raising clown larvae

[atyznik]

So my clowns are laying eggs. I know how to catch them and so forth, does anyone know where I can get live phytoplankton in the Seattle area. Otherwise i guess I will start growing my own.

uwscotch

 

[Doug1]

Actually I think you want to culture and feed marine rotifers or something similar

 

[aquariumdebacle]

home grown

Having to talked to a graduate student at the oceanography open house at the U this weekend: I have confirmed the difficulty in raising your own. The major problems are that the cultures crash. You must have live food every day for the frye to survive. This in addition to making sure the right size food is provided at the right time. An additional problem is that there seems to be a nutritional switch: where live food does not supply the required nuritional content. At some point the larvae must be switched to dried foods or they develop a whirling disease, that is unsurvivable but only to a few.

 

[Alice]

Actually, I know quite a few people who've raised clown fry, some quite successfully. Check The Breeder's Registry http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/ for info.

I don't know if you can find rotifer cultures for sale locally but you can try Reed Mariculture in San Jose http://www.instant-algae.com/ Brine Shrimp Direct http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/ has "Artemia" eggs which may be small enough for clown larvae, not sure though.

You might not be ready for this batch of eggs but I bet you can give the second a try if you decide it's worth the work

Alice

 

[aquariumdebacle]

too big

Brine shrimp are too big even in the naupalii stage (just hatched) you must start with a moving organism in the ~100u size range. You can order live rotifers via internet but the cost is prohibitive on the scale that your are invloved.

 

[Alice]

Here are a couple more links on raising fry.

http://www.usinternet.com/users/dsapp/DIY2.htm

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5697

Joyce Wilkerson's book on clownfish is also a valuable reference.

 

[atyznik]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I work in an Immunology labarotory and i may try to set up the cultures here. Plenty of equipment to play with. Thanks again