Almon

I have rotifers and algae paste if you want to try yourself. I know dbartco would love to raise them. So would I. They hatch 15-30 minutes after lights out on the 8th or 9th day. Turn the pumps off at lights out and then begin collecting them with a specimen container after 15-30 minutes. I can help you to collect them one evening at lights out.

I was really impressed with the size of these colonies. Each of these corals is easily $45 by themselves. Definitely a great pickup.

Hatching and raising fish is fun. It's really cool to see hundreds of little clownfish all huddling together. It's also a fair amount of work. It requires growing rotifers and brine and possibly phytoplankton, a little equipment, some space, lots of water changes, and some time twice a day. But.....it's pretty cool.

I saw a topic on the MOFIB site that ORA was dumping large quantities of B-grade and C-grade Picasso clowns. People have seen them at Petco stores all over the country. I went to the Petco in Laurel today, and sure enough, low grade Picasso clowns for $18.95 marked as A. Percula. I had to pickup up two.

From what I understnad, it's not uncommon for newly spawning pairs to eat the eggs for the first few hatches. It's probably because the eggs weren't viable and were not going to hatch. Nutrition of the spawning pair is very important. We've found that feeding a frozen homemade mix of fresh seafood is very helpful for getting healthy eggs and a greater number of eggs. What do you feed this pair?

All of these B/W Ocellaris were hatched around December 2009 in three (3) batches, 11/28, 12/15, and 12/30.

That's quite amazing that you see some of the lavae survive. How old do you think they are? They eat very small zooplankton like rotifers, so I can't imagine they would last long in a reef tank. I'm sure your eel and hawk will find them to be very tasty. Both Doug and I would be very happy to raise them if you can get them to lay on a tile or flower pot.

There are about 200 in the picture, which is about half of what I currently have.

I have a few B/W Ocellaris

All credit goes to Jim Welsh for compiling this information. He originally posted this paper in a thread on the MOFIB website.

