Reef Discussion
Definitely start with foods, you need a ruddy metric shittonne of it for aquaculture and you need to have several tanks ready to do staggered starts to keep the supply going. parvocalanus are a good one to have on hand as they feed quite a few species. Don't forget green water, you're going to need a lot to keep everything going.
I breed Comets and let me tell you, VERY STEEP learning curve there, VERY STEEP. It took me the better part of a year to get the first saleable fish to marketable size. Didn't realize until too late that they spawned the first time, second time I ran out of food and the third time we had a power cut and the generator didn't kick on and I didn't get notice till it was too late. Marine Bettas are probably my favorite species and I have been trying to get the Giant blue ones from your area with little luck because their range puts them smack dab in the middle of the GBR park. :( Now I turn out about 150 Comets per year.
If you intend on switching to a for profit scenario, you need to look at those sorts of species. I just spent quite a chunk of money putting in 3- 4x2m deep round concrete vats to try my hand at a pelagic species, Purple tangs, Regal tangs and Emporer angels are my target there, again, something that fetches money to recoup my initial outlay. The market's flooded with damn clownfish here, you can't give the damn things away here other than the fancy schmancy abominations that I refuse to carry.
I breed Comets and let me tell you, VERY STEEP learning curve there, VERY STEEP. It took me the better part of a year to get the first saleable fish to marketable size. Didn't realize until too late that they spawned the first time, second time I ran out of food and the third time we had a power cut and the generator didn't kick on and I didn't get notice till it was too late. Marine Bettas are probably my favorite species and I have been trying to get the Giant blue ones from your area with little luck because their range puts them smack dab in the middle of the GBR park. :( Now I turn out about 150 Comets per year.
If you intend on switching to a for profit scenario, you need to look at those sorts of species. I just spent quite a chunk of money putting in 3- 4x2m deep round concrete vats to try my hand at a pelagic species, Purple tangs, Regal tangs and Emporer angels are my target there, again, something that fetches money to recoup my initial outlay. The market's flooded with damn clownfish here, you can't give the damn things away here other than the fancy schmancy abominations that I refuse to carry.
haha I'm planning on producing waayy too much! If we had a larger place I'd go out and get myself half a dozen 10L tubs for production! But we don't have a garage I can do all this in :( lol
I've got my fingers crossed in desperation that we have access to parvo here because a lot of the species I've been looking at are smaller ones that are going to require small feeds. Green water, I want to keep a rack of 6 500-750ml bottles going so it's always there and ready for feeding time :)
Like everything in this hobby, the steeper the learning curve, the more I'll enjoy it haha I'm a real sicko :p I have no intentions of doing this for profit for quite some time. The main goal is to simply see if I can just do it successfully and if I can any healthy off-spring I'll give to my lfs or sell to cover food costs lol. Nothing fancy just yet, maybe one day I'll scale it up but until then it's just a personal challenge.
Found this awesome site of the guys in Hawaii doing some kickass stuff!
http://rcthawaii.com/
http://rcthawaii.com/
That may not be enough - I was running 4 x 3l juice bottles and I was close to running out a few times. Once you inoculate a bottle it will take 4-5 days before it is usable (the time will vary depending on the percentage used to inoculate, the temperature etc) and you need to have enough usable bottles on hand. At high concentrations rotifers will use a lot of nanno.
Next time I would probably have at least 15l at various stages because there is nothing worse than running short.
That being said, a lot of serious breeders don't make their own nanno as they don't have the time to do everything - they use the prepackaged versions and put their time into maintaining their rotifer, pod etc populations.
As I've moved about a few times and had to set up a small tank with live rock and only a pair of clowns (kept my main tank with my parents) I came to observe how quickly tiny pods and other bugs became established. This was probably because I had started the tank with mature live rock from a mature tank that has a healthy population of pods etc. So, I'd imagine if you set up a three footer with mature live rock (limit corals), you might get enough food growing there for when you dump in small fry.
