Mandarin larvae

[jeffkeith_us]

Hi Elmo
They're a little smaller, but that's not the problem. It's the size of the Mandarin larva's mouth. It is a lot smaller. Giving Mandarin larvae rotifers is like giving artemia to Clownfish larvae before they are five days old. They are too large for the larva to swallow and it will die trying.
Not only that, the eggs are less than 1mm and plagic.
Jeff

 

[NaH2O]

What a great thread. I'm just lurking on it....hope you don't mind. I think breeding mandarins and captive raising the young is such a great step in this hobby. It may mean higher success rates keeping these fish. This might be a silly question, but is there a certain place the mandarins lay their eggs, or do you have to hunt for them? For example, clownfish use a flat surface near their anemone. I would be interested in hearing about their breeding behavior, too. Thanks!

 

[jeffkeith_us]

The Mandarin's Dance

Nikki
If a Mandarin pair are at ease in their biotope the female will become ripe. The male will begin the courtship dance by hopping near the female and displaying the spike of his front dorsal fin to her. They swim upward the male following the female, all the rest of the day. Each time they return to the bottom the male with his mouth protruding starts shivering. Much the way a clownfish will with it's larger mate. So it continues till sunset, but this isn't the spawning, not yet. That doesn't begin to happen till twilight and night begins to fall. As you know the sea usually begins to calm at that time. The light begins to wane, as darkness draws it's curtain on the lower deep. So then will occur (I think; anyone would need to observe Mandarins over time to understand why I say) "loves" final cause. The two now bonded as one swim up, in formation, and with their ventral sides caressing. Two yards or so upward, in the wild. Their corse plotted in an right angle from the bottom up and arching over back to the bottom. Upon crossing the apex each time they will at once procreate and release a few of their planktonic children's eggs to the darkening sea. They rise and sink over and again, till the female has cast all her 250 to 500 eggs. Afterward, maybe with a short mid water pause sink exhausted in the now dark depth to cover themselves in the substrate.
Jeff

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Pod Piles

Just some thoughts on what people are calling "Pod Piles". Be careful what size rocks you use in this little pile that formes a refuge for Amphipods. If shrimp cannot clear this pile of Aiptasia anemone then you will. I think it best to get a bag of Sea Floor and go through it picking out only broken shells from which to build the pod pile.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

The Amphipod tank I put together a wile back had it's population begin to wane. I think this was because I tried not to use skimming. That inaction was wrong. I now and for the past three days, have had the tank's skimmer in service.
Note*
For this tank only inert feeds for the Clown fish are offered.
The water is siphoned directly from aquarium #6.
The skimmate is dumped into the Brine shrimp grow-out tank.
This tank is a "stagnum" a stand-alone system, not a "refugium".

 

[tike]

So what's the lastest status jeffkeith_us ????

 

[jeffkeith_us]

*Note - this was the status of all aquariums at the time of 05-2005. New livestock equations are being evaluated, see 01-2006 in this thread.
Status of aquariums 4, 5, 6 and 7:
#4, 20 gallon long, no sand bed, 25 lb's. LR, 6.5 watts per gallon, 125 watt heater, w/o baby-safe system, no Amphipod pile; showing no sign of increase in Amphipod population, but good Copepod population.
#5, 29 gallon tall, 1/2" sand bed, 50 lb's. LR, 4.4 watts per Gallon, 300 watt heater, w/o baby-safe system, has Amphipod pile; heaviest of all in Mandarin food species populations growth of Amphipod and moderate in Copepod.
#6, 30 gallon long, 2" sand bed, 60 lb's. LR, 6 watts per gallon, 300 watt heater, with baby-safe system, has Amphipod pile; growth of Mandarin food species populations is astonishing in that one month after start-up Amphipods were brushed off a Emperor 280 filter from another aquarium and in seven weeks have colonized much of the live rock, pod pile, and substrate; copepods have come to form an embellishing live veneer on every well lit surface of the live rock.
#7, 45 gallon tall, 3 1/2" to 5" waved sand bed, modified baby-safe system, has Amphipod pile; system construction paused for reevaluation.
All aquariums are set-up around John Tullock's "inshore aquarium for clown fish" Chapter 8 in his book "Natural Reef Aquariums".
Cleaner species are picked only for how well they preform and follow a stocking equation:
Clibanarius tricolor; gallons x 1
Paguristes cadenati; gallons x .16
Astraea tecta; gallons x .4
Nassarius distortus; gallons x .16
Note* none are used in #4, Nassarius sp. are used in #5.
Strombus gibberulus; gallons x.066
Premnas biaculeatus; inches of Host anemone (at the oral disk, when fully inflated) x .66 rounded off equals number of fish, not to exceed a family of seven. If you can't get a wild caught mated pair I think it is well to obtain a wild caught adult male and place it with the Host without company till it becomes a female and has grown to over 2 1/2 inches and the Host is over 5 inches. The clown fish prevent anything, that could become a snack like Mandarins and Peppermint shrimp, from getting too close to the anemone.
1 Entacmaea quadracolor, as large as can be obtained, not less than 1 1/2 inches in diameter (at the oral disk when fully inflated).
1 Lysmata wurdemanni
1 Ophioderma sp.
1 Pseudochromis sankeyi (only if bristleworms are a problem)
1 Pseudocheilinus hexataenia ( only as a last resort )
It's still too soon to tell about the Amphipod and Copepod farming tanks I built. Will keep you posted.
Another 48" florescent shop light has been procured with a 40 watt Coralife Actinic lamp and a 40 watt Coralife 20,000K lamp.
Production of Tetraselmis (5 two liter flasks) and Isocrysis (5 two liter flasks) should (HVHY willing) begin by the end of the month.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/organism/photo.html

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Just finished building the hatching jar tank. It tested out OK.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Their are floccules accumulating on the bottom of the Copepod tank. It will soon be time for a water change.

