Culturing freshwater, planktonic rotifers on Rhodomonas minuta var. nannoplanctica Skuja and Stichococcus bacillaris Nageli

Eleven freshwater, planktonic rotifer species (Brachionus angularis,Brachionus cafyciflorus, Keratella quadrata, Nolholca squamula,Ascomorpha ecattdis, Synchaeta kitina, Synchaela tremula, Potyarthradolichoptera, Polyanhra vulgarii, Pompholyx sulcata, Filiniabrachiata) were cultured successfully on either Rhodomonas minutavar. nannoplanctica Skuja or Stichococcus bacillaris Nägeli,in a totally synthetic medium. Three of these species had notpreviously been kept in laboratory culture. The method is proposedas a simple technique for the routine batch culture of a varietyof planktonic rotifer species. Some important observations onhandling techniques, incubation temperature, culture vesselsand media are discussed.