How to Grow Fish Food for Crustaceans & Zooplankton

Zooplankton include the larvae of fish, bits of corals and invertebrate animals, including crustaceans such as crabs and crayfish. The microscopic creatures that make up zooplankton feed on phytoplankton, which is made up of various algae species. Although phytoplankton can be harvested from the ocean, a very suitable substitute can also be made from vegetable juice and supplements. When feeding phytoplankton to zooplankton, the algae should always be added to the containers of zooplankton and not vice versa, or you will contaminate the phytoplankton with creatures that will feed on it indiscriminatwely and exhaust the culture.

Things You'll Need

  • Nanochloropus green plankton on disk
  • Synthetic sea water with a specific gravity of 1.019
  • 5 plastic bottles, 4-pints
  • 5 vibrator air pumps
  • 8-foot air tubing
  • 5 wooden air diffusers
  • Micro Algae Grow
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Instructions

    • 1

      Add a small volume of synthetic sea water with a specific gravity of 1.019 to a disk of nanochloropus green plankton.

    • 2

      Lift and carefully swirl the dish every half hour. Pour the culture into a clean 4-pint plastic bottle after a two hour period.

    • 3

      Push one end of a 1.5-foot long piece of air line tubing into a wooden air diffuser. Push the opposite end of the air line tubing into the exhaust nipple of a vibrator pump and place the wooden diffuser into the bottle.

    • 4

      Shake well and then add 20 drops of Micro Algae Grow to the 4-pint plastic bottle.

    • 5

      Place the 4-pint plastic bottle on a shelf in a room that receives sunlight.

    • 6

      Fill up to 3/4 of five, 4-pint bottles with synthetic sea water.

    • 7

      Add a wooden diffuser that has been attached to a vibrator pump to each of the additional bottles.

    • 8

      Monitor the color of the water in the original bottle. At a point that it turns dark green, pour a quarter into each of the four new bottles.

    • 9

      Refill the original bottle with synthetic sea water with a specific gravity of 1.019

    • 10

      Add a small quantity of synthetic sea water to a new disk of nanochloropus green plankton and begin the process once again.

    • 11

      Pour a quantity of green water from one of the four bottles into the crustacean and zooplankton cultures, until the water takes on a light green tinge. Add additional green water, as soon as the color in the zooplankton containers disappears.