A Little Shrimp Goes A Long Way By Deborah & Rodney Ralph
The best type of eggs seems to be New Technology - Artemia Revolution brine Shrimp eggs without shells. A salt water cleaned 2 litre plastic soft drink container with the black bottom left on, the cap with a hole big enough to fit airline tube through, air pump, air hose and a small plastic airstone, small tank without lid and a 75-100 watt heater are the things needed. These will help give the quickest and, best results for a small constant supply of this food that is quickly devoured by fry of all types.
The salt water for the hatching is made in advance, 3 level tablespoons of coarse salt to 2.5 litres of hot tap water, which dissolves the salt. This ratio should give the water the specific gravity of 1.022 for best results. Test this if desired but wait until it has cooled. Set up the open tank one third to one half, fill it with water, place the heater in and get the water temperature to 20 to 24 degrees celsius. Set up the airpump nearby and attach the airhose and airstone. The best position for the airstone is for it to sit on the bottom or the bottle, place a piece of thin, stiff wire into the airhose a little longer than the bottle, push it up a little so as not to stop air going into the airstone. Put the bottle top through and place the airstone back onto the airhose. This will make sure the airstone will be where you want it.
Pour the cooled salt water mixture into the 2 litre drink container leaving enough space for bubbles (about one half of an inch to an inch from the bottom of the neck). Up to 24 drops of brine-shrimp eggs can safely be added, for however many fry you have. You can use more bottles or larger vessels if desired. If you need more, place the bottle into the heated tank, put the airstone and hose in and screw on the lid. if the hole in the lid is a tight fit against the air hose, this will decrease the action of the airstone and can be remedied by small air-holes made.with a pin in the lid. A vigorous action from the airstone to keep the eggs constantly moving is best. The eggs hatch in 24-48 hours, at 24 degrees celsius they hatch in about 36 hours although some take longer, which works well when feed from one bottle twice a day.
A new salt solution is made up weekly though the old would probably last longer but weekly is easier to remember, this also keeps the hatching rate high.
To actually get the brine-shrimp to feed to your fry is next. Before feeding time the bottles contents need to settle, so allow 30 minutes to an hour for this. No need to turn the airhose off, just lift the bottle from the tank after removing the lid, air hose etc. and place on a Loam or plastic drip tray. I have found that it is best if the bottle is covered by a spare lid and wrapped up or covered by black cardboard with only a small section of the neck left open to light. This keeps the brine-shrimp from forming a mass at the bottom with unhatched eggs and makes it easier getting them out.
A spare 2 litre container, clean handkerchief or piece of material, funnel, cup (containing tank water) and a small container are what is needed for the next step. After the bottle has settled, move it to where a tap is nearby and have all the necessary equipment at hand. Place the wet handkerchief over the open neck of the empty 2 litre container and push the hanky down into the neck with a pen or similar item until it is about 3 to 4 inches down, but still have enough left around the outside to hold. Put the funnel into the hanky covered neck and uncover the brine-shrimp being careful not to stir it up. Slowly pour the brine-shrimp into the funnel and through the hanky until half or however much brine-shrimp you want has been poured out. Remove the funnel and gather the hanky up, gripping it together where it is hanging over the neck. Wash the brine-shrimp inside the hanky with running water working it down to the point of the hanky into a small lump. Then squeeze excess water out of the rest of the hanky and open it carefully with a finger behind the lump of brine-shrimp on the hanky, direct it into the centre ana down into a small clear vial and spread the hanky around the outside leaving the mass of brine-shrimp pushed into the centre. Pour enough tank water to wash the brine-shrinip off the hanky into the vial then remove the hanky making sure that none is left on it. Now you have a vial full of brine-shrimp ready to teed your hungry fry. Just pour the amount needed slowly into the tanks of the waiting fry. The strained salt water is poured back into the bottle and put back into the tank for the 2nd feeding. After which another lot of brine-shrimp eggs are added by drops ready for the next time around.
Two bottles are kept going using this method and this gives two feedings of brine-shrimp daily, one bottle alternate days. The most important things for successful brine-shrimp hatching seem to be the constant temperature of 20-24 degrees celsius and the salt mixture with a specific gravity of 1.022 which works out to be 3 level tablespoons of course salt to two and one half litres of Canberra tap water. This method is cheap, easy and gives good results and your young fish will love you for doing this for them.
Fry Food - Vinegar Eels By Geoff Allen
A food which is ideal for all sizes of young fry in the first week is the Turbatrix aceti (Vinegar Eel). These minute little eels seem to be so quick, easy and clean when kept, it is nearly too good to be true.
The next time you’re out shopping buy a goonie of plonk, just over half the quantity of the goonie in Cider Vinegar, an apple and a small bag of sugar.
The short term advantage of starting a Vinegar Eel culture is downing the plonk, so you can use the bottle and eating the left overs of the apple.
If you don't drink alcohol, the next time you go to the tip to drop your re-cycable bottles off, have a look in the bins for an empty goonie and ask someone if you can have it.
Thoroughly wash the goonie in warm salt water and rinse well with warm to hot water. Place equal amounts of water and vinegar, having enough left over for a top up when the culture starts to evaporate, six two centimetre squares of apple and two teaspoons of sugar into the clean goonie. Now is the time to add your starter culture, which you've aquired from someone who has a culture, (ask around the Society for a culture, a few people have them). Once this is in the bottle all you have to do is wait. Check your culture in about four hours, the eels should settle towards the top of the bottle, mark the lower edge of the eels with a texta and date it.
