Rotifers

Rotifer means wheeled animals and when viewed under a microscope these
organisms appear to have wheels rotating about the tops of their heads. Most rotifers are
around 0.10.5 mm long (although their size can range from 50 m to over 2 mm). The
phylum Rotifera consists of 3 classes, 120 genera and approximately 2000 described
species and out of all these species only two brackish/saltwater species are commonly
cultured for the aquaculture; Brachionus plicatilis Lstrain and Brachionis
rotundiform S strain.
Brachionus rotifers are 200-350 mm holoplankton, which means they are permanent
zooplankton residents which stay constantly adrift. As part of the zooplankton they help
sustain a microscopic community that supports small fish, and allow them to eat and
grow.
Advantages of Brachionus Rotifers

They are their small size that allows baby fish fry to fit them into their mouths;
they have soft outer bodies and are highly digestible.
They move slowly and are easily followed and tracked by larvae; they stay
suspended in the same water column like the fish fry and as such are in close
proximity to the hungry fish larvae.
They are readily cultured in large numbers, rapidly reproduce.
Rotifers themselves have little nutritional value - they act as "nutrient carriers" for
transporting the high-value essential fatty acids (EPA and DHA) and other nutrients
from the microalgae to the target species.

Physiology of Rotifers
The body of Rotifers are divided into a head, trunk,
and foot. The head and trunk combine to form the
main axis of the body and are approximately 120-250
mm long.
Rotifers are characterized by the presence of a
ciliated organ on the head (called corona) that
capture food, and a specialized pharynx (called
mastax) with hard jaws (called trophi).
The trunk contains a fluid filled stomach, and further
down is a long tail like foot which is used to
temporarily anchor the rotifer. Of importance to us are
beating cilia surrounding the head. These cilia
circulate water, food, and nutrients toward the mouth opening.
When the cilia detect a meal (usually phytoplankton in the 3-12 mm range), the
trunk contracts to pull the mouth opening towards the food, the corona then
surrounds the food item and if the food items is the correct size, the particle is
crushed and passed into the stomach. This food response is repeated over and over
within seconds, and this is how the energy demands of this creature are met.
Therefore rotifer health and reproduction depends on how often they feed, how

much energy they must put into finding and locating food, and how nutritious the
meals are.
Reproduction of Rotifers
A single rotifer can become thousands of rotifers in a few days. Its primary mode
of reproduction is called parthenogenesis, which is described as an asexual
mode of reproduction.
Essentially when environmental conditions are good, female rotifers produce up
to 7 eggs simultaneously, without any genetic help from a male rotifer. These
eggs are genetically identical, and will hatch to form new daughter rotifers
within 12-hrs. By 18-hrs post hatching, the daughter rotifers begin to reproduce
themselves, and egg production is maintained for up to a week or so. It is this
rapid increase in rotifers that we as fish breeders find so useful for our home
cultures.
When conditions are not favorable or stressful rotifers convert to producing
haplo-identical eggs, meaning only half the genetic material is placed into an
egg. These haplo- identical offspring hatch as smaller non-feeding male rotifers,
which then fertilize the other haplo-identical eggs. These fully fertilized eggs
develop a thick outer coating and are called cysts.
Rotifer cysts can survive adverse conditions and remain dormant for years if
required, and its these cysts (resting rotifers or rotifer cysts) that allow rotifers to
be reestablished at a later time when conditions are favorable again.
The main reason for describing the reproductive strategy for you is that dormant
rotifer cysts can be used to restart rotifer cultures, or these cysts can be
sent/shipped to other hobbyists so they can establish their own cultures. Also,
many online stores will sell resting rotifers or rotifer cysts to start cultures.

Rotifer Culture
Requirements
Even though B. plicatilis can tolerate a broad range of specific gravities, a specific
gravity between 1.007-1.014 is the optimum range for our home use. (Because
increase in gravity may result in osmotic shock (especially when rotifers are added
to the fish larvae grow out tanks) to the rotifer culture. That may result in rotifers
to stop swimming and drop to the bottom of the tank. Motionless rotifers are not
recognized as food).
Optimum pH of 7.5 to 8.5. pH affects the percentage of unionized ammonia in the
water.
The optimal level for ammonia is <1 mg l-1 and the acceptable level of ammonia
and nitrite levels is 6-10 mg l-1.
Rotifer cultures require aeration and the dissolved oxygen level should be
maintained above 4 ppm.
Temp 68-880F.
Feed
A combination of 90% Nannochloropsis and 10% Tetraselmis.
Nannochloropsis, which is a small green algae (2 mm) that has a very high lipid,
protein, and calorie profile. Tetraselmis is a larger green algae that contains amino
acids that stimulate feeding in marine animals. These alga will give your rotifers a

very high nutritional and EPA profile. In addition, to boost DHA levels Isochrysis is
recommended. Isochrysis contains 10% DHA as a percentage of lipids.
Surplus food is one of the major factors for the deterioration of water quality.
This can be avoided by dividing the daily food ration into four to six meals a day or
by continuous feeding using a peristaltic pump.

Culture Methods
There are two basic rotifer culture methods: batch culture, and continuous
culture.
Batch culture

When using batch culture, a clean culture container is taken and filled with sterile
seawater, with the water adjusted to match the pH and temperature of the starter
culture.

