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| Help with Project! | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 25 2010, 04:20:18 PM (463 Views) | |
| Post #1 Jan 25 2010, 04:20:18 PM | Suzy |
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Hey, guys! I am working on a project for the LPA. My assignment is wicked! Andy (the curator of my dreams!) wants me to design a system for the very delicate species of seahorses they want to keep, plus he wants to get a breeding program going so they can have stock to trade with other aquariums. So, to start he wants something for pelagic fry (those that stay in the water column instead of sinking). I have a plan for a system that can work for pelagic seahorse fry and jellyfish. But, the staff has very little time to mess with it, so it needs to consider time requirements. We all know how time consuming raising fry can be! My thought (after speaking with a few other breeders) is to make a system that requires few water changes as opposed to daily water changes. This is a diagram I came up with for flow. I think this will keep the fry and the food source in the middleish of the kriesal bowl. The airline, with bubbles flowing one a second, will make the water gently flow in a circular pattern. Tell me if you look at it, if it makes sense. I have to make a proposal on paper!
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Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
 
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| Post #2 Jan 25 2010, 04:25:34 PM | Suzy |
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Maybe this will work: Posted Image |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #3 Jan 25 2010, 04:31:24 PM | Suzy |
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Hey, I am going to write this out here, and see if I can get your input? You guys know I have ADD, right? How do I make it look like a professional proposal? |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #4 Jan 25 2010, 07:25:03 PM | Amie |
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First of all, congratulations! And your diagram looks great, I bet it was a pain to create a fish bowl. Here are a couple of things I would change. 1) Change the spelling to kreisel...I think. 2) The light source is almost irrelevant, but I guess you can mention it. Fry don't need light to grow light corals. If the light is too close, they will not swim in the water column, they will hang out at the bottom of the tank. So, either elliminate the light for now or somehow make it less significant. 3) You might want to have this picture as your first image. Next, add a a couple of fish in the center, pointing towards the airline, to show that they will stay in the water column to catch food that is heading in the opposite direction. Maybe even lightly color the inside of the bowl a light green to represent the phytoplankton. 4) A final image could the same tank, but the bowl turned the other way, and 2-3 bowls are lined up in the same tank with different fry or different sizes of fry in all of them. The person to ask about writing a proposal would be Brian Plankis on the Reef Stewardship Foundation Board. He has done countless proposals and could probably get you a copy of one of them. Just pm him and let him know what you are doing. He's a nice guy. btw, do you get to try this at home at some point before they set it up? |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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| Post #5 Jan 26 2010, 05:45:43 AM | Suzy |
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Thanks! Right now, the H ingens are not breeding. They hope to get more soon but they are hard to find. I have one source (Scripps Aquarium, I love their curator!) who is trying to find me some but.... |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #6 Jan 26 2010, 06:04:20 PM | Suzy |
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Amie, You have a breeders mind! But, I think the light needs to be there, because I am not sure how many electrical plugs I get! But, I need it to be part of the system so the microalgae will be actively growing and suckin' up ammonia. Plus, the aquarium closes at 9pm, and doesn't open until 11 the next day. Staff gets there earlier of course, but I am afraid the fry would be in complete darkness for quite a few hours. I am not sure they would be able to feed? Here is what I got so far: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A System for Delicate and Pelagic Fry This proposal will show a viable system for raising delicate and pelagic fry. The difficulty of raising these fry from a larval stage to a juvenile/adult stage is problematic and time consuming. I will attempt to propose a viable plan with minimal input from aquarium staff. There are 3 major considerations to consider for these tiny creatures: 1. Water movement: Pelagic fry have a tendency of either floating or sinking, both of which make the food source unavailable to the fry. 2. Water quality: Delicate fry are very susceptible to elevated ammonia. Also, any pathogens (bacterial, viral or fungal) can wipe out an entire group with very little notice to a watchful aquarist. 