larva snagger

[LARRYTHEBIRD]

has anyone one every made a larva snagger or collector and how did you keep the flow in the same as the flow out? I have a delima my clutches are hatching and im doing a poor job catching them out of my reef tank. I don't want to move the parents because they may stop spawning for a while and I only have 1 pair spawning at this point. any suggestions?

[LotR Clown]

Check this thread I put out a while back on a larval trap I had made locally.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=793564

HTH
Kevin

[David M]

Mine is not like that at all, I don't have a pic but let me see if I can describe it. Acrylic box approx. 12"L X 6 wide and 6
high , hmm, no I think it's bigger than that. It is divided in the center by a 53um screen. At one end is a 1" hole at the very top. In the second section is a small p-head like the small adjustable ones turned all the way down, maybe 20 gph. There is a small hole drilled in the collector and the pump discharge goes out. I place the whole thing in the tank and clamp it to the side wall so that the 1" hole is right at the water surface. Then I use a small LV light (a moonlight would work) positioned over the 1" hole. Turn on the pump, water is drawn in thru the 1" hole, passes thru the 53 um screen and exits via the pump outlet. The light attracts larvae, they enter the collector thru the 1" hole but stay in the first section held back by the screen. Some try to swim back out (attracted to the light) but most don't, and you can adjust the pump for stronger flow if needed. I have also added a brighter light near the screen to keep them in place a few times. Oh and almost forgot, the whole thing is painted black except the front panel so I can see in. The point is the only light seen from inside the tank is the 1"hole. Can you picture that? It works very well :D

[ezhoops]

No, we need pics. curious though with the pump, isn't there a chance of them getting chewed up in the pump, maybe I don't understand the set up

[LotR Clown]

Hoops,
In all traps, the pump side is seperated from the collection side by a screen. The one I use is a 2-liter cut and a permanent coffee filter is siliconed to the bottom of it. The pump is placed inside of the 2L and pumps out water from inside the 2L. The larvae are prevented from going into the pump by the screen. It's not all that complicated.

Kevin

[ezhoops]

I realize its not all that complicated basically a siphon with a screen. I use the one from J.Wilkersons book, just thought it was a little different

[LotR Clown]

Ya no different from the one in Wilkerson's book. I was thinking of another where it's just a screen seperating the pump side from the collection side. A larger surface area would allow for more flow without sucking the larvae up against the screen.

[Kathy55g]

how big a pump? Would a minijet 404 be to much?

[LotR Clown]

Kathy use an adjustable one. 404 would be fine.

Kevin

[Kathy55g]

Made a larval snagger in about 15 minutes with a cut off soda bottle, a minijet 404, a knee high stocking, and a plastic shoe box.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462rcIMG_1467-med.jpg
First I cut some large holes in the sides and bottom of the soda bottle bottom, put a knee high stocking over it, and a minijet 404 set on lowest flow inside it. I have some flexible tubing attached to the outlet, to direct the water out of the box.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462rcIMG_1468-med.jpg
Cut a square hole near the top of a clear plastic shoe box and lined the jagged edges with electricians tape, and covered the side of the box, too.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462rdIMG_1469-med.jpg
Mounted a pen light on a clothespin with a rubber band and clamped it over the hole.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462rcIMG_1470-med.jpg

Floated the whole thing into my tank right over the nest, and clamped it in place so the water level came halfway up the diameter of the hole. Pluggd in the minijet. Nice soft flow thru the hole.

Turned the nearby powerhead and protein skimmer off, and waited for the lights to go off. When they did, I turned the pen light on, and did a sudoku puzzle in the next room. Came back later to hundreds of larvae!

They are not sucked against the nylon stocking, but they do attempt to swim back out the hole to the light. The flow throws them back in. I hope they do not injure themselves, but we will see.

This is the first time I've harvested from my very own clownfish. This is their third spawn, so I will not get my hopes up too high. The nest was huge, and fun to watch as it changed colors etc. My clowns lay in neat, tight rows, unlike my friend's ocellaris. They were a bit haphazard in laying pattern.

I don't have many rotifers as I just got back from vacation and the refrigerator technique did not work for me this time. Fortunately, the guys at the local university who study zebrafish are nice and generous with their rots. I plan to put these larvae in a ten gallon, instead of my usual 20, to help out with the rotifer situation. I may start them out at 4 gallons of water.

Well, wish me luck, I'm going to get the snagger out of the tank, now, and put the larvae into their new home.
Here they are!
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462rcIMG_1473-med.jpg


Cheers,
Kathy

[Kathy55g]

I got the idea for the nylon stocking from NicoleC and the hole in the side of the box from Dman.

I could not be happier with the result. I have lots of larvae from this nest and there are 0 dead after 24 hours. This is a great method of harvest!

Cheers,
Kathy

[LotR Clown]

Looks good Kathy.
I had to do an outside the tank one since there is basically no room in my reef tank. The one you made would work in a different tank I have. Thanks for sharing.

Kevin

[Kathy55g]

I liked the in-tank design as I don't have a way to support the snagger outside of the tank. I have just enough room for the shoe box.

Kinda ghetto looking, isn't it.

I really like the hole in the side idea better than the siphon way. With a siphon, I would worry that the larvae would get damaged by hitting the sides of the siphon on the way into the box. With the hole in the side, they only have to endure a small current for a fraction of a second, then they are across the the threshold, and cannot get back out.

I worried that they could not stand the current inside the snagger, so I took it out after I had a lot of larvae. Did not want to get greedy. There were still eggs on the nest when I removed the snagger, but they were gone by morning. Makes me think I could have harvested more. Next time, I will leave the snagger in place a while longer.

It worked very well this time. I have 0 dead after 24 hours, a record for me! And I have lots of larvae!

[David M]

:D About the only difference between that and the one I tried to decribe above is that in mine the screen is permanently glued in as a divider in the box with the pump on the opposite side from the hole, other than that it's the same thing. Yes it works very well, congrats. Still can't bring myself to go buy the knee high's though, thank God there is a silkscreen place nearby :cool:

[Kathy55g]

Oops! I gave credit to Dman, and it should have been David M. Sorry, David M!

[ediaz]

How she keeps that phyto growing so well!!

Guess David have not been at VS.

Ed

[Kathy55g]

?

[Dman]

Thanks,
I'd been racking my brain trying to figure out when I gave you a good idea. That was never my intention, glad to see I didn't stray from the program. :D

[Kathy55g]

Derek, you are always giving me good ideas. A little Edgar bird told me you would be showing up at IMAC. I hope to meet you there! Going for the whole thing, or just a fraction, and if so which fraction?

[David M]

Kathy, pretty sure that was Victoria's Secret :D

[Kathy55g]

I wouldn't know....

[Dman]

I'll be there for pretty much the whole thing

[Kathy55g]

turns out I grabbed a minijet 606, not a 404 as I obviously intended. Works well anyway.
You can see it in the picture.