Obtaining phytoplankton from the ocean

[GeorgeCheck]

Hi guys,

first let me tell you about myself!

I come from Hamilton, New Zealand. I think this forum is the best the internet has to offer! I have been in the hobby for around a year now after discovering and absolutely loving it at a local pet expo and havent looked back since! I am a process engineer and my partner has a Bsc in Biology so her enthusiasm only adds fuel to the fire!!

Our fish stock:
1 x bonded pair of maroon clowns
1 x bonded pair of Ocellaris clowns
1 x pair of orange spotted gobies
1 x arabian angelfish
1 x bi-colour blenny
1 x powder blue tang
1 x hermit crab
1 x sea urchin (pencil)

600L tank with a 200L sump ( 3rd upgrade since starting with a 90L tank!!)

various corals mostly started from frags with two bubble tip anemones, one green and the other a fiery red both bought as splits from others.

My partner and I love animals and we are obsessed with Marine life so we are wanting to make it even more rewarding and breed our pairs and make the hobby bigger and better here in New Zealand! Our clowns and gobies have laid eggs numerous times but we are not able to raise the fry as we do not have rotifers and phytoplankton, we can get artemia readily from our LFS however. I have tried to find a starter culture here in New Zealand or someone that has a culture going that might be able to give us a sample but people either dont know or are not willing to share their secrets!! I have contacted Florida Aqua farms and a couple of other organizations and they were not much help as to be able to export live organisms into the country the organization has to be able to verify that the culture is axenic and free of other organisms and be able to prove its purity (according to our biosecurity deparment) and i think this is possibly too much work for the reward which i can understand completely from their point of view.

So, I bought a high-powered microscope and since I live 40mins away from the ocean I am planning to try and culture some from seawater / artifial salt and some miracle grow, well at least experiment and see what kind of results I obtain! Then if i am at least reasonably succesful at growing something I will buy some Guillard f/2 solution from FAF and move forward!!

Any tips or resources would be much appreciated! Im sure somebody out there has tried what im about to do or there wouldnt be starter cultures in the first place!!

thanks in advance

George

[spawner]

I think you'll find that you have some unbelievable resources for aquaculture in NZ and the Auzzies are not far away as well.

NZ has some of the most advanced culture systems in the world they really are second to none in several key aquaculture sectors.

I'd suggest you look to some of your near by Universities or hatcheries.

Here is your very own aquaculture magazine.

http://www.nzaquaculture.co.nz/index.htm

Getting starter cultures and F/2 should be a snap for you.

Welcome aboard and keep us updated.

[spawner]

BTW, what is your water temperature where you are at?

[PaulG]

the Auzzies are not far away as well.

Sorry to hijick the original threas but.....

Andy, any odea where I can source copepods (parvo preferrably) in Aus? last time I searched around no one had any they were very helpfull in providing info on collecting themn from the wild, id'ing etc but no one had any for sale

[GeorgeCheck]

Thank you for the link! a bit of an eye opener!

Well it varies really, can be mid twenties in the summer, and quite low in the winter around 6Celsius. I cant imagine the water being too warm at the moment since we are nearing winter... Im assuming from your question that the temperature must play a big part in which phyto species may be thriving in the water?

[spawner]

Paul,

Fly me down The guys a JCU are the ones that I know who are isolating for aquaculture work at the present. I've seeing several of that papers a year doing just that, but not parvo. Parvo has a very distinct nauplli, its really easy to pick out. I'll be down next summer for a meeting in case you can't find them by then.

Here is a good paper for you with an Auzzie contact, you might try him.

http://nutricionacuicola.uanl.mx/numeros/8/6Schipp.pdf

Try here as well:

http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Fisheries/index. ... evelopment

George, yes your water temperature needs to be in as warm as you can get. What your talking about doing, isolating algae, is not easy and I would suggest you just invest the time and energy in reading up on culturing algae, then finding someone in NZ with starter cultures. They will also have a source of F/2 for you. I'm sure just about everything you need is nearby.

[Greshamh]

Paul,

Fly me down The guys a JCU are the ones that I know who are isolating for aquaculture work at the present. I've seeing several of that papers a year doing just that, but not parvo. Parvo has a very distinct nauplli, its really easy to pick out. I'll be down next summer for a meeting in case you can't find them by then.

Here is a good paper for you with an Auzzie contact, you might try him.

http://nutricionacuicola.uanl.mx/numeros/8/6Schipp.pdf

Try here as well:

http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Fisheries/index. ... evelopment

George, yes your water temperature needs to be in as warm as you can get. What your talking about doing, isolating algae, is not easy and I would suggest you just invest the time and energy in reading up on culturing algae, then finding someone in NZ with starter cultures. They will also have a source of F/2 for you. I'm sure just about everything you need is nearby.

I wonder about restrictions on both zooplankton and phytoplankton distribution within NZ given their extreme stance on bio-security?

[spawner]

Greshman, Paul is in Australia.

I would not be surprised if NZ restricted movements inside its borders. We restrict the movement of aquatic organisms here in NE (shellfish seed moving from one state to the next must have health certificates, even if they are going in the same body of water). It's best to work with established strains from an oyster hatchery or university in the area for starters. They will likely know the approvals needed if any.

[Luis A M]

George,while I encourage collecting copepods from the wild,phyto is a different thing,as we want certain proved strains with special conditions.Certainly,if you culture some raw seawater with f/2,something will take.I get unwanted Chlorella,all the time,coming in the tap water,I guess

[Greshamh]

Greshman, Paul is in Australia.

I would not be surprised if NZ restricted movements inside its borders. We restrict the movement of aquatic organisms here in NE (shellfish seed moving from one state to the next must have health certificates, even if they are going in the same body of water). It's best to work with established strains from an oyster hatchery or university in the area for starters. They will likely know the approvals needed if any.

and George in in NZ. Australia is just as hardcore when it comes to biosecurity so the post still remains very factual and relevant, even if the I confused the two posters and two locations.