infusoria?

**miach** · 09-15-2010, 05:35 AM

i found a couple ways to culture infusoria and it seems very easy versus rotifers. does anybody know if clownfish fry will start on infusoria? i know mandarin fry need it im hoping clowns will take it long enough to get them to the baby brine shrimp stage

**Dave66** · 09-15-2010, 05:44 AM

You can see how I culture infusoria here.

I keep a group of mandarins, have for several years, and the keys are a phytoplankton drip and multiple refugiums attached to the tank. The phytoplankton founds vast amounts of small life, aka zooplankton, that the mandarins eat, as well as corals, clams and filter feeders do.

Dave

**Dave66** · 09-15-2010, 06:30 AM

Oh, by the way, clownfish larvae can eat marine rotifers, and it takes them a week to metamorphize into a tiny clownfish. Isn't rocket science culturing rotifers

Dave

**miach** · 09-15-2010, 01:42 PM

well thanks a bunch dave you know you stuff. i kept reading that rotifers have a high chance of crashing but you make it sound so freaking easy. now with the rotifers water change do you just syphon from the bottom of the tank? again thank you very much probably the best info ever

**Dave66** · 09-15-2010, 03:27 PM

Basically you have to keep their tank clean, no debris. Long as you feed the rotifers as I explain you can keep a culture going as long as you care to, years even.

Those who say rotifer cultures are prone to crashing simply aren't doing it right. It sounds easy because it is easy to culture rotifers.

Yes, you siphon up the debris they rotifers generate, keep the tank topped off using distilled or similar pure water sources so you can keep the pH and hardness stable in your culture.

Dave

**miach** · 09-15-2010, 04:59 PM

sorry to ask another question dave but you seem to have the best knowledge. i read on different things that you need to constantly harvest the rotifers to keep them healthy as well as what you have said. is that true? my last question i can think of right now is do you target feed with rotifers or just put them in the tank with protein skimmer off and let the powerheads do their thing. thanks a bunch

**Dave66** · 09-16-2010, 02:41 AM

Miach, never be sorry. Questions are why this forum exists. You do have to regularly harvest the rotifers, how often depends on how long it takes the rotifers to double in number. Could be a couple days or a couple weeks. Easy way to tell when the culture is ready to harvest is with a magnifying glass.

Really, if you follow the instructions that come with the start up and my how to, culturing rotifers is easy. You just need to learn when the culture is filling and when it's not, so you'll get the time length when you need to harvest. I do about half the rotifers per harvest.

Basically I sweep my net through the culture a couple times, take it to the tank I'm feeding, and invert the net. It'd be the same process you'd use to feed clownfish fry.

Dave