Reef Ramblings

Reef Scientific frozen Calanoid Copepods

The highest quality frozen natural marine zooplankton available anywhere!

High Nutritional Value!

High in protein, in omega3, Phospholipids, DHA & EPA, and Astaxanthin.

Although other companies market the calanoid copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, the nutritional quality of these is poor owing to the presence of autolytic enzymes that degrade fatty acids and proteins after freezing. With Reef Scientific Calanoid Copepods, these autolytic enzymes have been deactivated, consequently extending the storage time of the food from as little as one month to in excess of a year with no loss of nutritional value!

Non-polluting!

100% clean. Needs no pre-rinsing before use. The product is pasteurized for bio-security and sealed, using natural components from crustaceans, minimizing nutrient leakage in the reef aquarium. Can be thawed and kept in the refrigerator for up to 14 days.

Suitable for all saltwater and freshwater fish, corals, and crustaceans.

Originally developed in Norway as an initial feed for larval and juvenile stages of marine aquaculture species, it has since proven valuable for ornamental aquarium species. Trials have shown them to be particularly useful in larvaculture since almost all larvae of fish or crustaceans have high nutritional demands during their early stages of development,

This range of marine zooplankton is produced in land-locked bays in Northern Norway and, characteristically of high latitude calanoid copepods, are rich in phospholipids, essential fatty acids and proteins along with the caratanoid Astaxanthin. The fatty acid, DHA, is only produced in marine algae and is accumulated in zooplankton as they graze in a process of natural enrichment.

Although it’s not widely known, there is a problem associated with the preservation of zooplankton through freezing without the degradation of fatty acids and proteins. Zooplankton contains large amounts of autolytic enzymes that continue to degrade their fatty acids and proteins post mortem. These enzymes remain active when zooplankton is frozen; consequently, the maximum storage life is one month before valuable Phospholipids in the zooplankton become degraded.

Our Norwegian partners have succeeded in deactivating the autolytic enzymes present in the zooplankton; consequently, the storage time of the food has been extended to more than one year without loss of nutrients.

Furthermore, they have developed a method of coating the zooplankton with an ultra thin membrane derived from natural components of crustaceans that prohibits nutrient leakage from the food particles. This results in a frozen food of very high nutritional quality that will not pollute the aquarium by leaching nutrients into the water.

Size Range.

The food ranges in particle size from 2mm down to 0.1 mm. Currently only the 2mm size is generally available, although if you are a breeder please talk to us about the smaller size fractions. With the exception of the 2 mm zooplankton, C. finmarchicus, a number of different species are present in each sizing, providing a rich variety of different nutritional profiles. The smaller size fractions of our feed can be used to substitute the use of live feed such as rotifers and artemia. These are available, in small volumes, in the following size fractions 65-80, 80-150, and 150-200 µm, covering the size range of rotifers.

Although other companies market calanoid copepods, specifically Calanus finmarchicus, the nutritional quality of these is poor, as the autolytic enzymes have not been deactivated.

Aquarium

Aquarium shops in Norway trialing the product have been unambiguously positive. After 2-4 weeks feeding, all fish species responded with stronger and more intense coloration. Wild caught fish, fed with this food when first received, had a higher survival rate.

Clownfishes

The smaller-size food particles have a documented positive effect on fish and crustacean larvae.

In co-feeding experiments, clownfish have shown 100% higher growth compared to a diet solely with enriched rotifers and artemia. Survival has increased by 50%.

Norwegian ornamental fish breeder, Thomas Engels, has done extensive testing of the product and has substituted the artemia feeding period of clownfishes by 2-3 weeks using this product, finding it be the best food he’s ever used.

Dr. Ike Olivotto at the university of Ancona, Italy, is shortly to publish a paper showing this food to be superior to live feeds such as rotifers and artemia. His research involved comparing two groups of clownfish larvae, one group fed a standard rotifer/Artemia nauplii, diet, the other fed a combination of rotifers/copepod nauplii and Artemia nauplii/copepodites-copepods.

Analysing gene expression in clownfishes, growth promoting factors increased by 2.5 times, whilst growth-inhibiting factors (myostatin) decreased by 5 times. His research showed 100% higher weight along with 30% length increase in clownfishes 10 days post hatching, compared to fish given a diet consisting of enriched rotifers and Artemia. 15 days post hatching, larvae fed with the copepod enhanced diet had a 62% survival rate compared to larvae fed a conventional rotifer/Artemia nauplii diet with a 41% survival rate.

Aquaculture

A Norwegian lobster hatchery, Norsk Hummer AS, trialing the 500-700µm frozen food, found that the survival rate of lobster larvae during the three weeks prior to settlement, increased to approximately 15% from less than 1%! This increased survival rate was evident even when the lobster eggs were of poor quality.

In the UK, after an initial trial, the National Lobster Hatchery are now using the 2.0mm Calanus finmarchicus as part of their raising protocol.

The food is currently being trialed on newly hatched cod larvae with further testing on growth and survival planned for other species such as halibut, turbot and cleaner fish.

Midland Reefs, Unit 10 Mount Rd. Trading Estate,

Burntwood. Staffordshire, WS7 0AJ. UK.

Tel: +44 (0) 1543 685599

Zooplankton Technical Data.

