Good morning everyone!
This is my procrastination post of the day. For once in many months I had a day to myself so I set up my mini aquaculture! YAY! I can usually keep my cultures alive with a pulse, but recently I have not had time to make them flourish. I thought I would post a video and a picture so all of you can see how I do it.
In optimal conditions it takes me a week to produce a thick green soup of phytoplankton and two weeks for a giant swarm of copepods. There are Tigriopus californicus (250-1700 microns) copepods in the 16 ounce plastic cups. These cultures were recently split so it will take another two weeks before I have a swarm. The one plastic bottle is a tisbe copepod culture I recently split. Those ones are more difficult to maintain due to their need for meaty foods. I use rotifers to feed them, but if I do not keep up on the water changes the water gets murky due to bacteria. Tisbe copepods are also clear/white so they are less visible than the bright orange T. californicus.
Ask any questions below and I will do my best to respond promptly, depending on my level of procrastination today while I study.
Copepod Video
Floor Setup
Edit: If anyone could recommend an App to make the video more steady that would be lovely. It was quickly shot on my phone with my nerves of steel (shaky hands).
This is my procrastination post of the day. For once in many months I had a day to myself so I set up my mini aquaculture! YAY! I can usually keep my cultures alive with a pulse, but recently I have not had time to make them flourish. I thought I would post a video and a picture so all of you can see how I do it.
In optimal conditions it takes me a week to produce a thick green soup of phytoplankton and two weeks for a giant swarm of copepods. There are Tigriopus californicus (250-1700 microns) copepods in the 16 ounce plastic cups. These cultures were recently split so it will take another two weeks before I have a swarm. The one plastic bottle is a tisbe copepod culture I recently split. Those ones are more difficult to maintain due to their need for meaty foods. I use rotifers to feed them, but if I do not keep up on the water changes the water gets murky due to bacteria. Tisbe copepods are also clear/white so they are less visible than the bright orange T. californicus.
Ask any questions below and I will do my best to respond promptly, depending on my level of procrastination today while I study.
Copepod Video
Floor Setup
Edit: If anyone could recommend an App to make the video more steady that would be lovely. It was quickly shot on my phone with my nerves of steel (shaky hands).