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Why culture your own?

Started by Guest_mander_* , Jul 02 2008 06:20 PM

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24 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_mander_*

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Posted 02 July 2008 - 06:20 PM

I was about to hijack some else's thread, but decided to just ask here.

At what point does one decide to culture their own fish food? I mean, how many tanks do you all have?

What were the factors that edged you in that direction?

Economics? Quality? Availability? Intriguing Science experiment? Something else?

How much time, effort, and space do you devote to culturing food?

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#2 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 02 July 2008 - 06:21 PM

All of the above.

The foods I culture for fish (daphnia, scuds, working on shrimp) are all very low-maintenance. Mice on the other hand take a bit more work.

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#3 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 02 July 2008 - 07:11 PM

I've always cultured many different organisms to use as food. (I collect many live foods as well) Not sure I've ever thought about it much just always have done so. I was raised on old hobby fish books like Inne's Exotic Aquarium fish so just started doing this very young. Collecting and culturing food was and is just part of how I view good animal husbandry. Variety in diet I've always found to be the best way to keep fish conditioned, happy and in good color. Culturing also Allows one to have multiple varieties of food items available in the off season when collecting them is not feasible.

Guess that is about it.... Not sure it answers your question but thats my personal take on it.

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#4 Guest_dafrimpster_*

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Posted 02 July 2008 - 07:30 PM

I began culturing food about he same time I started keeping natives. My rainbow darters would only eat frozen bloodworms. I knew they would be better off with some variety so I started with daphnia. They loved the daphnia as did all of my fish. I started looking into other live foods and now I keep earthworms and grindal worms. There are springtails that came with my worm cultures as well as some tiny mite like creatures. I am at the point where I enjoy food culture almost as much as keeping fish. I buy a lot less frozen blood worms now. It does take a little time every day to tend the cultures but for me it's time in the fish room so it's a good thing.

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#5 Guest_jase_*

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Posted 03 July 2008 - 07:27 AM

I keep some fish that will only take live foods, and availability of live foods in pet stores where I live is extremely limited.
Yes, it's extremely economical with the right foods. White worms and mealworms are extremely cheap/easy ones.
It's fun. I generally have 6-10 live food cultures going (although I lost many in my recent move).

I don't find it to take much time at all. If something's too much work, I don't use it. I've got systems down for mealworms, whiteworms, and blackworms that make them extremely low maintenance.

I only have 3-4 tanks set up right now. There have been times when I've had 6 or so live food cultures and only 2-3 fish to feed them to.

As for space... dunno, something like a 3ft wide shelving unit (with 3-4 shelves) in an out-of-the-way place is probably enough for most anything you'd need to culture.

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#6 Guest_topminnow_*

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Posted 07 July 2008 - 01:26 PM

All of the above.

The foods I culture for fish (daphnia, scuds, working on shrimp) are all very low-maintenance. Mice on the other hand take a bit more work.

Hello Newt, would you mind sharing some information about your scud culture setup?

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#7 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 07 July 2008 - 01:59 PM

Sure, I'll start a new thread so it's easy to find.

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#8 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 09 July 2008 - 03:36 PM

It started for me when I wanted to breed rainbow fish and others. The fry are sooo tiny and should be fed a few times a day. Since am gone for ~10-12 hours a day excess of live foods was a must. I started in the live cultures with vinegar eels and microworms to feed fry thanks Herschel!), they will live for ~8hrs and 24 hrs in fresh water, respectively. Then a lazy move on my part turned into a scud culture a while ago (I forgot about the bucket of scuds and detritus in the garage!) Got walter and banana worms going (a bit smaller than the microworms), Jase sent me some white worms which are starting are starting to take off (thanks Jase). Will start a blackworm culture soon when i get more shelves built and tanks set up. Got wrigglers in the compost, mosquito larvae is a no brainer. I get ALOT more eggs when my breeders get live foods. Also, I pick moths from the light on occasion, and de-legged craneflies are devoured by my pumpkin seed.

Edited by scottefontay, 09 July 2008 - 03:39 PM.

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#9 Guest_Zephead4747_*

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Posted 12 July 2008 - 08:51 PM

I want to culture shrimp. Are the typical pet store variety a good idea? Is there a livebearing species? Will I have to go through the evaporation+readd water to get eggs to hatch? What kin dof container do I need? DO they need aeration?

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#10 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 13 July 2008 - 09:01 AM

The pet store feeder shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus) as well as cherry shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) are supposed to breed readily on their own if provided with a well-planted tank; no special treatment of the eggs is required. I'm going to try setting up a P. kadakiensis colony in the near future. I'll let you know how it goes.

