Reed Mariculture is well-known around here, both for their aquarium hobby line of products (Reef Nutrition), but also for their commercial aquaculture products generally sold under the Reed Mariculture umbrella. Seeing their large-scale aquaculture products being used in smaller-scale applications (Public Aquariums, Research Labs and Marine Ornamental Fish & Invertebrate Breeders), Reed has realized there’s a growing inbetween market that until now, wasn’t being properly addressed. This new product line “bridges the gap”.
This new product line packs a big punch but lacks one critical component – a name! Reed Mariculture has launched the RM-Ideas website to announce this new line, but also to run a contest to name it! The best part? Everyone who enters “wins” something!
Here’s a brief rundown highlighting our picks of the most interesting new products being initially launched in this line:
- Calanoid copepod cultures, specifically Parvocalanus crassirostris. This is one of two copepods known to work as a first food for larval Pygmy Angelfish (Centropyge spp.). Who knows what else you might be able to do with it! We’re a step closer to hobbyist-bred Centropyge too!
- A new top-dressed Otohime larval feed. Otohime is well-known among clownfish breeders for producing superior growth rates and actually being a viable 2nd food option (allowing breeders to bypass the use of baby brine shrimp). Standard Otohime was NOT known for producing good coloration, which led hobbyists to come up with various methods of incorporating pigments into the feed to fix this shortcoming. Obviously, Reed took a cue from ornamental breeders and is now offering an “enriched” Otohime formulation; top-dressed with astaxanthin, natural feed stimulants, a natural immune-stimulant and more.
- Buffered and Liquid CloramX – this product has been found useful in controlling organic pollution in early larval culture scenarios but until now, CloramX was only accessible to breeders in a $40+ powdered form that you had to mix yourself. Soon available as a liquid, and pH buffered.
- Rotifer Diet PLUS – Rotifer Diet has been a staple of rotifer culturing for years. This refined “plus” version rethinks the standard liquid rotifer culture feed. Rotifer Diet Plus has been described as liquid RotiGrow Plus with the addition of ammonia control to the bottle. Not only is the ammonia control a convenience, but since this new Rotifer Diet is based on RotiGrow Plus, DHA levels have been dramatically improved. This is truly a no brainer…aquarists used to buy Rotifer Diet and CloramX powder. Or you bought frozen RotiGrow Plus and again, bought CloramX powder. Now you get them all-in-one, with the proper ratio of phytoplankton and ammonia control for truly “super-easy” rotifer culturing and an improved nutritional profile as well. I have a feeling this is a home-run type of product, especially for anyone who is just learning to culture rotifers for the first time. Let me put this clearly – given what this product is, it should drastically reduce the occurrence of culture crashes for the new or casual rotifer culturist, and it makes the rotifers you raise more nutritious too.
- Many more new products, and more convenient sizes on existing products that were only available in sizes deemed “too large” and thus too expensive, or too small and thus uneconomical to utilize!
You can get a more complete listing of all the new products, as well as easily enter the online naming competition, at the product line microsite – RM-Ideas.com
