help on which to choose?

[zoe4eva]

hello, i want to start rearing clownfish and was wondering, when you talk about rotifer cysts, 20,000/1,000,000 what size containers are they? i dont know how much i will need for a batch of clowns, but dont really want to have bottles for culturing things every where! and what will i need to do to the 'cysts' what do i have to do to do to them to get them o be ready forfeeding to larvae?
:thanks:

[FUGU]

Hi Zoe - thanks for the question. The vials containing the cysts are small approx 1-2 ml max. Visually the 20,000 cysts will almost you make laugh and make you look twice. The 1 million cysts look far more impressive and these are primarily used by fish farms but will still require mass breeding to provide sufficient rotifer numbers. For your breeding project you'll have the option of the cysts or 500ml live starter cultures that should be ready for distribution from next week. Rotifer cultures can be reared in 5 litre mineral water bottles available from supermarkets for about 90p. Simply provide ambient light and stable temperature, light aeration, and salinity of approx 22 ppt as they have proved more productive at this level. Once the fry are happily eating you'll benefit from the live rotifer/pod mix we have available in 500ml and 1 litre quantities. For phyto and invert rearing techniques the Plankton Culture Manual is recommended. For clownfish culturing techniques (and other fish species) we do have a clown propagation book by the same authors. The sooner you get your fry onto non live foods you will be able to reduce your need for culture bottles everywhere.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers.

[Espocrespo]

what do the different foods offer the new born clowns nutrient wise?

[FUGU]

It generally comes down to fresh is best and gut loaded rots and pods are well know to be superior to bbs. There's a practicality angle on rotifers being smaller to bbs and more suited as a first feed for fry. The suggested switch to include a decent non-live food will provide the benefits of a forumulated fry diet with boosted vitamins and lipds plus the convenience over numerous live culture bottles and the time and cost spent managing them. Cheers - do you have clowns breeding as well?