cultivating volvox

Prof i am very interested in volvox cultivation as an aid for show guppy breeding. i believe the stuff is realy magical if you can maintain it.

How do you start the algae growing and what fertilizer can i use to maintain a good bloom wich is not harmfull for my fish?

I believe the water has to look like pea soup

thanks in advance

Riaan

 

I would also like to know. Apparently the fry grow extremely fast and develop better than other fry. Very interesting!

 

some googling and suggestions are a jar with some duckweed on top with a couple of plant fertilizer drops in to generate the growth - jar should be left in a area where is gets direct and indirect sunlight.

 

mmmm did a search at it seems a bit complicated, would like to hear what the Professor has to say about this.

 

Looks like all the live breeders is climbing on for this answer :blink1:

 

I read an thread on the www.guppies.com forum all about green water which was facinating. You do need to be registered to read it but it's worth the effort. It's a loooong thread and is under the General Discussions Forum. Here is the link for those that are interested.
http://www.guppies.com/forums/showthread.php/green-water-miracle-14527.html

 

If you copy this link supplied by Irma , Thanks Irma directly into toolbar you can access info with out registering.
http://www.guppies.com/forums/showth...cle-14527.html

 

it looks like i have the prof thinking hard or maybe he is not interested in filthy looking green water for fish that is aparently maintenance free?

in the meantime i took a 300mm tank with a few fry (2days old) and put them in a west window and added some seagro fert 2.5 ml
the fry seems to be happy but no algae yet.

maybe the prof can tell me if the seagro will harm anything and why?

riaan

 

Hey Riaan,

This has become an interesting thread, and have had a good look at the above link! It all looks very interesting, although I have one reservation tho....

If the water is green and yucky, does it not miss the point of having show guppies??

Just a side thought really!

Oh, and the Prof is mad busy getting into his new year of academia, so bare with him for a while until he is able to answer??

Cheers
BigG!

 

big G

the idee is to keep the fry in the algae and may be the females giving birth in the algae water they do not eat their fry.

i would never let my show tank look like that .

the fry is still happy with the seagro (24 hrs)

riaan

 

Hi,

As far as I can understand, the green water tanks are for your breeding setups only and the guppies can go from that into clear water with no problems??
I also would not want my display tank to be gross!

Irma

 

Irma

i understand that very big breeders in the east kept this a secret but is using volvox all the time for breeding stock and growing fry . they claim the fry grow much healthier and faster in the stuff

they sell fish that we all put in our nice clean show setups , so it should not be a problem to adfapt to normal water again.

i take it that the water itself will be "clean" it is the actual algae you see that is green, and not the water that is rotten or the like , so if you could strain all the algae out your water should be clear.


riaan

 

Sure - thanks for the explanation. I just don't know if I can handle looking at it. I can imagine though that it must be exellent for the fish. I must just get my head around it. It would be great though not to have to worry about water changes. How cool would that be?

Irma