Salt babies at play

[SaltBabies]

Well Thursday I got some pods in. I've started a culture of parvocalanus and apocyclops. I took some larva just 2 and put in each reservoir of pods. So we will see. I doubt any of those will make it. But I will catch eggs 6/6 and try again. By then the copepods should be breeding. I just need to see if I can keep my T-iso alive.
Here's an angel at 4 dph but this one died transferring to the slide.

And my favorite photo from my seahorse grow out tank

Now if I could just get the starfish to spawn.

My harlequins are finishing up their first whole chocolate chip. One has molted but the other hasn't. I can't tell which molted and they are hiding in chaeto so can tell if the girl is carrying eggs. I don't think they were a pair before I got them as the boy is larger which isn't typical. So It may take a little bit before I get any babies from them. I have been thinking of get them and the barnacle blennies a fluval flex all in one with bow front. I think they are a good looking tank and I need nano for the blennies.

 

[SaltBabies]

Stroke of luck. My grow out tank was growing t-iso when I didn't have babies. I cleaned it up but purposefully left a little of the original water in the sump and it seems to be growing t-iso again. It's in a room filled with nano and rotifers so I don't suspect it will stay t-iso but every little bit helps right. It also seems to have a few tigger pods in there. Hopefully that will make the starfish happy enough to spawn.

Though the bottle of t-iso doesn't seem to be growing. So I'll need it.
The bucket with parvos seems to be ok but isn't darkening like I had hoped.

 

[SaltBabies]

So this morning had some seahorse babies. Fairly sure they are one of my little boys x ice (white female).

Also got some pep shrimp babies out of the sock when retrieving the seahorse babies.

Cut up 2 starfish to see if they survive and how long it takes to regenerate. I have several of these. I cut one into 2 legs/3legs and 1 into 4 legs/1 leg. I am hoping for some spawning so some I didn't cut. I'm trying to come up with a viable starfish multiplying scheme since I'm hoping to breed harlequin shrimp.

The harlequins finished their first chocolate chip today. Looks like 2 weeks per starfish/ pair of harlequin shrimp. I know many people then make them wait a week or so before giving them more. But since I want them happy and breeding I've put in a orange spiny and see how long these smaller starfish last. They seem to be fleshier then a chocolate chip so I think 5-6 days.

I can't see any angel fish larva in the copepod mix but that doesn't mean anything. I'll be catching more angel eggs on 6/6 so that as they get mouths on day 4 the current copepods should be getting old enough to have babies.

 

[squatchaquarist]

Congrats!! Hey, what kind of microscope are you using? I'm thinking about getting one for my own breeding ventures but am overwhelmed with everything available to hobbyists.

 

[SaltBabies]

Well I couldn't tell you exactly. I've been in this hobby for 27 years and breeding for a long while too. I bought it a long time ago for fun. I can tell you it's an amscope I bought a MD500 camera that goes in the monocular.

It was a high end high school student version. with an add on camera that I know is the MD500 camera. Kind of like the one below.

I liked it so much that I bought a dissecting microscope (that I can also use my camera with). Unless you are looking at micro algae, copepods or small fish larva the dissecting is probably more useful. Some of the pictures you see are just me with an iphone.

 

[SaltBabies]

Ok now maybe we can really get a summer of fun going.

I believe my female Harlequin shrimp molted today. She is playing it close to the vest so I don't know if she is carrying eggs. If not she should be in 2 to 3 weeks at the next molt. I'm making sure to feed them well.

the peppermint shrimp survived the sock it looks like so now I just have to keep them alive.

Still can't see anything in the places I tucked angel fry into parvo cultures.

 

[StlSalt]

Nice work. I'm digging this thread and the great pictures you're getting with the scope.

Thanks for passing on your knowledge.

 

[SaltBabies]

So it's been a week I checked my pod cultures. The T-iso seems to be doing ok but the parvos are all gone. I doubt the 2 angelfish larva I put in there ate them all but who knows. I first took a sample and was happy the T-iso was alive but sad I didn't see any pods. So I took one of the 5 gallon buckets and strained the whole thing. Got like 10 pods for the whole thing. No nauplli. I have one more 5 gallon bucket whose initial sample looked the same. I'll be straining that today or tomorrow to check. Then I have three other smaller containers to look into. I didn't see any angel larvae nor pods.

