Capturing and culturing my own plankton - 3/24/04 Hi, I go out to the sea often, and I'm thinking of hauling up plankton with my plankton net. <Cool> Is there anyway to keep the plankton alive <Need a holding place onboard. With good aeration and proper water parameters and conditions.> and get them to reproduce like those commercial ones? <Well, this is a loaded question. There are a few books out there on the subject but the one most offered and used is: http://www.seafarm.com/products/index.htm>  What do I have to feed them with? <depends on the plankton. Some derive nutrition through sunlight, phyto, detritus, rotifers and other planktonic animals on down the line> Any advice is appreciated, <The books are the best place to start. Try these links: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Culturing+plankton and be sure to do your best to identify your plankton. Not an easy task culture plankton. I told you it was a loaded question!> thanks. <Thanks for being part of it all. ~Paul>

DIY DT's I want to make my own DT's. From what I have found, all it is saltwater in a jar that sits under light and kept warm for a week or two. The water will turn green and then you have DT's. Is this true? <Not exactly.> If so how can they sell it for $16.00? There has to be more to this. <Please take a look at the following articles: http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/r_toonen_102500.html http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/ds/index.htm> Thanks so much for your time! <You are welcome. -Steven Pro>

Sustaining Microfauna population in a closed system 3-23-2008 Hello Crew, <<Tia'¦>> I'm interested in establishing a plankton population in my aquarium. <<A very worthy interest in the world of aquaria.>> I was thinking about adding a batch of mixed phytoplankton and then a smaller batch of mixed zooplankton. <<Must be done tactfully and 'with purpose' lest they all end up food or filter/protein skimmer fodder.>> I'd like to add some more diversity to my tank as well as give my clowns something to snack on throughout the day. <<If you haven't already do look into a refugium, it can help to server this purpose.>> My tank is near the end of its cycling process, so I don't have any livestock at the moment. <<A good time to think about your microfauna population.>> However, I plan to only have a pair of maroon clowns, a BTA, various macroalgaes, and a cleanup crew consisting of Nassarius snails and various inverts from IndoPacificSeaFarms.com. <<Said species can still decimate your microfauna populations if you aren't careful.>> Basically, only my clowns and anemone will eat the plankton, so I'm thinking that there might be a chance of sustaining a population due to not having a bunch of corals. <<Will still be difficult in a closed system, do consider refugia.>> BTW, my tank is an 86.4g tall with a 30g sump. What do you think of this idea? <<Sounds good, though without a safe haven for the microfauna to breed it could be a waste of money. Do look into refugia as well as breeding phytoplankton in a remote receptacle....keep searching reading WWM>> TIA, Random Aquarist <<Adam J. WWM Aquarist.>>

Copepod Production 5/9/08 Hi, <Hello> I have a 55 gal reef with 75 lbs of live rock that has been set up for nearly 1 yr. At first I started with a primitive filter system (a BioWheel and very cheap skimmer) while it was difficult to keep my nitrates low, I had tons of copepods. I have upgraded to a sump (sorry don't know how many gallons) a refugium (with 3" of miracle mud, live rock rubble, and macro algae) and a better quality protein skimmer. My nitrates have consistently stayed at zero for over 6 months, but I never see any copepods. <Being eaten?> I even try to look past the macro algae in the refugium and I never see anything there either. I've seeded the refugium several times with copepods, but I never see the population increase. What can I do to increase the pod population. I am asking because I want to eventually keep a Mandarin Dragonet, but want to make sure that I can supply his needs by increasing the pod population in my display tank and by culturing them in a stand alone. Many thanks for your assistance. <You're welcome and do read here and related FAQ's/articles below text. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav2i1/Pods/pods.htm James (Salty Dog)>

Culturing Live Food, 7/9/08 I am looking for guidance on culturing live food. Doing such is driven by interest rather than a hard requirement from my tank's inhabitants. I have a 24 gallon nano-cube (which I wish I had never gotten since it provides no flexibility whatsoever. A little bit bigger system with a sump/refugium would have definitely been the way to go. but I digressed). <I think many people find this to be true once they get their tanks going.> The tank has been running for 2.5 years, and it houses 2 Percula Clown fish, 1 small Pipe Organ coral, 1 small colony polyp, and a couple of dwarf crabs and snails. The clown fish readily accept flake foods and seem happily fed. On rare occasion I have fed them newly hatched baby brine shrimp which they loved. Also, the tank does have copepods that came in from the live rock. The clown fish hunt the copepods, but the copepods mostly hide in the live rock and substrate. The copepods are also very small, being barely visible to the naked eye. Usually it requires a 30x eye piece to get a good look at them. <Eye strain for sure.> There seems to be a couple of choices of easily cultured live foods: brine shrimp, copepods (larger Tiger pods and smaller Harpacticoids pods), rotifer's, and Mysid shrimp. The live food(s) would be cultured in a dedicated vessel. My questions are as follows: 1) Is anyone of the cultured foods listed above more useful than the others given my tank's inhabitants? <The pods and Mysid by far.> 2) Would introducing any of cultured foods 'live' be harmful for the current tank's population of copepods? It is my understanding the Mysid shrimp are voracious and would likely not only consume the current tank's population of copepods but also would likely consume each other. I want to feed the tank, not establish a new biological order. <More likely it would strike some sort of balance eventually, but how many Mysid could survive long term is hard to say.> 3) Culturing brine shrimp to adulthood would require that they be enriched before feeding them to the tank. would this be worth the effort? <Not in my opinion, easier to just feed the fish the food directly, the brine itself adds almost nothing.> 4) Should brine shrimp eggs be de-capsulated before hatching them? Asked another way, can adult fish eat them with the shells still attached or is this just a concern for fish fry? <Mostly a concern for smaller fish.> 5) Would the soft corals benefit from the addition of any of the listed cultured live foods? <Probably marginally.> Thank you much for your guidance. <I highly suggest checking out the works of Dr. Adelaide Rhodes, she gave a great presentation at this year's IMAC, and is an expert on what you are trying to do. http://www.essentiallivefeeds.com> <Chris>