Please educate me Rotifers!!!

Everyone has their own methods that work for them.
If I'm NOT harvesting the rotifers at the moment, I use nannochloropsis when I have enough because there is less fouling of the water, but, when I don't have enough nanno, then I use spirulina powder blended in a blender for at least two minutes and then stored in a pop bottle in the fridge.
If I'm harvesting for use, I want the best nutrition possible so I use the blended powdered spirulina AND add powdered Algamac 3050 (really high DHA) to the mix.
IMO, a single live phyto will not provide the best nutrient profile, but spirulina is an excellent source especially with the Algamac 3050 added to it.
The downside of the powders is more frequent cleaning of the culture vessels.
I forgot to add, I start with the water quite dark when using the phyto but less so when using the powders, preferring more frequent addition for the powder because the powder is harder to keep in suspension.

 

Thank you for this post! I'll keep this. Dumb question, and I hate to sound ignorant, but I am. When I harvest daily, what the heck do I do with the harvested rotifers when I'm not feeding my clown fry?

 

Well, this is contrary to all that I've been told to do, especially by the "experts" on MOFIB forums, but I don't regularly harvest the rotifers if I'm not using them at the time. I'm told that the rotifers will crash if you don't, but I personally haven't had that problem, and, some of the breeders I've set up with starter cultures are doing it my way and I haven't heard of any of theirs crashing for that reason. Most crashes come from underfeeding/overfeeding and too dirty culture water.
If I don't need the rotifers, I let them grow until I have to clean out the culture vessel and then I let the culture sit for crap to settle out, siphon off the rotifers from the upper portions, (amount determined by how long before I expect to need to use any) and dump the rest. I then pour the siphoned water/rots through the mesh and transfer the rotifers to the new water and vessel, bleaching the emptied one for the next use.
I do keep at least two cultures going at any one time just in case of a crash. I also do NOT culture anywhere in the same room as I'm culturing the phyto as the damn rotifers seem to fly through the air to the nanno, and once contaminated it's doomed but you end up with a heck of a lot of rotifers.

 

Just my opinion but products like reef complete are too expensive for me to use, especially for when I'm not using the rotifers and don't need the enrichment at the time.
Around here in London Ontario Canada no one uses any such product because stores don't carry that or other similar products and they get by just fine.
Some of the clownfish breeders I supply don't even use Algamac 3050, just the spirulina powder and they report survival rates as good as those using the 3050 but I haven't tried it because my seahorse fry are more needy.
I buy the powdered spirulina from Brine Shrimp Direct and a pound container lasts a heck of a long time. http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c8/Spirulina-Powder-c63.html
If you have a nanno culture going then just use that in the non harvest time.

 

Hey! I've spent quite a bit of time with a prior employer in London Ontario.

I feel like I'm making this harder than it is. There really aren't any suppliers here in my area, It would be nice if I could find someone here to harass when I have questions. My clowns are breeding every 12 days! So I'm told, that means they are happy! I have great ambitions here to breed for my LFS's, as there are Many!!

Hope you don't mind if I hit you up for some questions here and there.

 

Great info @rayjay Im also taking notes just incase I decide to raise some clowns

 

April, having spent time here then maybe you already know we don't have many sources for salt water hobby here. Four at the moment.
However, there are a lot of people breeding clowns so that the supply is great but demand not up to the supple so the price paid for the new clowns is abysmal to say the least.
It even takes me forever to sell the seahorses that I've been raising over the years.
As for questions, I'm all for them as long as you understand that my answers are based on my experiences and interpretation of what I've read and that doesn't make me right, just that my ways do work for me.

 

I completely understand and thank you for your willingness!

 

You are trying to grow very small animals. You need to be able to estimate the density of the rotifers in your culture. I do that with a clear glass and a flashlight. You can see them and you can learn to estimate how dense the culture is. You add more green water daily to increase the population. Another way to check density is to tape off a 5 ml test tube, so that a 1 ml sample is visible. Then estimate the number of rotifers in the 1 ml to check density. You will need to estimate how many rotifers you will put in your larval tanks as well. Most breeders use between 5 and 15 rotifers/ml of larval water. Many also put green water in the larval tank to keep the rotifers there alive and to provide background for the larva to see better. When I am not using them I put the culture in the fridg for up to a month at a time.