Gentle filtration and aeration are necessary for shrimp. A ten gallon aquarium should suffice for a small colony, but you can obviously keep more breeders, and so get more young, in a bigger tank. Shrimp, like crayfish, carry their eggs until they hatch; to my knowledge there are no livebearing species.

Edited by Newt, 13 July 2008 - 09:03 AM.

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#11 Guest_mander_*

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Posted 13 July 2008 - 10:09 AM

The pet store feeder shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus) as well as cherry shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) are supposed to breed readily on their own if provided with a well-planted tank; no special treatment of the eggs is required. I'm going to try setting up a P. kadakiensis colony in the near future. I'll let you know how it goes.

Gentle filtration and aeration are necessary for shrimp. A ten gallon aquarium should suffice for a small colony, but you can obviously keep more breeders, and so get more young, in a bigger tank. Shrimp, like crayfish, carry their eggs until they hatch; to my knowledge there are no livebearing species.

I love shrimp! I could easily have a tank of them! I'll look into that, THANKS!

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#12 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 10:11 AM

Interesting. All I have ever heard about feeder shrimp is that people never seem to see young, even though the adults will drop eggs. Newt, do you know the secret? One would assume they are easy under the right condition, since they are an inexpensive feeder item, but I don't know it.

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#13 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 10:39 AM

I don't know the secret. I know several folks over at the Aquarium Central forum have successfully bred them in heavily planted tanks. I bet just giving the fry sufficient hiding places is crucial, judging by the way I've seen adult shrimp pounce on smaller crustaceans. Perhaps something like the Gambusia setup that someone posted a while ago, with the female cordoned off with eggcrate, would allow harvest of larger numbers of young.

The berried wild or store-bought shrimp that I've gotten seem generally to lose their clutch soon after being transferred to their new tank; I can't say if the eggs are hatching or being ejected. So far I haven't gotten the females to become berried again, but I haven't given the shrimp a tank to themselves either.

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#14 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 10:59 AM

I bought 6 grass/ghost shrimp (3 berried females and 3 assumed males) I didn't know if they would propogate or not but for $.25 each gave it a go. I am currently seeing my 3rd generation. I have been keeping them in the same set-up as my cherry shrimp, though in a 10 gal vs. 5 gal. I just put a bunch of sycamore and willow leaves and stuff in with them for cover and food as well as a handful of crumbly limestone/shale for added a calcium and a buffer against the tannins. They get old flake food once or twice a day and will actuaslly swim to the surface and get the flake.

I don't know what species they are exactly, if I can get some decent pics I'll post them.

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#15 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 11:07 AM

I know next to nothing about little feeder shrimp. Are they the same as the ones that we get in mass quantities in the salt marsh estuaries here in the Chesapeake Bay? Does anyone know if those could adapt to freshwater conditions?

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#16 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 11:13 AM

I know next to nothing about little feeder shrimp. Are they the same as the ones that we get in mass quantities in the salt marsh estuaries here in the Chesapeake Bay? Does anyone know if those could adapt to freshwater conditions?

There are a bunch of Palaemonetes species around the eastern US, and I haven't gotten a good handle on their distribution yet. On the east coast there is a freshwater species (P. paludosus) which I believe also ventures into brackish water, but I think there are also some strictly estuarine and SW species. P. paludosus is the common petstore feeder shrimp; it often has orange bands on the antennae and legs.

P. kadakiensis is the common freshwater species in the central US (Mississippi and other Gulf drainages; I believe it also gets into the Great Lakes).

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#17 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 12:38 PM

The ones I have get orange/red spots on the tails and the ends of the antenae. the flake they are getting now is the scraps from "color enhancing" flake that I have all but used up, I definatley noticed more color after a week of this stuff.

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#18 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 01:41 PM

Are they just showing color in the orange areas, or overall? I've noticed many shrimp that I catch in the wild have an overall tint of red, green, or brown and often show some barring, but quickly turn clear when placed in a bucket.

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#19 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 01:55 PM

is a

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#20 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 01:57 PM

its a bit hard to tell, the water is pretty stained from the wood and leaves, meaning they have a darker cast to them, but there are distinct red spots on the outer two "flaps" at their tail's end and then at (or near) the end of the antennae.

EDIT: red not at the ends of antennae, but more of a band near the middle.

Edited by scottefontay, 14 July 2008 - 02:06 PM.