3. Nutrition: Fry must be thought of as newborns, and fed frequently. This must be addressed while attempting to make a system that will work when staff is not available to add food every 4 hours. Posted Image Water Movement As shown in Diagram 1, this system can address these issues. It is a simple set up that could easily be adapted to any size depending on available need and space. This consists of a regular common tank. Inside the tank is a glass rounded fish bowl. By placing an airline, with a very gentle flow rate of one bubble per second, a very gentle flow will be created in the fish bowl. Any fry who floats to the top or drops to the bottom will be gently encouraged back into the water column, with no energy expenditure from the fry itself. This will keep the fry and live food source in the same area. Temp is controlled at a stable 72` by the water in the outer tank. By having the heater away from the fry, no stagnant area is created where fry will mass and expire. Water Quality Water quality issues can be addressed by adding live micro algae to the water of the inner kreisel. Ammonia and the resulting nitrogenous compounds will be consumed by the growing phytoplankton. Other possible bio-compounds (possible heavy metals of trace element additives of salt mix) could also be consumed by the actively growing micro algae. In this proposal, I believe it would be possible to greatly reduce the need for water changes, and possibly eliminate them. Also, a species of micro algae has been reported to have antibiotic properties. This alga, a Tetraselmis species, is easily grown in my basement, and I would be responsible for it’s continuous availability to this project. Nutrition Nutrition will be provided by live zooplankton cultures. Live marine rotifers will consume the micro algae species in the kreisel. If we pick highly nutritious species, our chances of success are greatly increased. Tetraselmis can offer one source of DHA, while another type can provide vital EPA. I propose 2 species of live algae are added to the water, for the nutritional needs. Also, there is a very small species of copepod, A tonsa. that can be cultured. This species and its larva are highly nutritious for many species of delicate fry. In this proposal, I recommend we attempt to keep the zooplankton availability at 3-4 rotifers and A tonsa at 3-4/mil at all times. If we have a low number (10 per gallon) of fry, it will be possible to add live zooplankton and microplankton very infrequently, as the growing live food will reproduce. In Conclusion This proposal was conceived for the delicate seahorse fry, Hippocampus ingens, but might also work for raising the larva of the much-studied Moon Jelly, Aurelia aurita. I also believe the success rate of H erectus, H whitei and H zosterae may be increased by using this system. This proposal covers the beginning part of raising our larval fish. I would love to make another covering grow out tanks for juvenile fish. As a supporter of the Living Planet since it’s conception, I would love to offer my services to this project. I will grow the cultures needed in my home and bring them to the LPA when needed. If the staff would like to have these cultures available for other needs, I would love to offer any assistance I can provide to do that. I also feel there would be very little demand on the aquarium staff to run this project. Once set up, I can do the maintenance required. |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #7 Jan 26 2010, 06:05:03 PM | Suzy |
| OOps! I did add fry and corrected spelling to the diagram but used the old one from Photobucket. Pretend like it is there? |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #8 Feb 2 2010, 08:12:45 AM | Suzy |
| Ok, I did some foo foo, added some better formatting, a few spiffy titles, a cover page, ect. Today I present it to the curator and the owner. Wish me luck? |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #9 Feb 2 2010, 08:58:58 AM | Amie |
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I can't wait to hear how it goes. Another suggestion...if they get this on a bigger scale in the future, it would be foreseeable to make it all computer monitored with automatic water changes, feeding and lighting schedules, etc. But, of course, that is long-term and down the road. You might also want to mention that there are people in the breeder's club that are eager to contribute live copepods and rotifers if and when the time comes. Or maybe we can come up with an easy way to raise them on a big scale for them. How are your A. tonsa coming, btw? Mine seem to be multiplying okay. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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| Post #10 Feb 2 2010, 09:02:57 AM | Amie |
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You really need to try this method at home to see the average number of fry that can be in a system successfully. I'm guessing only about 50 at the most, maybe even 25. I agree about the light and the macro algae. Plus, you would want to keep the ph balanced, if possible. You might want to add a few small snails or tiny starfish at some point to reduce the detritus as well. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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