Starting Algae & Rotifer Cultures

[Inspector Gadget]

Hi Guys & Gals,

I enjoyed reading the Green Water and Rotifer articles (yes, Im going to have a stab at breeding some closnfish) and I was wondering if these can be started off without buying the Commercial Cultures. I live in australia and cant find them here, and Im not sure live cultures will be allowed through customs.

I read elsewhere on the internet that a Chinese setup uses Chicken Manure and to start his Rotifer culture, someone else has suggested using Banana peel!

So the question is...... can anyone help with suggestions on how to start a MicroAlgae culture from scratch, with out purchasing a commercial culture, the Algae Im thinking of culturing are 1: Nannochloropsis Oculata, 2: T-Iso, and 3: Tetraselmis.

And the same thing for a Rotifer culture, any clues on how to start one of these without purchasing a commercial culture of cysts?

Of course if anyone can point me at a Aquaculture supply house in Australia, that would be appreciated!

 

[Francisco Andrade]

Hi,
It's pretty difficult to start from scratch. First of all, try to figure out if the starter cultures are allowed to be imported. If positive order them from FAF. Another alternative is to obtain them from a university that have cultures and can give starters to you. This the best because from time to time you may have to obtain new cultures, both because they crash and get contamined. Another option is to locate an aquarist who have the cultures, some time ago, a guy from australia posted about how long the clowns take to get big enough to sale them, he said his fish took many months, so he obviouslly have the cultures and maybe he can share. The last option is to isolate the algae from the ocean. You may try to filter some water through a very fine cloth to remove the zooplakton and add the nutrients and light and start to prey. If you have access to a microscope, try pouring a few drops of water on a agar petri dish and observe if any algae is there, if yes remove with a capilary pipete and pour in a tube with culture medium.
Wish you luck,
Chico

 

[Inspector Gadget]

Hi Chico,

Thanks for the info, I like the sound of getting on my SCUBA gear and hunting down the algae myself, but to be realistic, I think Im going to have to make that my last option. Sounds like fun though, and a real learning experience.

As you suggested, I have contacted a couple of Universities and one of them put me onto a good lead...I probably should have thought of it myself. The CSIRO. I spoke to them, and can defintately obtain the cultures from them, but at about $77 (about $55 US) each ...... I note I can mail order them from Florida of $10 US each!

So Im going to check to see if they can be imported, and if so, Im going to order them from Florida.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Roadtoad]

If you are familiar with basic microbiology techniques you should be able to clone algae from your tank or basically any natural water source. Some of the more commonly cultured species can live auxotrophically and therefore can be grown on agar plates. You then would have to pick colonies and expand them into culture. The harder part will be to identify your cultures and make sure that the zooplankton you are going to use will eat them. That being said, it is much easier to order them if they can be imported. Look on the reed mariculture website and check for a local distributor.

Good luck