| Overview |
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Rotifers are small (100-300 micron) zooplankton that exist in freshwater, brackish, and marine environments.
Rotifers feed on microalgae and are consumed by a wide variety of fish,
shellfish, corals, and other filter feeding organism.
Rotifers are used extensively in aquaculture and aquariums because of their super high reproductive rates (doubling
or better every 24 hours), ease of culturing, optimal size for larval fish, and nutritional profile.
In a healthy culture all the rotifers will be females and will reproduce clonally. In a stressed environment males
will be produced and the rotifers will reproduce sexually and create encysted eggs. Under optimal conditions
a rotifer culture will double in volume every day.
The life span of a marine rotifer is 7 to 12 days. They have very high metabolisms and empty their guts and
need to eat every 4 hours.
The most commonly used marine rotifers are the species Brachionus plicatilis ("L" type) and Brachionus
rotundiformis ("S" and "SS") types. |
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| Technical Details |
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| Salinity |
4 to 45 ppm (1.003 to 1.034 specific gravity) |
| pH |
Can widely vary, but should be raised or lowered slowly |
| Temperature |
"L" type - 70 F
"S" type - 80 F
"SS" type - 80 F |
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