Zoo Plankton
For sustained production of zoo plankton, first you need a stable supply of phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton are microscopic, plant-like organisms (mostly algae and bacteria) that drift in sunlit ocean and freshwater surfaces.
As primary producers at the base of the food web, they provide food for marine life, produce roughly 50% of Earth’s oxygen, and play a crucial role in cycling carbon dioxide.
To raise larvae of Australian native freshwater perch you need a sustained supply of zoo plankton.
Zooplankton are diverse, mostly microscopic animals that drift in marine and freshwater currents, serving as a critical food source in aquatic ecosystems.
They act as primary consumers by eating phytoplankton . . .
This is easy to manage in a plankton pond.
It is also by far the cheapest way to raise larvae.
Apart from bacteria, rotifer are one of the smallest of the zoo plankton.
Rotifers are tiny, diverse, multicellular aquatic animals 0.1–1 mm
Note the size, from one tenth of a millimetre
These are almost certainly the first food that perch larvae eat.
Australian perch larvae will test anything that moves to see if it is good to eat.
Copepod nauplii are next in the size chain, then adult copepods.
Copepods, meaning 'oar-feet,' are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat.
Some species are planktonic (living in the water column)
Copepods are visible to the naked eye but a magnifying glass certainly helps.
Checking a plankton pond by using a glass jar and a magnifying glass is an easy way to see if your pond has sufficient populations of copepods to support the survival of the larvae.
One of the key triggers for larvae to accept something as potential food in something that is the right size to eat, and it is moving.
Once the fish get bigger they will explore, try different items as food.
This is when they can be weaned to aquaculture food.
I have found that the smaller the fish, the easier it is to wean.
More of my videos relating to plankton
Plankton pond management 12 minutes 31 seconds
When are Australian perch ready to go into a plankton pond 14 minutes 32 seconds
Releasing larvae into a plankton pond 1 minute 59 seconds
OTHER SPECIES
Click the picture for video - Low altitude passes over Barcoo River - with surprise ending
Click the picture below to see some of the birds and other wild life I filmed while collecting jade perch and golden perch breeders
