Husbandry
Why do we use the salifert nitrate test for some systems and the API nitrate test for other systems?
The salifert test is more accurate and gives a better range. We use this on systems with our more sensitive animals. API is cheaper but less accurate so we use it on our less sensitive animals systems
What stage artemia do we feed to SLS?
New Hatch
How do you know when to feed artemia?
When their mouth gape is big enough. You must look at the animals and determine if they are large enough to eat the artemia. If they are old enough to eat artemia, add artemia sparingly until they are adequately eating it.
What is the ideal adult population to start a parvo tank?
2 adults/ mL
What are the 4 main species of shrimp we have at RWU ( common and scientific name)?
Pepperiment shrimp- Lysmata Boggessi, Lysmata wurdemanni, and Lysmata jundalini
Fire shrimp- lysmata debelius
How do I know when to do a water change on the a system? looking for extreme detail regarding water quality
If there is any ammonia or nitrite there should be an immediate water change that day. If in a fish system the nitrate is over 40 ppm and in a shrimp system if the nitrate is over 20 there should be a water change.
Regardless of water quality, a system should try to get a water change one a week.
I am looking into SLS, and I see a lot of debris and hydroids in the tank what should I do?
I should siphon the cone very slowly into a bucket to get rid of the debris. Before I dump the bucket, I check for animals
I move the animals into a new cone, take down the dirty cone, and clean the cone
What are some factors that can affect egg development
Temperature, parental care, & fertilization
What should you do if you see a contaminant in your copepod culture?
Rotifers, cilates, vortecella
Tell someone. If the culture has a rotifer, we will get rid of the culture. IF there are cilates, a water change will help to get rid of them. If there is vortecella, a water change and a dirt magnet will help get rid of them
What salinity should the brine shrimp culture be kept at? What do you do if your culture is not in salinity
65-70 ppt. To get the system up to salinity, we add morton salt to the sock.
What is alkalinity?
Why do we care about it?
What do we use to help increase alkalinity?
The buffering capacity of a system- aka the ability to resist radical pH change.
We care about alkalinity because it helps to keep a stable environment for our animals
Carbonate, bicarbonate,
Why do we switch screens everyday?
How do we know when to put the rentention screens back on?
We switch screens to get the old food out of the tank because the artemia have grown past what the baby shrimp can eat ( and have lost nutrition)
We know to put the rentention screens back on when the tank is mostly gotten rid of yesterdays artemia. Once we put the rentention screens back on we should immediately feed. The shimp should hardly ever be without food.
Why do we have air or flow go over the eggs when hatching (2 reasons)?
To prevent molding and to encourage the eggs to hatch
Name 2 differences between pseudo and parvo?
size and where they are found in the water column
Each fire shrimp has a different carapace. They have different patterns of white dots which help to identfy which shrimp just molted
During a system check I notice an animal is gilling very hard. What should I do ( the answer is not just get a supervisor, but please do tell us)?
If I notice an animal is gilling very hard I would check its environmental parameters - flow and air.
If flow and air is good I would look for signs of aggression on the animal and in the tank
If there are no signs of aggression I would check water quality
If all aspects look good, I would remove the animal from the tank and place in the quaratine room properly labeled.
Still tell a supervisor.
How do we know when shrimp are ready to pull?
What color do Wurdermanni eggs go From? Junda? Bogg?
Depending on the species of shrimp their end color is different but you are looking for development of the animals and can see eyes on their stomach
Wurde- Green to silver
Bogg- Green to brownish
Junda- brown to silver
Why do we add algae to tanks?
How do we know we need to add more algae to tanks?
What do we do if we run out of algae?
We add algae to tanks to add turbitiy to the tank to allow for the animals to see their prey better ( through contrast)
We add algae to allow for this contrast. If we can see the bottom of the tank we should add algae to the tank. If animals are larger and on pellets they need less algae unless you see walling or the animals seem stressed out.
We use nanno paste
What does a dirt magnet do?
A dirt magnet helps to suck up debris and vortecella from the tank
Why do we use the magnetic cysts for artemia? What is a downside to magnetic artemia and how do we fix the downside?
It is easier. The quality is not as great compared to other brands but not having to use harsh chemicals and oxygen to hatch artemia adds a level of ease. Since the magnetic artemia is lesser quality, we have to enrich the artemia
Name 5 different projects/ research/ projects we have going on in the lab (currently/ in the past year)
NEAQ partnership- Rearing lookdowns, Spawn conditioning grunts
Productions- Yasha, peppermint shrimp
NOAA/UF grant- Stocking density, diet study, Egg disinfectant study
New species rearing- Blenny, short big eye, filefish, cleaner wrasse
Audubon- partnership to take care of their facilities
NOAA fatty acid grant- collecting eggs to complete fatty acid analysis
Sea Robin- Rear searobins to be used to study gene development in sea robins
Cyanide experiment- zebrafish exposed to cyanide to see survival rates
Explain the flow dynamics of an SLS cone? How should the animals be behaving in the tank? If flow dymanics are off how do we fix this?
Water in pumped in to the bottom of the tank, creating an upwelling environment.
Animals should be gently drifting in the tank. They should not be in large clumps.
If this is not the case, we can make sure the flow is all the way at the bottom, adjust the screen slightly, and adjust the flow slightly. Check back after 5 mintues and see
How do you determine flow and air in a larval tank?
Look how the animals react to the provided flow and air. If the animals are getting tumbled by air and flow adjust the flow and change the air to a smaller bubble
How do you know if you should feed the full amount of food to a copepod tank?
In the AM, if you can see the bottom of the tank. Feed the tank the full amount. Adjust based on how much of the bottom you can see.
Can also check the count and if the copepod population is low, feed less
What is the difference between a lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp and Lysmata jundalini? Looking for coloration on body and size
Wurdemanni- On body they have vertical lines and 2 horizontal lines ( one near the front and one near the back). They have V's on their side. They are larger
Jundalini- On body they have thicker vertical lines but no horizontal lines or v's on their sides. They are smaller shrimp