This is the hard part, sit back for a couple of days to a week and check it again. If it is growing, mark and date it again. If it isn't growing, don't be to disappointed, just check it again in a week and if it has grown it's o.k. If it still hasn't grown, ask for another culture and start at the checking and marking stage.
I've discovered, through talking with others, that some cultures take off and increase almost straight away and others take up to two to three months to take, but I know that all the trouble, which is little, is well worth it.
After all this is done, all you have to do is feed it to those newly hatched fry. To do this, you acquire a piece of nylon from a nylon coffee filter or something similar and put this in the mouth of the goonie with a little piece of it hanging on the outside of it, making sure it won't fall in. When you are ready to feed your fry, get a small jar or glass and place some tank water or green water ill it (if available) but watch that it doesn't contain any cyclops or hydra - this will give them a choice of food. Take the piece of nylon out of the goonie and place it into your handy glass, dunk it a few times and just watch the amount of eels that will be rinsed off into the water, this amount will amaze you. But be careful not to over use your culture and dry it up. Rinse off only the amount you require for that feeding.
Lettuce Have Infusoria By Deborah & Rodney Ralph
This is one way of getting infusoria easily, quickly, cheaply and without much fuss. Bits and pieces of the information have come from books and ideas other people have had and also our own, mixed together, which has given us good results.
Before you start you'll need 30-40 litres of aged tap water which will see you through the early stages of keeping this culture.
Items needed are 1 large 24-36 litre plastic tub, the size maybe larger or smaller to suit your particular needs. This should be washed out well with warm salty water then rinsed well.
Now we want the main ingredient, lettuce. We go down to a fruit and vege shop and just ask for the lettuce leaves they throw away and get a bag full costing nothing, you can't get it any cheaper than that and they don't seem to mind.
Pick out the best whole leaves and give them a quick wash to get the dirt off, then squeeze the excess water and scrunch and break the leaves up and place into a bucket. We use 1 large lettuce leaf per litre of water. After you have the amount needed in your bucket pour on enough boiling water to cover then place this outside and allow to cool.
The next day pour this into the tub and add enough aged tap water to fill the tub. Place in a shady position that is sheltered. In about a week you should have green water with some infusoria and in about 2 weeks it should be booming.
Each time after you have drawn the amount you want for the days use, top it up with aged water. Keep a bucket of aged water next to the tub for this. This helps to put oxygen into the infusoria and keeps it going and fresh. Every now and then more lettuce should be added also to keep it going.
If it is not used regularly it will probably go off. Throw it away, clean the tub thoroughly with salty water, rinse, then start all over again.
Notes On Fry Food Cultures by Mark O'Connor
At the CDAS meeting on 8 July 1996, Mark O'Connor brought in some fry food cultures and supplied the following notes.
Volvox
Volvox is a giant infusorian, a slow swimming colonial algae but vastly larger than those species like Euglena that are found in ordinary "green water". Adult individuals or colonies are visible to the naked eye (against a good light) as green or pale green globules, almost perfectly round. Their lack of projections and the fact that they do not thrash around like microworms or vinegar eels makes them suitable food for baby egg-layers. The fact that they move slowly to the light enables them to be bred in a vat and concentrated for use.
The Encyclopaedia of Live Foods says that they are found in iron-rich waters, usually under a layer of duck-weed (ie. not in full sunlight) and they can coexist with daphnia. It comments that during the session when they swarm "fish fry grow fat".
My culture appeared last winter as an almost pure culture in a one gallon (5 litre) glass jar left out against the north wall of my house. (There was a half teaspoon of salt in the water to make it less likely to freeze and crack the jar, although the top does freeze fairly often. I added some chelated iron after identifying the culture, and the odd drop of aquarium plant fertiliser since). There was a thick layer of duckweed on top, and the jar was heavily shaded from overhead sun, but takes in quite a lot of slanting light through the sides especially in winter. Last summer daphnia and cyclops re-appeared and seemed to eliminate the Volvox, but it re-appeared recently as a fairly pure culture.
Not much is known about this Australian(?) species of Volvox. I would urge fish breeders to experiment with pipetting out a pure culture and experimenting to find out the temperature and light intensity in which it can best be cultivated. It has great potential as a trouble free permanent fry food. If cultivated in bulk, it might also be ideal food for young live-bearers. If it can be cultivated along side ordinary "green water", the result might be a onestop fry food for egg-layers. I can supply Volvox cultures to any member interested in them.
Green Water
This is an outdoor culture of Euglena-like organisms that has stayed green for a couple of years in a large 40 litre white plastic container in the full sun on the north side of the house (it often ices over). I feed it with osmacote slow release fertiliser pellets, about a dozen every three months. In summer it is bright green and up to 40% of it can be harvested daily for feeding daphnia or very small egg-layer fry.
Tips
Incidentally, a tip when using microworms as fry food. Swirl them in a tall glass jar away from heat or light that might create currents. In five minutes they will all fall to the bottom, wash, refill and swirl. This time allow only a minute or two for the adult worms to fall to the bottom. You can then pour ofr the smallest worms for very small fry.
And a tip for vinegar eels. When using coffee filter papers to strain them out, fold over the seam at the bottom, since this is where most coffee filters leak, being poorly stitched.