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- Oct 23, 2018
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Cool! I came up with a design for constantly harvesting parvocalanus (and perhaps Apocyclops)...here is a crude sketch;
In brief; the adult Parvocalanus are kept in the taller, light blue container in the back, which is kept aerated by 1/4th of an aquarium airline. Every 2 hours, the water pump is turned on and floods the culture with water from the larger container the culture it situated in, causing water to flow through a tube (with a 100 micron filter bag attached to the culture end to avoid capturing mature copepods) into a second collection container (the shorter one that is dark blue here). The collection container also has 1/4th of an air line (the remaining 1/2 of an airline keeps the large container circulated), but its only drainage is blocked by 25 micron screen, capturing nauplii and small copepodites removed from the main culture; these would be harvested and either fed to larvae or used to start another culture. Due to the short lifespan of these pods, each culture would be set up for only two weeks; the culture would be started with 3 nauplii per liter on day 1, allowed to grow out until day 7, and then harvested daily until day 14 (at which point it is restarted with new seawater and pods); once a week at least some of the large container's water is changed. Live microalgae (likely Isochrysis if Parvocalanus is cultured in this setup) would be provided in sufficient quantities to tint the water.
Advantages;
- Should allow much higher egg/nauplii production than otherwise possible for such a small culture
- Water changes can be done without harming the pods
Disadvantages;
- Microalgae needs to be fed to the whole culture rather than simply the culture, due to its recirculating nature
What do you think of this idea?
EDIT: I almost forgot! I am using a near-identical blue tub (I think mine is from walmart, though...they are $5 there last I checked) for a container pond this year.
In brief; the adult Parvocalanus are kept in the taller, light blue container in the back, which is kept aerated by 1/4th of an aquarium airline. Every 2 hours, the water pump is turned on and floods the culture with water from the larger container the culture it situated in, causing water to flow through a tube (with a 100 micron filter bag attached to the culture end to avoid capturing mature copepods) into a second collection container (the shorter one that is dark blue here). The collection container also has 1/4th of an air line (the remaining 1/2 of an airline keeps the large container circulated), but its only drainage is blocked by 25 micron screen, capturing nauplii and small copepodites removed from the main culture; these would be harvested and either fed to larvae or used to start another culture. Due to the short lifespan of these pods, each culture would be set up for only two weeks; the culture would be started with 3 nauplii per liter on day 1, allowed to grow out until day 7, and then harvested daily until day 14 (at which point it is restarted with new seawater and pods); once a week at least some of the large container's water is changed. Live microalgae (likely Isochrysis if Parvocalanus is cultured in this setup) would be provided in sufficient quantities to tint the water.
Advantages;
- Should allow much higher egg/nauplii production than otherwise possible for such a small culture
- Water changes can be done without harming the pods
Disadvantages;
- Microalgae needs to be fed to the whole culture rather than simply the culture, due to its recirculating nature
What do you think of this idea?
EDIT: I almost forgot! I am using a near-identical blue tub (I think mine is from walmart, though...they are $5 there last I checked) for a container pond this year.