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[jaefei]

dear author,
after read the newest advanced aquarist article this june.
can the poccilo take Artemia as food ? is it too large for SPS polyps ?
which is more effective between Artemia and Rotifer as SPS live food?

best regards,
Jeffry

[CoralfarmGuam]

Hi jaefei,

In my observations, P. dam, like many SPS can easily assimilate Artemia. And from the experiment, it is fairly conclusive. Your question about the effectiveness between artemia adn rotifers is a good one, and something that needs to be conducted. We know that corals can consume a variety of food items. The level of understanding needs to be raised a bar where we can qualify particular items as being 'better' than another. And when I say better, it is not just in producing better or faster groth rates, but economical as well. Although I did not spend a lot of time talknig about the economics, it was a very important part of the reasons behind the experiment. Rotifers, like artemia incur high production costs. We have a full-time nutritionist at the hatchery whose specific job is to culture phytoplankton, artemia and rotifers for the shrimp. His salary must be taken into account when calculating the total rearing costs for the shrimp. This is similar for corals. Therefore, a reduction in those types of costs are significant. If rotifers are able to produce significantly higher growth rates for corals than artemia, but cost the same to culture, then we have a winner. If, for example, they are comparable to artemia, but cost less to culture, then we have a winner. If they cannot match artemia in their ability to promote faster growth rates, but cost less, then the survival rates of the corals and the amount of time invested into growing them to marketable sizes must be taken into consideration. See, it can be complicated when dealing with this issue on a commercial scale. But, with proper scientific studies, this question, and others can be answered so that informed decisions to be made.

[jaefei]

so,what is the different between artemia nauplii and artemia franciscana that you fed to that p.dam ?

[CoralfarmGuam]

Hi jaefei,

Nauplii describes a stage (one of many during their initial development) of growth and A. franciscana is the species. For example, I fed corals A. franciscana in the nauplii stage.

-Lee

[jaefei]

1. artemia nauplii and franciscana is the same ?
2. what is the favourite food of SPS ? artemia or Rotifers ?

[CoralfarmGuam]

Hi Jaefei,

There are a variety of strains (species = different kinds) of artemia. If, for example, there are three species that are cultured in Guam, named Artemia 1, 2 , and 3, each are different from each other, ALL will still go through the Nauplii stage of growth. Think of babies. They all are different but go through teh same stages of development within the womb, right? Each stage of development is called something (1st trimester, 2nd trimester, etc.). For artemia, Nauplii is similiar to the first trimester...

I don't know the answer to your second question. I haven't seen a study comparing these tow, but the use of the word favorite will certainly be hard to qualify. For general concerns, the food that provides the most nutrition (observed through the health, survival rate, growth, fecundity, etc.) would be the best. When applied to the commercial culture of coral, cost-benefit analysis must be included as well.

-Lee

[jaefei]

would you experiment with rotifers feeding for sps coral ?
next article for next month ?

[CoralfarmGuam]

Hi Jaefei,

No, I did not perform an experiment with rotifers. It is certainly something that needs to be done. In the next article, I discuss my Master's thesis experiment, looking at the interaction between two coral species cultured together and how it affects growth rates...

-Lee