My apex are going well but have rotifers in them. I had hoped for some small rotifers that I was warned before purchasing they are having trouble with. I don't seem to have those. I do have regular rotifers in the apex but those come from my house i"m sure So I've put my copepod collector in the bucket and we will see how it goes. A sample showed many copepods and rotifers in various stages. I'm going to see if I can collect the copepodites smaller than 90 microns put them in a fresh bucket and then see how much I can separate with straining. I have several size filter bags.

I collected angel eggs last night so hopefully I'll have some nauplli in 3 to 4 days. I also started a testraselmis culture. So I can do a mix for a larvae tank of nano tetra and t-iso. I can't see any eggs on my harlequin but I haven't just grabbed her either.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Can't wait for more updates on the Harlequin pair! I hope she is holding eggs for you!

 

[SaltBabies]

Ok I gotta geek a little here. Algaebarn liked my post :0. Love those guys and Reed Mariculture. Now if I could just get good enough to get sponsored. LoL

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Ok I gotta geek a little here. Algaebarn liked my post :0. Love those guys and Reed Mariculture. Now if I could just get good enough to get sponsored. LoL

Thank you for the kind words! We are going to send you a DM about being sponsored

 

[SaltBabies]

So turns out seahorses are the only ones who like the ride the Orange Starfish. Though I think her intentions are suspect.

The peppermints who went into the filter sock seem to have made it. They are on a copepod, brine shrimp, rotifer mix in green water. Though I'm having a brine shrimp crisis so they'll have to hold on copepods and rotifers.

 

[SaltBabies]

Sold a few more Seahorses to the LFS. For him in his tanks which are more spacious and have dragons breath almost every single one is coloring up to orange like their dad. I wish I could get them to color up here. I'd ebay them for more than I wholesale them for.

So exciting.

I scooped up a trio of Red Cardinal fish from LA. I'm hoping to get a pair out of the trio for breeding.
I haven't seen these before but being a cardinal they should not be too hard to keep alive. We will see about the breeding. Need to set up an additional quarantine tank they arrive Wendesday The picture is pinkish but I"ve found descriptions of scarlet. We'll see what color they are under lights.

I also I'm not doing well with parvo or apex pods. The parvos I understand but the apex I don't they aren't supposed to be hard. Anyways. I am working to set up a few experiments for angel eggs. They should have mouths in a day or two.

I've decided that I seem to be specializing in easy to breed relatively cheap stuff.
Peppermint shrimp will wholesale for what $3 each?
These cardinals would be $7 or 8 each.
even if I get Flame angels what would whole sale be $50 maybe but more likely $30 to $40 and it take like a year to grow. (and of course I haven't ever done it before so.... probably won't make it anytime soon).

Finally got a good shot of my Ice (female seahorse) pretty sure she is breeding with both little boys. White is so hard to accurately photo in an Aquarium. She is naturally small. I saved a line of smaller erectus babies thinking scaling them from 7-8 inches down to 5-6 inches might be nice for people who keep them in smaller tanks like 30 gallons. She is about 1.5 years old and one of my aqua-cultured babies. Her mom was named snow but got egg bound earlier this year and died. So I was super excited that she has that same coloration.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

So turns out seahorses are the only ones who like the ride the Orange Starfish. Though I think her intentions are suspect.

The peppermints who went into the filter sock seem to have made it. They are on a copepod, brine shrimp, rotifer mix in green water. Though I'm having a brine shrimp crisis so they'll have to hold on copepods and rotifers.

What brine shrimp crisis are you having?

 

[SaltBabies]

What brine shrimp crisis are you having?

Well I had a day where the hatch didn't hatch due to an air supply issue. So I lost a few of the new borns because they need to eat regular.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Well I had a day where the hatch didn't hatch due to an air supply issue. So I lost a few of the new borns because they need to eat regular.

I am sorry to hear about the losses! We do enjoy reading your posts about get excited about new breeding projects and ideas though!

 

[SaltBabies]

So as I suspected the harlequin wasn't as friendly with the starfish as the seahorses. Hopefully they turn that into fertile eggs.

Bella came back home. She's a big part of the cleaner crew. She'll sift all the sand regularly. I had her in my other tank sump since the leak (40 gallons with sand) But she didn't like it and my tank seems stable enough so back she went. It's funny she was king of this tank for a while but the angels are trying to claim her bottom rock ledges. We will see who wins in the end she's 6 -7 inches of fish but the angels are tag teaming her. Her male died earlier not sure of what. He had been eating fine for a long while and they gave me two clutches of babies to play with. Then he went in his cave and I thought he was brooding but after several days when I checked on him he was skinny and dead. Trying to locate an appropriate male for her but that is probably going to be next to impossible.