Originally posted on the MOFIB website in this thread What would you like to know about live feeds?. MOFIB Copepod Cultivation Paper Compiled by Jim Welsh (“JimWelsh” on MOFIB) Draft Introduction One of the most important food sources available to the marine breeder is the copepod. Copepods are small crustaceans in the class Maxillopoda, and the subclass Copepoda. There are many different types of copepods, but the ones of interest to marine breeders for cultivation as food sources are the Calanoid, Harpacticoid, and Cyclopoid types, in the orders Calanoida, Harpacticoida, and Cyclopoida, respectively. This paper will attempt to briefly describe some of the copepods of interest to the marine breeder, list some sources for obtaining them, and provide some protocols for culturing and harvesting them. Giving credit where it is due, the information in this paper was largely drawn and heavily edited from posts on MOFIB. Many people have contributed information that can be found here, but by far, the most prolific contributor was Dr. Luis Magnasco (“Luis A M” on MOFIB). Types of Copepods There are basically three types of copepods of interest to the marine breeder. These are the Calanoids, Harpacticoids, and Cyclopoids. In most cases, the breeder is interested in copepods as a food source for pelagic fish larvae. The best copepods for this purpose are those with pelagic nauplii. The term “pelagic” simply means swimming in the water column, as opposed to “benthic”, which means tending to live on the bottom or other surfaces. The term “nauplii” refers to the younger, smaller developmental life stages. The adults are usually too large to serve as appropriate food sources for larval fish. Generally speaking, calanoid copepods are pelagic, and/or have pelagic nauplii. While many cyclopoid copepods are parasitic on fish, there are some types of cyclopoids that are safe to use as food sources, and are commonly cultivated for this purpose, that also have pelagic nauplii. For the purpose of this document, these cyclopoids should be grouped together with the calanoids. Most harpacticoid copepods are benthic in nature, although a few do have pelagic nauplii, and some are entirely pelagic. Benthic copepods are still a useful food source for certain marine animals, such as more fully developed fishes like mandarins, seahorses, pipefishes, and others. Copepod Sources There are basically two ways of obtaining copepod cultures: Collecting wild specimens, and purchasing or obtaining starter cultures from a commercial vendor or another marine breeder. Collecting Wild Specimens For those with easy access to the ocean, one way to get a copepod starter culture is to collect it directly from the ocean. You will need a plankton sieve of around 200 microns mesh size, a bucket, a funnel, and several clean 2 liter beverage bottles. Take a bucket and your sieve and wade out until you are waist deep in a relatively calm spot in the ocean. Fill the bucket and pour it through the sieve several times. It can take quite a bit of water — up to 10 buckets — to get a good “catch”. Then put about 2 liters of water in the bucket, and rinse the sieve into that water. Back on shore, pour the collected copepods in their 2 liters of water into a clean 2 liter beverage bottle. Label the bottle with the location where you collected the copepods. Move on to another location with a different biotope, such as a different lagoon, river mouth, mangrove swamp, etc. and repeat the process. When you return home, feed the copepods some phytoplankton such as T-Iso or Tetraselmis, but don’t use Nannochloropsis. Provide light aeration. Usually, over time, only one species of copepod will dominate your wild-collected culture, and will prevail. It can be very difficult to identify which species of copepod you have when dealing with wild-collected specimens. Identification usually requires careful examination of very small body parts under a dissecting microscope, and is the special realm of the copepodologist. A good way to collect harpacticoid copepods in an aquarium is to put several pieces of PVC pipe in there. Harpacticoids congregate in them looking for dark places. The pipes are lifted after some time covering both ends and their content emptied in Petri dishes. Stock cultures can also kept in Petri dishes. Keep them separated by species. If more than one is collected, pipette some egg carrying females of each species to start pure cultures. Starter Cultures There are several vendors that sell copepod starter cultures. This is a good way to get a healthy culture of a known species, or at least a known genus. The following is a list of a few commercial sources of copepod starter cultures, and the species available as of this writing (Wednesday, March 03, 2010). Note: I am still looking for commercial sources outside of the United States. If anybody has any sources to provide me, please PM JimWelsh on MOFIB. This list will be updated as new sources become available or I learn about them. Aqua-Tech Aquatech PMB# 126 1153 S. Lee St. Des Plaines, IL 60016-6503 Phone: 888-387-9979 Fax: 888-387-9979 Producers of Phyto2 and Zoo2 http://www.phyto2.com/ Harpacticoid: Euterpina acutifrons (pelagic harpacticoid – special order item) Tigriopus californicus Tisbe spp. Calanoid: Pseudocyclops Essential Live Feeds Essential Live Feeds 800 5th Ave. #101-173 Seattle, WA 98104 1-866-328-PODS Producers of Ocean Pods http://www.essentiallivefeeds.com/ Harpacticoid: Ammonardia sp. (Not recommended for larval fish, only adults.) Micoarthridion sp. (Cold water species.) Tigriopus californicus "Southern California strain" Tigriopus californicus "Washington State strain" (Note: You should not mix these two strains. It will result in population depression.) Tisbe sp. (Three different species available.) Calanoid: Acartia tonsa "Gulf of Mexico strain" Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus (Only available on Special Request and with written nondisclosure / noncompete agreement with provider.) Cyclopoid: Oithona sp. Apocyclops sp. Reed Mariculture Reed Mariculture Inc. 871 E Hamilton Ave, Suite D Campbell, CA 95008 Toll Free: 1-877-Seafarm (877-732-3276) Voice: 1-408-377-1065 Fax Number: 1-408-884-232 Producers of Tigger-Pods http://www.tigger-pods.com/ Harpacticoid: Tigriopus californicus Seahorse Source Seahorse Source, Inc. 4028 Greenwood Dr. Ft. Pierce, FL 34982 Toll Free 877-465-2401 Voice 772-462-2401 Fax 772-462-2402 Resellers of Algagen products http://www.seahorsesource.com/ Harpacticoid: Tisbe spp. Calanoid: Acartia tonsa Life Stage Sizes An important part of feeding larval fish is providing food items of an appropriate size for the larvae in question. This section provides some information about the sizes of various species at various life stages. Acartia tonsa: Nauplii width 145 Microns Adult length 1000 Microns Euterpina acutifrons: Nauplii width 70 Microns Adult length 700 Microns Nitokra lacutris: Nauplii length 100 microns Gravid female average length 620 microns Cultivation Protocols Harpacticoids Mass cultures of harpacticoids can kept in trays. Any tray will do, such as old photography processing trays. They have a convenient spout for emptying them. Feed ground flake food. Keep several trays. When one is ready to harvest, pour the water thru a 53 