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Oklahoma Aquarium Association
Meeting Minutes, November 19, 2005
The November 19, 2005 meeting was held in the work place of Kelly Higgins. Thanks to Kelly for letting us use the facility. This month’s presentation was on Live Food Cultures lectured by Kyle Osterholt. Elections were held for the 2006 year administration positions. Joe Anderson was voted as President; Michael Dennis for Vice-President; Treasurer position will be held by Kyle Osterholt and Secretary will remain Monica M. Osterholt. Live food is a better food source. It’s a healthier way of conditioning fish and basically keeping them healthier especially when some fish will not take anything but live foods. Live foods are used especially to raise fry or to coax some tougher fish to spawn. Kyle presented the club with several types of culture foods and how to start some of them. Vinegar eels are used for very small fry. They are easily cultured using any type of container and mixing 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar and a slice of apple. Add a starter culture and within a few days to a week you’ll have swarms of “eels”. Micro worms are slightly larger than vinegar eels and are also simple to culture. The drawback for some people is the cultures tend to smell and need re-cultured periodically depending on temperature and growth rates. The culture mediums vary from person to person. Some common mediums are cornmeal, oatmeal, potato flakes, baby cereal and brewer’s yeast. The medium is mixed with water to a consistency of thick oatmeal and generally a pinch of activated yeast is added to boost the culture but is not mandatory. Baby brine shrimp are the next food in the order of size. Brine shrimp are hatched from cysts purchased at most fish shops or online sources. The general mixture to hatch brine shrimp is 1 liter/1quart of water with one tablespoon of salt and a half teaspoon of cysts. There are several hatchery designs which normally are conical shaped with an airsource at the bottom of the cone and the temperature is maintained around 80 degrees plus or minus a few. The higher the temperature, the faster the hatch. Generally they hatch in around 24 hours at around 78 degrees. Light is generally used 24 hours a day on the hatchery although this is argueable whether it is necessary or not depending on the source. There are two types of brine shrimp sold for fish foods which are the san fransisco and great salt lakes. The S.F. are smaller shrimp but generally cost twice as much to purchase cysts. Brine shrimp can be raised to adulthood but this is another story. Daphnia are slightly larger than baby brine shrimp. There are 3 common daphnia that are cultured in the fish hobby; pulex, moina and magna. Daphnia are generally cultured outside in aged aquarium water or ponds during the warmer months. They are most commonly fed with greenwater although many other types of foods are being used such as babyfoods, and boiled/mashed vegetables. Daphnia can be kept inside with the correct environment. They are especially sensitive to chlorine/chloramines. Grindal worms and whiteworms are both cultured in the same manor. Grindals are around 1/3-1/2 the size of whiteworms. They are most commonly raised in potting soil, peat and/or coconut fiber. The soil is kept moist like in a flower-bed. They can be fed a number of products from dedicated worm foods, fish food, dog food, cat food or prettymuch anything that will decay into their soil. Red worms are also cultured in the same manor as grindal and whiteworms although they are much larger. It is also common for the keeper to have shredded newspaper or cardboard in their container to decay and serve as a food for the worms. Confused flour beetles are small brown beetles that are raised in whole wheat flour. They are recommended for topwater feeders such as many killifish. They are not recommended for soft jawed fish such as bettas. Caution should be taken with these beetles as they can infest your pantry if not kept under tight wraps. Wingless and flightless fruit flies are cultured in the same method. Wingless flies are Drosophila melanogaster and are the same fly as you’d find on fruits in your home except they have no wings. Flightless flies are Drosophila Hydei and are larger than melanogaster. They have wings but cannot fly. Both are cultured using a powdered medium purchased from many live food culture sources. The medium is mixed 50/50 with water and allowed to setup. A pinch of yeast is added to the mixture to aid in breakdown of the food for the flies and maggots. Any bottle can be used although a 1 pint water-bottle tends to be the most commonly used container. A varying amount of culture medium can be added to the container; usually 1/2-1” is added to the container as the culture will need to be sub-cultured soon. Some type of material is usually added to the container for the flies to crawl on. Netting, filter floss or coir are some items that can be used. A tight fitting plug such as filter floss or a sponge is used to plug the bottle. Outside insemination can be a problem if the plug is too shallow and you’ll have flying flies in your culture which can be a hand full. The culture needs to be sub-cultured every couple weeks to keep from crashing. These are an excellent food for any topwater fish. Thanks to www.livefoodcultures.com for their allowing us to use their information. They are a good source of information on cultures as well as purchasing starter cultures and supplies. AUCTION:
OKAA Secretary: Monica Osterholt
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