Ok so for the main event.
The angel prolarva are almost to having a mouth and they are much more active and healthy looking that the last batch so maybe we can make it to 7 days? I'm only going to do just a few cause I don't have the copepod population I need right now so we will see. One of them I'm going to try some rots in but I"ve read they don't survive on rots even when they eat them. I won't be able to post picture most likely because with on like 4 larva going into the experiments I probably won't be able to see them myself and I certainly won't have extra to catch and take pictures.

I have a tiger shrimp pair that has eggs too. But I haven't figured out how to catch those yet. They are an old established pair that has probably been throwing zoea for a long time.

Here's the obligatory baby pictures for a breeding thread. Had to catch them during a water change because in the green water it is harder to see them

 

[Apollo7235]

So as I suspected the harlequin wasn't as friendly with the starfish as the seahorses. Hopefully they turn that into fertile eggs.

Bella came back home. She's a big part of the cleaner crew. She'll sift all the sand regularly. I had her in my other tank sump since the leak (40 gallons with sand) But she didn't like it and my tank seems stable enough so back she went. It's funny she was king of this tank for a while but the angels are trying to claim her bottom rock ledges. We will see who wins in the end she's 6 -7 inches of fish but the angels are tag teaming her. Her male died earlier not sure of what. He had been eating fine for a long while and they gave me two clutches of babies to play with. Then he went in his cave and I thought he was brooding but after several days when I checked on him he was skinny and dead. Trying to locate an appropriate male for her but that is probably going to be next to impossible.

Ok so for the main event.
The angel prolarva are almost to having a mouth and they are much more active and healthy looking that the last batch so maybe we can make it to 7 days? I'm only going to do just a few cause I don't have the copepod population I need right now so we will see. One of them I'm going to try some rots in but I"ve read they don't survive on rots even when they eat them. I won't be able to post picture most likely because with on like 4 larva going into the experiments I probably won't be able to see them myself and I certainly won't have extra to catch and take pictures.

I have a tiger shrimp pair that has eggs too. But I haven't figured out how to catch those yet. They are an old established pair that has probably been throwing zoea for a long time.

Here's the obligatory baby pictures for a breeding thread. Had to catch them during a water change because in the green water it is harder to see them

Those tiny seahorses! ;Happy

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Ok I gotta geek a little here. Algaebarn liked my post :0. Love those guys and Reed Mariculture. Now if I could just get good enough to get sponsored. LoL

We really appreciate the kind words. While we are unable to sponsor you at this time, we would be more than happy to set you up with our "breeder discount" which is the same pricing we give to all of our fish and coral farmers. Please DM me so I can make sure we get you all set up.

Feel free to spread the love any time you'd like. We don't have discount codes for people since we don't want to compete against our local fish stores that carry us, so if you have an LFS that carries us, please feel free to promote them, as well!

Best,
Chad

 

[SaltBabies]

We really appreciate the kind words. While we are unable to sponsor you at this time, we would be more than happy to set you up with our "breeder discount" which is the same pricing we give to all of our fish and coral farmers. Please DM me so I can make sure we get you all set up.

Feel free to spread the love any time you'd like. We don't have discount codes for people since we don't want to compete against our local fish stores that carry us, so if you have an LFS that carries us, please feel free to promote them, as well!

Best,
Chad

it's CHADDDDD,

You are the greatest. Thank you. I am set up in your system as a breeder. I've been doing this too long. I did things for a while on my own. Then I stepped it up with the seahorses and got setup as a teacher cause my class was doing seahorses then moved to breeder.

You guys are where I get all my parvo's from. I love the RG complete especially for intense rotifer culture. I just refreshed it when I ordered the parvo's. I am planning on using it with the angel larva/rotifer experiment.

Hey, I didn't seem to get any Colurella adriatica you warned me about (that I really wanted). I used a 25 micron strainer. Are they smaller than that?

Also my Apocyclops seems to be diminishing. Do you think I need a heater. I just culture about 73 degrees. I know not optimal but room temp. I'm using live phyto and an airline. I was going to try to set up your 60 L set up but in a 5 gallon. I've strained out some nauplli to start maturation but didn't get near as many as I thought.

inlet 90 micron outlet 25 micron. only 4400 but more concerning I decided to strain the whole container to check things and not many adults or greater than 90. I put 100,00 nauplli in the bucket. which is about 5 per ml.