Questions For Karen Brittain

We are excited to have Karen Brittain joining us for the Workshop via Skype from Hawaii this year. Karen will be giving us an introduction to her angelfish breeding work followed with a Q&A session.
 
In order to facilitate her session please post some of your questions for her here. This will help make things run a bit smoother for her.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

I don't mind starting this one.  
 
Question #1:  One defense mechanism of pelagic copepods is transparency.  Most of us grow phytoplankton based on ease of culture.  Would you recommend any phytoplankton which would more effectively "color up" copepods for better visibility, or is prey visibility a minor factor that it isn't worth culturing phytoplankton for it's color.
 
Question #2:  What copepods would you recommend culturing that have relatively large nauplii (150 to 250 microns) with relatively slow movement and which show promise as food organisms for larvae?
 
Question #3:  You are one of the nicest and most conscientious people in this field.  What motivates you to freely share so much of your information with non-academic small scale adventurers like us on MBI?
 
 

#1 - Can you give us the nickel-tour of what it takes to breed and rear marine angelfish at home?
#2 - Is there a species or group of fish a marine fish breeder should "cut his/her teeth on" to practice before attempting marine Angelfish?
#3 - You also are perhaps the only to consistently rear perfectly striped Latezonatus Clownfish - what's your rearing protocol to achieve that?
 
 

DELETE please - duplicate post.

Tal,

Is there a date set for this webinar yet? I want to make sure I'm not working so I can watch/listen.

Question 1: I read that you use diatoms in the larval rearing process. What role do you feel they have, and which would you recommend culturing?

Question 2: Any recommendations for practice with other "easier" pelagic spawners that would benefit the hobbyist (similar to Matt's question on cutting teeth).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

This is not a webinar, this is Skype with the audience during the Workshop on July 19th. Sorry for the confusion.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Thanks for the clarification. Wish I could make it to the workshop, but I'm working that weekend (as well as most of July as usual - new intern orientation....). Any possibility of transcripts being made available?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

Oops - double post

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

#1. With your experience in breeding marine angelfish, what is your method of egg collection after you have stayed up countless nights figuring out when they spawn?
#2. Have you found a particular method of hatching the eggs to be more successful than any other with marine angelfish?
#3. Any tips on my endeavor to breed Centropyge multifasciata with your recent success with the closely related Centropyge venusta?

kthomas, I'm certainly not Karen and would love to hear her answer, but maybe I can help a little with #1, at least with the pelagic spawners I have tried:
 
It's important to be able to route the overflow water relatively gently through a sieve. The bottom should be solid with mesh on most of the upright sides so you can concentrate whatever gets caught by the mesh into a small volume of water. I used to pipette (with a large-mouthed pipette) eggs from the collection jar to the hatching vessel. It's pretty impossible to see the eggs, but if you have a strong light source overhead and a white bottom on the sieve, the eggs will cast shadows that are unmistakeable. Once you've seen one you can't miss them and nothing else casts shadows like that. Ensure that there are no amphipods or other egg predators in the hatching vessel. In fact, the best hatches that I got (of sixline wrasses) was when giving the eggs a dip in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Bacteria is your enemy here. It loves to foul the eggs.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

1. With your work, what would be the ideal rearing rig for us hobbyists?
2. Do you feel as if Colurella adriatica would be a beneficial first or second food for angelfish?
That's all I got ATM

Like Matt, I am also interested in Karen's protocols for breeding Wide-Band Anemonefish. If this could cover water quality/temperature; pairing, etc. with some detail it would be great in helping us learn proper methods when trying to reproduce these fish.

Thanks.

How do you prepare a larval rearing tank? Do you sterilize the tank, water, or both? How do you condition the water before introducing the hatch? Have you ever tried pro-biotics, or other added bacteria?
 
Considering the preparation of larval tanks, are there differences between a tank destined to raise clownfish, and a tank for something with tiny or pro-larvae such as angelfish? 
 
What do you feed your copepods? Parvocalanus particularly.

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Any other questions for Karen?

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Is there any way this could be somehow recorded and made available for subsequent viewing? 

I downloaded an app to record Skype but it was so hectic getting connected I forgot to turn it on until after she had started.  I couldn't stop to do it so I recorded the rest with my camera. If they turn out good enough I'll post a link.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Appreciate it Tal - I am sure anything will be better than nothing. Cheers.

Thanks to Karen for being very generous with her level of knowledge and expertise with angelfish and clownfish.  She's one of the best experts around and has always found time to help out others in this field.