01-2006 Edit - Note that the copepods are in floccules. Deliver this water to the aquarium where you keep your Mandarinfish.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Out Smarted Myself or The Amphipods Showed Me How

Hi Everyone
:idea: After putting a bucket of aquarium water with a scrub pad in it on the back porch I think I have come up with a very cheap way to harvest lots of Amphipods (Gammarus locusta). All you need is a food grade five gallon bucket (19 liters) on the back porch(to be used only for Amphipods, Don); 7 or 8 tile setters' blue scrub pads (stand them up on end so you can pull one out then replace it with the one you pulled out the day before); a cheap bio-wheel filter (like a Penguin mini or 100) and 1 foam pre-filter from a power head, to go over the intake on the bio-wheel filter; some window screen to go over the top of the bucket and 3 clothespins to hold the window screen in place; and Culerpa.
Start by filling the bucket with water from the aquarium about 2/3rd's full. Stand the scrub pads on their end around sides of the bucket, save back one dry scrub pad, leave room for the filter intake. Install the foam pre-filter over the filter intake guard and install the filter assembly on the bucket. Lay the dry scrub pad down flat and put some fish food on it. Tap the pad till the food becomes embedded in the middle of the pad. Place it in an aquarium that has Amphipods and let it set on the bottom over night. Follow the procedure each night till you have a good population of Amphipods in the bucket. You will need to feed the Amphipods in the bucket small amounts of a variety of very high quality dry fish foods (which are going to wind up inside the Mandarin and other fish too), Spirulina flakes, Green Hair algae (Enteromorpha), Sea lettuce (Ulva), and raw chopped Dulse in order to maintain a population level. Then use the same procedure to seed Amphipods where they are needed for food. You can over feed to get more Amphipods and then just overflow the bucket with aquarium water from water changes.
This is what I was looking for to support aquarium #4. If someone just has a nanno reef aquarium, even with no sand bed and only a few live rocks, with this system he/she can literally rain down food on his/her Mandarin. A person can keep a nanno reef aquarium with a Mandarin in it at work and just bring a bag lunch for their Mandarin. If you must you can put the bio-wheel down in the water put the lid on the bucket and secure the entire outfit in your car trunk and go where ever you need to in order to get an Amphipod culture. If it is a long drive make two 3/16th inch taps in the lid for air hose (one for an air stone one for a catch-cup).
Note* When you first pull the pad out of the water some of the Amphipods will jump off. You may be taken back a little by how many Amphipods are on one scrub pad. A single scrub pad takes the place of a lot of live rock. Just hold it over the water till those that are going to jump do so. The rest of them will hold on for dear life and you can have the pad out of the water for as much as about five minutes. When you put the pad back in water all the Amphipods will get out of that pad fast. You won't need to let the pad set over night. Just put some food on it and return it back to the bucket.
www.tiletool.net/grout_scurbby_pads.asp
www.seaveg.com
The Dulse is good for us to eat too.

 

[Dewey115]

I have some prefilter sponge squares that I used to clean the glass in small places (that the mag cant reach) in my prop tank. I was lazy and left the sponge in there and found it covered with a huge range of critters a few days later. I think that pads like you mention are very easy ways to transfer them over. Is the bucket still working as planned? Sounds like a pretty easy way to culture them as long as it works well. Good luck, take care

Rick

 

[jeffkeith_us]

The bucket sistem works very well.

Hi Rick
Yes the Amphipod bucket is working very well. Only today, did I bring home enough scrub pads and a five gallon bucket to start another. I had another Mini filter laying around.
Received some copepods via FedEx. Put them into twenty 20mm culture tubes with vent caps useing a 5 ml. disposable transfer pipette.
Only just finished mounting another 48 inch, twin T12 shop light to the wall above the two liter flasks for ten more flasks. I'll run air to that location this weekend.
You may be interested to know that tile setters call the scrub pads a "doodlebug".

www.oceanpods.com
Click on FAQ

www.aquaticeco.com
Click on "Lab Equipment" then "Test Tubes & Labware" then "Culture Tubes".

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Rick
What do you think about an under gravel filter system just for pods?
Jeff

 

[ladygator]

Hi Jeff - Any pictures available of your amphipod system?

Hope the copepods work out.

Adelaide

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Hi Adelaide
I have only 35mm photographs. So I'll send the film in and get a CD of them made.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Hi Everyone
The Copepod tank I put together back in April is doing very well. Took some pictures of it and I will have get them posted upon "My Photo Gallery"as soon as I get the film processed.

 

[NaH2O]

Excellent! Let me know if you need help getting the photos posted to the thread from your gallery.

 

[jeffkeith_us]

Hi Nikki
I would have put a photograph or two up but couldn't make it work. I will need for you to teach me how.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[NaH2O]

Jeff - you have some great photos in your gallery!

Here is how to bring the photos to the thread:

Select a photo you would like to post: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/showphoto.php?photo=2625&cat=500&page=1

Right click on that image and open it to a new window: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/data/500/medium/Green_water.jpg

Copy that url address (the image in its own window), and paste it between the tags. Here is what it looks like in the post (remove the *):

[*img]http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/data/500/medium/Green_water.jpg[*/img]

Becomes this after removing the *s:

[img]http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/data/500/medium/Green_water.jpg