Optimal temperature is 20 - 30 C with a pH of 8.0.

Phytoplankton or food substitutes are added to the container (a quarter cup of

phytoplankton /2L soda bottle), and then cultures should be started by adding a
minimum of 10-20-rotifers/ ml to minimize the possibility of a crash.

Batch culture produces dense cultures quickly (200+ rotifers/ml), but requires
constant monitoring, and is more labor intensive.

A benefit of batch culture is once the batch has reached optimum density,
rotifers are harvested, no a potential crash occur. Batch culturing also allows to
clean the culture equipment between batches often preventing possible
contamination.

Continuous culture

In continuous rotifer culture a larger container (usually a 5-30gal container) is filled

with the same water quality as above. Rotifers are added 10-20 rotifer/ml to the
container, and phytoplanktons are added to keep the culture a slightly green color.
The rotifers multiply and a portion of their population are removed daily.

A rotifer culture fed daily, will multiply continuously, and as long as some are
harvested daily the culture should last indefinitely.

Continuous culture are much less work, and produce less rotifers (~100
rotifers/ml), but they often experience crashing - having all the rotifers die off in
mass.

Starting a Rotifer Culture

Rotifer cultures can be started from either live cultures or dormant cysts.
To start a culture from live rotifers:

1-quart of live rotifers-saltwater type

1-quart of water -- clean, temp matched, correct pH, and specific gravity as the
rotifer culture (1.017)

1-quart of greenwater from our last months cultures (or a food substitute-see
below)

Rotifers are added to the smaller (2gal tank) while rotifers and greenwater are
propagated in the larger 5gal tank.
Like last month, using 2L soda bottles are more than adequate for batch culture.
However a 3-5gal aquarium is also fine for continuous culture. Start off by adding the
saltwater and phytoplankton to the container, start your aeration (no airstones), again a
slow rolling release of bubble is sufficient. Once this is set, add the rotifers 100-200/ml.
You can add a light source to these cultures to keep the phytoplanktons happy and this
will also slightly increase rotifer reproduction after a day or so. When the water starts to
clear from green to light green, add greenwater to retain the same light green tint. Small
frequent additions of greenwater are much better than a large addition of greenwater
that might result in shocking your rotifers. Continue adding greenwater as the rotifers
feed, until the culture reaches its maximum volume (2L). Once the desired volume is
reached harvest the batch when the water starts to loose its slight green tint. For
continuous culture remove 25% of the volume daily. As a precaution start a spare
culture -- staggered in time -- Just in case.

Starting a rotifer culture from resting cysts:

To start a rotifer culture from resting cysts youll need the following:

1 vial of rotifer cysts

3 oz of saltwater (1.007-1.014)

Greenwater (or food substitute)

Resting rotifers are available from the online suppliers listed below, usually in a 1000-cyst vial. Simply add the cysts to the 3 0z
of saltwater in a small flat container; aeration is not required to hydrate the cysts. Carefully observe this culture for 16-24hrs and
once swimming rotifers are observed, they must be added to a culture of phytoplankton. If you do not observe any rotifers
swimming after 24hrs add the emerging rotifer culture to greenwater. Often times the rotifers are difficult to see. To avoid culture
shock it is always better to add greenwater to rotifers, and not the other way around. If you do plan on staring rotifer cultures
from dormant cysts, ensure you plan your time line accordingly; expect to take about 15-30 days to bring these cultures up to

speed. My personal experience with hatching rotifer from cysts was it was more difficult than establishing cultures from live
samples; however, cysts are easily available and many aquaculture facilities prefer cysts to live samples.
So how many rotifers do you need? A good starting point for feeding clownfish larvae is approximately 8 to 10 gallons of rotifers;
however, this will depend on the number of hatching fry and the numbers of larvae you plan on rearing. Reproduction rates in
rotifer cultures depend on how fast a culture recovers after harvesting. A healthy culture can triple daily, but a conservative
estimate sees doubling once every three days. Therefore, plan accordingly.
Tips on improving a rotifer culture:

Feed rates should be based on the actual density of rotifers in the system and care should be taken not to overfeed.

If feeding continuously the drip rate should be monitored to avoid excess algae accumulation.

If batch feeding, the culture tank should clear of algae before the next feeding to avoid excess algae accumulation.

Any algae that is not consumed within 48 hours will degrade, increasing the level of ammonia and decrease the
dissolved oxygen levels.

Care should be taken to match the specific gravity of the rotifer tank to the specific gravity of the starter culture

Microalgae Ice Cubes (Tip from Reed mariculture site):

N. Oculuata can be frozen into small ice cubes that have the dual benefit of creating a pre-measured quantity of algae,
and extends the shelf life of the algae. To make microalgae ice cubes simply pour the algae into cheap plastic ice cube
trays (available at your local store) and store in the freezer overnight. When frozen, break the cubes out of the trays and
store them in a plastic bag in your freezer. By measuring one of the cubes you will know the weight of all the cubes,
simplifying your future feeding protocol. As needed, take 1 or more cubes from the freezer and dissolve them in a jar with
water from your tank. If you have extra algae remaining, put it in your refrigerator where it will last for several days.