
|
#8
11-10-2009, 12:48 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
You should culture the rotifers in the same salinity as the display tank that you will be feeding. For your application I would go with rotifers over brine shrimp. I believe it is guillards f/2 that Rayjay is refering to.
|
|
#10
11-10-2009, 05:04 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I culture my greenwater, rotifers and brine shrimp all at 1.017.
For hobbyists who buy the greenwater from me to add to their tanks, the amount added makes no difference in the large volume that it's added to. For rots and brine, they should be sieved/netted from the culture water and rinsed first under the tap before being placed in the tank as food, so the s.g. they are raised in doesn't matter. I use rots and brine shrimp of all sizes in order to feed my seahorses until they get onto frozen. I also sell to hobbyists who use the brine for many reasons. Some gut load using a specific food they want their fish to get (e.g. Selco or Algamac), some gut load a medicinal flake food that they pulverize in a blender to work on internal parasites of the fish that eat the brine, and some buy them just to watch their cats go crazy over the catnip, Uh Oh, I mean fish go crazy chasing down the live adult brine. Adult brine grown under IDEAL conditions that I cannot duplicate, will only take 8 days to grow. Under very low density growth, temperature of 80°, spirulina or Algama Protein Plus for feeding, very clean water, I can grow them in about 12 to 16 days. For the density that I grow them at and just at my room temperature, it takes about 3 1/2 weeks to adult and four weeks to reproducing stage. I decapp a tablespoon of cysts and after hatchout I separate and add to 20 gallons of water, feeding greenwater for approximately 2 to 2 1/2 weeks followed by feeding with Algamac Protein Plus till grown. In my case I have a lot of these containers for growout so that I can harvest various sizes as needed by my seahorse fry as they grow. Personally, I no longer add greenwater to my reefs but instead add rotifers that I gut load first. I see better results that way. For those wanting to add something but not wanting to grow rots then there are commercial preparations for zooplankton you can purchase, both alive and preserved ones. Last edited by rayjay; 11-10-2009 at 05:06 AM.
|
Linear Mode