My point is that a bare tank with only mature live rock can support a lot of small life and it's only when we add the fish (and corals) that the small pods etc get chewed up quickly.
I had the pleasure of watching my clowns eat those tiny white bugs that are less than a mm long that you get on the aquarium glass. In my tank they multiplied excessively and at one point, the clowns decided it was feast time and they just went berserk on them.
Obviously, once I added the wrasse the only pods I saw were those that came out in the dark.
So, get a tank running with only mature live rock and in no time you'll have a perfect nursery for small fry!
My point is that a bare tank with only mature live rock can support a lot of small life and it's only when we add the fish (and corals) that the small pods etc get chewed up quickly.
I had the pleasure of watching my clowns eat those tiny white bugs that are less than a mm long that you get on the aquarium glass. In my tank they multiplied excessively and at one point, the clowns decided it was feast time and they just went berserk on them.
Obviously, once I added the wrasse the only pods I saw were those that came out in the dark.
So, get a tank running with only mature live rock and in no time you'll have a perfect nursery for small fry!
Well I can always up my game easily enough beforehand, I've got some testing to do before I go anywhere lol. I'm thinking about focusing on copepods over rotifers as they seem to be more usable and friendly to larvae and the adults work for settled juvi's :) lol I'm going to try for a culture of three different species lol not an easy task!
I've found a place that sells and imports Reed Mariculture products and algae's which is amazing as they seem to be one of the best in the US and I'm also thinking about sourcing a few phyto species from the CSIRO to vary things up a bit and increase nutrition :)
I'll be doing something similar but it will be for juveniles that are feeding on prepared foods as well, I can't afford to not be doing everything exactly when it comes to larvae, especially during the flexion and settlement phases of rearing :) Most tanks will be completely sterile with pvc as the structures as I don't wish to risk any sort of bacterial infections or anything else that may get transported in on the live rock. It's a great suggestion but that sort of setup will be far later on in the scheme of things :)
haha I plan on tripling it! I'm off to see a lab based aquaculture setup so seeing things on a larger scale and with the input from professionals will be a great help I think :)
Yeah :( like $120 for 20ml I've heard from a source haha but it's also going to be a pure strain too which is nice :)
$154 + $25 postage for a 20ml test tube. A 250ml flask is $253 which is much more cost effective, especially if you can find someone to split the cost.
I would be very nervous if all I had was a 20ml test tube to start off a culture ...
You will find some very detailed culture notes on the CSIRO site - http://www.marine.csiro.au/microalgae/methods/ - definitely worth a read.
Just when I thought I couldn't see a price that would shock me, you lot never cease to amaze me. That's highway robbery!!! One of you need to start culturing green water and plankton, you'd be on a gold mine. I guess I really never realized how good I have it here. We have Florida Aqua Farms as well as Carolina Biological Supply for starter cultures of just about everything. Don't Google those unless you wanna cry.
@ReeferRob - this price is from the CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) which is a government organisation. They maintain 1,000 strains of more than 300 species of microalgae and mainly supply industry and research groups globally. They aren't really designed to sell to hobbyists but, unfortunately, we don't have a Florida Aqua Farms of Reed Mariculture etc in Australia.
They are expensive but you do get a quality product.
They are expensive but you do get a quality product.
Got to remember just how small the market is over here.
Jeez, imagining living in a country like Tasmania!
I can vouch for CSIRO's quality cause I use to work for them. I think with CSIRO it's more a case you have people working there who are really passionate about the Science, not just to earn a buck.
I know what I'm going to be reading today, thanks Shane :)
I've also organised a tour of the aquaculture labs at Melbourne Polytechnic on Monday which I cannot wait for!! They were really fantastic and excited in the emails so it should be a really informative day :D
I've also organised a tour of the aquaculture labs at Melbourne Polytechnic on Monday which I cannot wait for!! They were really fantastic and excited in the emails so it should be a really informative day :D
Members online
No members online now.