Table 1. Size and Species

Size	Species
2 mm	Calanus finmarchicus	Food for adult planktivores and other fishes.
700-1000 µm
5-700 µm	Calanoid copepods Temora longicornis, Acartia clausi and Centropages hamatus. Additionally includes smaller quantities of the calanoid copepods Pseudocalanus spp., Paracalanus spp., Microcalanus spp. and early copepodites of C. finmarchicus	Food for smaller planktivores and juveniles
4-500 µm	T. longicornis, along with early copepodites of A. clausi, C. hamatus, Pseudocalanus spp., Paracalanus spp. Adult Microcalanus spp, and the cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis
3-400 µm	T. longicornis copepod nauplii Early copepodites of all calanoid copepods mentioned above,	Equivalent in size to 2 day old enriched artemia.
2-300 µm	Very young copepodit stages and nauplii of various copepod species. Additionally includes 2-5% bivalvia and gastropod larvae and 2-3% single celled Phytoplankton as Coscinodiscus spp. and Ceratium spp.	Equivalent in size to newly hatched artemia.
150-200 µm		Equivalent in size to rotifers
80-150 µm		Equivalent in size to rotifers
65-80 µm		Equivalent in size to rotifers

Table 2.

Fatty acid profile (mg/g dry weight and % of total fatty acids) of the 2 mm size fraction of copepods.

Fatty acid profile may vary depending on season, locality, and plankton species grazed.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2010

The Coral Aquarist Research Network (CARN) is holding its 1^st Annual Conference on the 1^st June 2010 at the Royal Geographical Society, London.

CARN, formed in October of last year, was created to facilitate and initiate the exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience between coral reef researchers, coral growers, national and public aquaria, and reef hobbyists. This network is in place to structure opportunities for coral industries such as suppliers and growers to engage with, utilise and collaborate with the world class coral and reef biology research community in the UK.

This first conference will include a number of presentations that are both research and industry orientated highlighting the current status of knowledge, technology and, importantly, gaps in our understanding of coral physiology, ecology, transport, growth and sustainable harvesting.

Indeed, I will be delivering a presentation looking coral nutrition in the captive environment.

This conference provides substantial networking opportunities and a chance to discuss ideas, address queries or simply take interest, and potentially become involved in, impact-led research initiatives from an economic and sustainability perspective as well as from an enhanced coral growth, coral diversity and improved conservation measures viewpoint.

If you think you might have something to contribute (many hobbyists are ahead of educational organizations and public aquaria when it comes to growing corals) or would just like to come along and learn, please get in touch with me ASAP so that I can communicate with the organizers to ensure that name badges are printed, ready for the event.

Oh, and just because it might sound a bit advanced or scientific, please don’t be afraid to come along. I can promise you that there will be accessible content and that it’ll be a great chance to talk with enthusiastic like-minded individuals.

CARN is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded project, within the the University of Essex’s Coral Reef Research Unit (CRRU).

www.carnuk.org

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2010

Apologies for the lack of articles over the last few weeks. Recently nearly all our time has been taken up with preparation for exhibiting at the Interzoo pet trade show in Germany.

Interzoo is held every 2 years and is probably the largest pet and aquatics trade show in the world. This was Midland Reefs’ first time exhibiting at an international trade show, a lot of hard work but very rewarding.

We went to the show to introduce the Reef Scientific range to the international market at the same time as launching two new product ranges, MarinePure – filtration media, and Reef Scientific Calanoid Copepods – frozen food of the highest nutritional quality. Read more about these two new ranges in future posts.

A small part of the Reef Scientific range along with MarinePure.

Here’s a shot of the booth during a quiet period at the show with Jon talking to a couple of customers from Switzerland.

If you live outside of the UK and are interested in any of our products, please get in touch. We hope to now be able to direct you to a Reef Scientific retailer or distributor in your own country.

Now that we’ve returned from Germany after a successful show, normal service is once more resumed, there’s a backlog of articles waiting to be both written and published on Reef Ramblings, so get ready to read!

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2010

There are reports of extensive warm water coral bleaching in the Andaman Sea.

This is believed to be the worst case of bleaching in Thai waters for 20 years. Coral reefs off Phangnga, Krabi and Phuket, including popular diving sites such as the Similan, Phi Phi and Surin islands have been affected and, according to the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC), bleaching is likely to extend as far as Satun province, and may worsen if sea temperatures continue to rise. Coral reefs in the Andaman Sea previously suffered severe bleaching in 1991 and 2003.

A bleached coral reef at Koh Aeo in Phuket. PMBC

Bleaching started to occur during April and five percent of the coral reefs so far affected have died. The temperature in the Andaman Sea has been higher than the last two years, staying at around 31-32C, probably because of the late onset of the monsoon over the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. Normally the monsoons arrive during mid-April with the rains bringing a reduction in sea temperature.

The PMBC has been working closely with dive operators, to monitor the coral bleaching situation. The phenomenon is also occurring in the Gulf of Thailand in Rayong province, Somkiat Khokiattiwong, head of the PMBC’s oceanography and environment unit, says Burma and Malaysia could also face the coral bleaching problem in their waters.

The bleached coral reefs may take a long time to recover. The PMBC estimate that coral reefs in shallow waters, depths up to 10m, will take three to four years to recover, whilst deeper reefs will take longer.

The Andaman Sea is one of the Thailand’s most popular diving sites with around 80 sq km of coral reefs. It attracts millions of visitors and divers each year.

For more about the Phuket Marine Biological Center go to the PMBC website.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

May 8, 2010