Blenny mating?

[dbaulch83]

Rotifers feed on phytoplankton like copepods do (though Parvocalanus crassirostris needs T-Iso [Isochrysis galbana] phytoplankton specifically). Phyto will not feed the fish larvae; the two foods I've seen used to successfully feed/rear these larvae are Parvocalanus crassirostris nauplii and some unidentified ciliates (some ciliates may be nutritionally appropriate while others may not be, and ciliates may be quite difficult to come by).

Parvocalanus crassirostris really is your best bet for raising these guys at this point.

Hey, are you able to help…. Getting a few thru on rots and prepared foods. But less than 1% as you mentioned. Having a terrible time finding the specific cop strain in the UK so think I need to let that one go - but have found some ciliates. Couple of questions…
Can I culture the ciliates? If so how?
Can I place the fry in a cop culture vessel so they can pick up the nauplii from the water column? - if I monitor the water quality regularly?
im thinking could the tank sustain itself and I keep adding cop feed and blenny eggs? then remove the fry once large enough?
failing this I’ll buy cop eggs as suggested but same question really - can they be in the same vessel.
Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Can I culture the ciliates? If so how?

Yes - for how, this link has info (it's a bit wordy, but it's good):

The Breeder’s Net: The Culture Of Ciliates

Hopefully from this article, you will see the value of ciliate culture for the home fish breeder and understand why we dedicated this month's column to them.

reefs.com

Can I place the fry in a cop culture vessel so they can pick up the nauplii from the water column? - if I monitor the water quality regularly?
im thinking could the tank sustain itself and I keep adding cop feed and blenny eggs? then remove the fry once large enough?
failing this I’ll buy cop eggs as suggested but same question really - can they be in the same vessel.

In theory, yes (I've recently heard this referred to as co-culturing) - the catch is that the nauplii need to be small enough for the fry still. I'm not sure what the gape size is for this species, but most fish fry can only eat things that are less than or equal to ~20% of the gape size, so you'll probably want a relatively small copepod species to work with.

I haven't looked into co-culturing much at all yet, but - as I understand it - it has some pros and cons to it. It should still work either way (and may be beneficial, as it was in the link below):

Aquaculture America 2020 Honolulu, Hawaii | Meeting Presentation | REARING OF LARVAL FISH IN COCULTURE WITH COPEPODS | World Aquaculture Society Meetings

Aquaculture America 2020 presentation | REARING OF LARVAL FISH IN COCULTURE WITH COPEPODS

www.was.org

 

[dbaulch83]

Yes - for how, this link has info (it's a bit wordy, but it's good):

The Breeder’s Net: The Culture Of Ciliates

Hopefully from this article, you will see the value of ciliate culture for the home fish breeder and understand why we dedicated this month's column to them.

reefs.com

In theory, yes (I've recently heard this referred to as co-culturing) - the catch is that the nauplii need to be small enough for the fry still. I'm not sure what the gape size is for this species, but most fish fry can only eat things that are less than or equal to ~20% of the gape size, so you'll probably want a relatively small copepod species to work with.

I haven't looked into co-culturing much at all yet, but - as I understand it - it has some pros and cons to it. It should still work either way (and may be beneficial, as it was in the link below):

Aquaculture America 2020 Honolulu, Hawaii | Meeting Presentation | REARING OF LARVAL FISH IN COCULTURE WITH COPEPODS | World Aquaculture Society Meetings

Aquaculture America 2020 presentation | REARING OF LARVAL FISH IN COCULTURE WITH COPEPODS

www.was.org

Ok paramecium culture brewing with grain and yeast and now co-culturing copepods, rotifiers and blenny fry. Fingered crossed