micron sieve and refill the tray with new water. No aeration is necessary. Many people find that their harpacticoid cultures multiply more rapidly if they are fed small amounts of T-Iso (Isochrysis, Tahitian strain) or Tetraselmis. Others supplement the feeding with small amounts of Cyclop-Eze. Tigriopus are reported by many to multiply more rapidly at temperatures under 70º F. Calanoids Ingredients • Plastic gallon jars, wide mouthed and made of clear PET. • 53, 100 and 200 micron sieves. These can be purchased or made out of clear sections of acrylic pipe, 8x6cm. This size fits in Petri dishes and under a dissecting microscope, which comes very handy for observations. • Live algae. T-Iso (Isochrysis, Tahitian strain) works fine and is very easy to grow. Same for Tetraselmis. Rhodomonas is said to be better, but a little more touchy. Others used include Chateoceros and Platymonas. Nannochloropsis is generally not considered a good food for copepods. • Air pump, valves, tubing. • Artifical Salt Water. Many use Instant Ocean. Startup protocol Fill a jar with a starter culture and fill up to 3 L with ASW of the same salinity. For estuarine species, such as A. tonsa, use a specific gravity of 1.010. Provide gentle air bubbling. Daily protocol Feed 100 ml of a dense algal culture every day. Sustaining dose is 33ml/L/day of a dense culture. Minimum cell size is T-Iso. The larger the cell size, the better. For A. tonsa, to address the problem of cannibalism, you can use an acrylic cylinder with a 200 micron mesh bottom, which fits into a bucket. A. tonsa are cultured there. Every day, the cylinder is lifted and moved to a new bucket. Water in the old bucket is now strained thru 53 microns and eggs collected for use or storage. Weekly protocol Check the cultures for nauplii twice a week, recording how many nauplii are found in a 2ml sample. This gives an idea of the culture’s health, as well as the presence of unwanted aliens. As you are adding 100 ml every day, eventually the jar will be filled completely. Now you pour part of it thru a 53 mesh sieve, so that 1/2 of the original volume (1.5L) remains. The sieve is then rinsed back in the remaining water, returning all calanoids back to the jar. And now top up to the 3L mark with new water. Making New Cultures If you need to start a new culture, choose the old culture showing more nauplii in the 2ml sample, and strain half of the volume but this time thru a 100 micron mesh. The strained water goes into a new jar and is your new culture. The sieve is back washed in the old jar, as before, and both jars are topped up with new water. Collecting and Storing Eggs Eggs should be collected and stored periodically. This serves two purposes: 1. Provide a back-up. If for some reason we lose all our cultures, you can start again with them. 2. Work like a saving account, delivering a lot of nauplii when the need arises. How to Collect and Store Eggs This can only be done with the egg broadcasters, which release their eggs in the water column. They sink to the bottom, and hatch in 48hrs.if left there. Other calanoids keep their eggs in egg sacs attached to their bodies, like harpacticoids and cyclopoids. With them this technique can not be applied. To collect eggs, the culture water must remain still for some time to allow eggs to sink to the bottom, and then they are siphoned out with as little water as possible. The eggs, copepods and detritus can be processed by screening it thru 100 micron mesh, which removes the large debris and copepods and then thru 53 micron mesh, which holds the eggs free of smaller particles. Some people go to the extreme of concentrating them making them float in hypersaline media (like for parasites egg screening). You can use a simpler approach: First, choose the egg donor flask as the one showing more nauplii/ml. Every day, siphon all the bottom debris with a little water in a 1L pitcher. Put the pitcher in the fridge. Repeat every day until the pitcher is full, then take it out of the fridge, let it stand for a while, and then siphon the debris and eggs from the bottom into a 100 ml.vial, taking care not to stir the debris while doing so. The vial must be filled up to the rim and closed tightly. Then date it and keep it in the refrigerator. Eggs so treated can be kept some time, up to six months, perhaps more. When stored eggs are needed, select the older ones, so as to keep the egg pool as young as possible. To hatch eggs, just take a vial from the fridge and pour its contents in one of our gallon jars, prepared as explained before. Check for nauplii 48 hours later. If you don’t see any nauplii, put another vial in the jar and repeat every 48 hours, until you find nauplii. Then stop adding eggs and start feeding. It is advisable to start a culture with stored eggs every periodically to keep cultures pure, healthy, and free of contaminates. Continuous Culture -- "The Copepod Machine" Use three buckets (best if graduated and translucent but any bucket will do). Two are filled with culture water. I use 10 L at 1.010. Start with a culture from the jars. Every day the culture is lifted into another bucket, and the water strained thru 53 micron mesh into the empty bucket. One L of this water is discarded. One L of phytoplankton is added to the culture, bringing volume to 11L. Growing Phase Put the collected nauplii and eggs in a 4L Jar. Each jar takes 2 days’ worth of production. 4 jars are used. After 8 days, the 1st jar is added to the main culture and a new jar is started. This follows until a dense population of adults is reached and a good daily production of nauplii. Then we move to the Production Phase. Production Phase Now, the 53 micron mesh is simply rinsed in the larval tank. The Machine keeps working fine for a month or more, and then usually production starts to decrease. Surprisingly, nauplii are always collected, even if eggs take 2 days to hatch and we strain the culture every day. Sometimes contamination with harpacitoids or rotifers occurs, but the nature of this technique keeps them in check. When you want to collect eggs with this technique, rinse the 53 micron sieve into a narrow tall chemistry container (graduated clinder), and allow it to settle under a light that attracts the nauplii to the surface. Then siphon all the water except the last 150 ml, which goes into a storage vial, as described. The Copepod Machine, using 1L of phytoplankton per day, produces enough nauplii for an average larval run. If phytoplankton is not limited, more machines could be created, or larger ones be designed. Dealing with Contamination Culture contamination with Artemia and rotifers can always happen in the fish room and we must be very careful to avoid it. Artemia is not a big problem, as they will grow and can be removed later. But rotifers will quickly outgrow and kill a calanoid culture. If you see one or two rotifers when checking for nauplii, you must act immediately and drastically, or you´ll lose the culture.You must dispose of the contaminated jar, and wash thoroughly. If it is your only culture and you want to save it, this can be done. You must flush the culture in a 200 micron sieve with at least 20 L of water every day for one week, moving to a clean jar. After that, keep watching until you are sure they were eradicated.

