Breeding Journal: Brachionus plicatilis (rotifers)

[FlynnFish]

Breeding Journal DataSheet

This first post should be updated regularly to include new information as events take place
or changes are made to your system


General
Species: Brachionus plicatilis (rotifers)
Social Structure: no social structure
Size of Individuals: 160 microns
Age of Individuals: unknown
Date added to Tank: july 1st 2011

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank: 5 gallons
Substrate Details: none
Filtration Details: water changes
Water Changes: after three day settle period- 1/3 volume is harvested everyday
Water Temperature: 78
Lighting: none
Lighting Cycle: none
Other Tank Inhabitants: none

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types: rotigrow +
Feeding Schedule: a few drops to 2ml when needed

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: n/a
Spawn Time of Day: n/a
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: n/a
Courtship Details: n/a
Egg Size: n/a
Egg Color: n/a
Egg Count: n/a

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: n/a
Hatch Time of Day: n/a
# Days after Spawn: n/a
Larvae Description: n/a


Larval Tank Details
Temperature: n/a
Size of Larval Tank: n/a
Substrate Details: n/a
Other Tank Decor: n/a
Filtration Details: n/a
Lighting: n/a
Lighting Cycle: n/a
Water Changes: n/a

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: n/a
Feeding Schedule: n/a

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: n/a
Days after Hatch: n/a
Date of Settlement End: n/a
Description of Fry: n/a

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature: n/a
Size of Grow-Out Tank: n/a
Substrate Details: n/a
Other Tank Decor: n/a
Filtration Details: n/a
Lighting: n/a
Lighting Cycle: n/a
Water Changes: n/a
Size at Transfer: n/a
Age at Transfer: n/a

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types: n/a
Feeding Schedule: n/a

Additional Information
Miscellaneous Information:

[FlynnFish]

Today was first day of harvest. This time around I am being extra precautionary with water changes and testing. I am using seperate cups when harvesting and washing hands between buckets. I have two buckets going for a back up. I will test ammonia levels tomorrow and adjust accordingly.

[larryandlaura]

Good job! Got any pictures? How long have you been breeding?

[FlynnFish]

Here are pictures of the buckets.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102228_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102228_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

My seperate harvesting cups
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102246_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102246_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

The last time I tried raising rotifers the bucket was near an outside wall during the winter and the culture got too cold. So this time I have small heaters in the buckets to keep them at 78 degrees. The buckets are in the lower level of the house which could be considered the basement. The temperature stays in the upper 60s to lower 70s with the AC going.
these are the heaters I used.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102302_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-07-05102302_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

[FlynnFish]

here are some detailed pictures of the rotifers, well I tried anyway.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Very cool. Are you using these to raise fish you're breeding, or are these being dosed to your reef?

Tom

[FlynnFish]

Both. I feed what I can to the baby fish, and rest that needs harvesting goes to the reef tanks.

[FlynnFish]

I checked the Ammonia levels of the rot buckets yesterday and they were between 0.25 and 0.50. I added <1/8 teaspoon to some culture water then into the buckets. i'll post new test results when they are complete.
Despite having the lids on the buckets the past two days the culture still eats through 6ml of concentrated Instant Algae a day with a feeding after harvest in the morning and another feeding at night before bedtime. I'll use my scope tomorow and see what the density is at.

[FlynnFish]

here is a video of my rotifers useing a microscope this is a high concentration with little water. they sat for a bit so they would stay still a bit more.
YouTube - &#x202a;rotifers&#x202c;&rlm;

[bigbill]

here is a video of my rotifers useing a microscope this is a high concentration with little water. they sat for a bit so they would stay still a bit more.
YouTube - &#x202a (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M5tguwa7no)rotifers&#x202c (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/misc.php?do=dbtech_usertag_hash&hash=x202c)&rlm;
amazing cam work

[FlynnFish]

I did a bucket cleaning the other day and siphoned out all the muck on the bottom of the bucket. I still need to recheck the ammonia levels... that's now on the agenda list. :)

[FlynnFish]

i havn't checked the amonnia levels in quite a while, but recently did a major cleanning of the buckets. i scrubbed the sides with some floss and all the ar hose and heater pads and cords. I also syphoned out all the muck at the bottom. two days a go i noticed some cloudyness going on in bucket 1. Bacterial bloom.
Normal bucket
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-08-12230520_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-08-12230520_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

Cloudy bucket
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-08-12230529_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-08-12230529_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

Yesterday i added 1/4 tablet of marycin to get rid of this bacteria. I checked this morning, still cloudy. i added another 1/4 tablet of marycin around 11am.
picture i took just a few minutes ago.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-08-13193313_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-08-13193313_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)
Took some culture out to check on rotifers. they seem to be doing just fine. still crusing around but very hungry as i did not feed yet today.
so my expirement results say that marycin tablets work at getting rid of bacterial blooms in rotifer cultures without destoying the rotifer density.

[MizTanks]

How interesting is this...geeezzz way cool. Thanks for sharing FF!!!

[FlynnFish]

Still doing harvests and feeding like normal but all harvest goes down the toilet. i want to wait a few days after stopping the marycin tablets before feeding to any fry or coral. Bucket is still clear and going strong. I added another 1/4 tablet crushed to the bucket to make sure the bacteria is gone. i will add another 1/4 tablet tonight to finish off for a total of 1 tablet used for treatment.

[FlynnFish]

tested ph of rotifers today.
Bucket 1- 7.88
Bucket 2- 7.92

[FlynnFish]

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-08-21144712_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-08-21144712_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)
:jaw_drop: that's not good. . .
Bucket 1- ammonia @ 2.0
Bucket 2- ammonia @ 4.0
Lets add some of that ClorAm-X.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-08-21145251_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-08-21145251_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)

[FlynnFish]

Rotifers have been running for over 90 days now and still going strong.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/fish%20breeding/2011-10-01094414_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/shannyfly/media/fish%20breeding/2011-10-01094414_Warren_Michigan_US.jpg.html)
close up pic as soon as i can

[FlynnFish]

well I finally got around to checking the density of the rotifer buckets. I took an old syringe from a test kit and sucked up 0.1ml of culture water and found around 14 rotifers from each sample of the two buckets, so 14 x 10 to get to 1ml = 140 rotifers per 1ml of water. How many milliliters are in 10 gallons??? 3,785, so 3,785 x 10 = 37,850 ml in 10 gallons so 37,850 x 140 rotifers = 5,299,000 rotifers in my buckets. not bad considering I started with 5 million. so in the last 3 months I grew by 300,00 rotifers.

[FlynnFish]

Video of the little critters
rotifers video by shannyfly - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid305.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/shannyfly/rotifers.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid305@@AMEPARAM@@305@@AME PARAM@@nn201/shannyfly/rotifers@@AMEPARAM@@mp4

[FlynnFish]

My journal has been moved to the MBI website.

Culture Journal, Species: Brachionus plicatilis (http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/fb.ashx?m=61889)