Eggs about to Hatch and no rotifers, Please help

[earlobis]

HI all,

I have Damsel eggs about to hatch but rotifers are not readily available where I live in South Africa.

Can anyone suggest anything else that I can feed the newly hatched fry?

Thanks

Joe

[rkelman]

You could try brine shrimp. I'm not sure of the size of damsels but it can be done with Clowns.

[da1jewfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13488901#post13488901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
You could try brine shrimp. I'm not sure of the size of damsels but it can be done with Clowns.
do you happen to have any links on this for clowns?

[rkelman]

FB Tried it not that long ago. Checkout his thread. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1289236

[mobert]

I have had limited success with newly hatched San Francisco Brand Brine Shrimp. Much harder than using rotifers though. Are you sure Reed's Maniculture do not ship rotifers to South Africa?
http://www.reed-mariculture.com/rotifer/

Another source might be Aquatic Eco-Systems: http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/1379/Rotifer-Eggs/rotifer/0

Freshwater breeders use the egg yolk from hard boiled eggs.

[FishGuttz]

Has anyone used live phytoplankton as first food?

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13488901#post13488901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
You could try brine shrimp. I'm not sure of the size of damsels but it can be done with Clowns.
I don´t think you could:rolleyes: What damsels are they?

[rkelman]

"I don´t think you could What damsels are they?"

I know FB did use BBS for a hatch with very limited success. I don't know much about Damsels other than they are a pita :)

"Has anyone used live phytoplankton as first food?"

No fish don't eat phyto. Fish food eats phyto then the fish eat the food.

[rkelman]

I just had a thought.. Why don't you contact a local university. There must be a school that has microbiology or marine biology. They would either have or know where you could get Rotifers..