These are two very good questions. They probably hatched and were either eaten or filtered. If you are interested in raising the fry yourself, I will be happy to help. I have rots, algae paste, brine eggs, and advice. But you will need to be prepared before they hatch, so start preparing now. They will lay again in 1-3 weeks.

Thanks for asking. The B/W O's are doing very well, although the winter weather tried its best to kill them all. I have received five (5) flower pots with eggs. The first and second hatch are shown here, approximately 220 of them. There are about 150 in the 3rd batch. The 4th batch was lost due to the power outages, and the 5th batch has just hatched with about 100. Holly, I'll take the some eggs after the winter storms rolls through. Justing or I can pick them up. You may want to try putting a small tile or whole/half a flower pot in the tank for the clowns to lay on. That will be easier to move and replace.

I suggest keeping them well fed. Multiple feedings daily are best. You should feed them thousands of nhbbs to stuff their little bellies. Keep them well fed for better health. It's difficult to overfeed them at this stage. I can never get good pictures of the fry either. I probably need a bigger lens.

Nice picture. They look like they will hatch tonight. Hatching begins 15-30 minutes after lights out. All pumps must be turned off if you want to collect them at the top of the tank. They will be very tiny slivers that you will barely be able to see. They will be attracted towards light. I use a small flashlight to attact them to one spot so I can collect them in a specimen container and put them into a separate tank. You will need rotifers and green water to raise the fry. You will probably need more rotifersthan Doug can give you to both feed them and start a new culture. I can give you some more if needed. You will also need algae paste, I have that too if you need some. Good luck.

Oh yeah.....the eggs from Ctenophore's Black and White Ocellaris have just hatched. Justin brought them over yesterday for me to hatch and grow through metamorphasis. After 4 or 5 weeks, they will then head back to the greenhouse for a few months of growout before being sold.

Everything is going swimmingly. 115 Clarkii clowns shown in Ctenophore's tub above are from my 1st two hatches. The third hatch I estimate to be 200 shown here. They are 5 weeks old and will be ready to transfer to the greenhouse next weekend. These Clarkii have a very interesting stripe pattern on their dorsal and caudal fins.

Awesome. Try feeding them some rotifers. I have some if you need any.

Some sponges can irritate zoanthids and restrict their growth.

Meetings are an excellent opportunity to share your corals with others. Many people bring frags to trade or sell that have been pre-arranged. Several others will setup small tanks and fill them with corals to sell. There is usually a thread started where people post what they have available.

In my 6' main tank, I use 3 x 10K MH for the crisp white look and use 2 x 80w T5 for supplemental actinic support. But I don't like the blue bulbs that everyone else uses. I like the purple bulbs at 460nm. In my 4' frag tank, I have 2 x 20K MH with 2 x VHO for supplemental actinic support. Again, I like the purple bulbs better. 460nm is your friend. The only reason I prefer T5 over VHO is the T5 bulbs use half the wattage. However, the VHO may appear more purple. I would recommend adding either 2 x T5 or 2 x VHO.

very cool

Seachem Reefbuilder (raises carbonate alkalinity) has NO immediate affect on pH. Long term use will stabalize pH around 8.3. It's an excellent product. I haven't tried the Reef Carbonate product. When needed, I add 2-3 tablespoons of Reefbuilder to a quart of RO/DI, mix well, and slowly add to the sump. It's a great product. As Tom suggested, check/supplement your Ca and Mg. Seachem has an excellent Ca additive called Reef Advantage Calcium. It also has Magnesium and Strontium, but Magnesium can be supplemented by using a Mg Chloride and Epsom Salt (Mg Sulfate) mix. Excess Ca will enhance the loss of carbonate alkalinity. Also, a pH swing of .3 or .4 during the course of 24 hrs is very normal and should be expected.

I've had my female Clarkii for at least 10 years. I introduced a small juvenile a year ago and she lays between 900-1200 eggs every 11 days. I doubt they are getting old. Try feeding more.....a rich diet with a variety of seafood. Feed the female large amounts....until she doesn't want anymore.

You should consider emailing membership cards to members as PDF files and save the cost of printing, postage, and time.