QM Labs Feeds Nutramar

Here at QM Labs, our breeding program is driven by the ethos and determined leadership of our owner as well as the brilliant minds and collaborative nature of our biologists. The primary goal here is to bring the best specimens we possibly can to market, and to constantly push the boundaries of what is possible in aquaculture. We're succeeding on both fronts and a critical portion of this is success has been through Nutramar and the breakthroughs we've pioneered there as well.

When it comes to the aquaculture of marine species, the difference between a successful spawn that goes nowhere, and a grow out tank full of healthy juvenile fish is measured in microns (as in how big the food is), and dependent on nutrition. With a few notable exceptions, getting marine fish to spawn in captivity is hard on its own, but successfully rearing the resulting larvae into viable fry and further into salable sized fish requires an incredible amount of dedication and a lot of proprietary science that we're obviously not going to get into here today. What we can get into is that an absolutely crucial element of success here is dietary and this starts well before any eggs are laid.

Healthy broodstock lay more eggs, get more fertilized resulting in more healthy and viable larvae. Nutritional status of parent fish directly correlates to the lipid content of yolk sacs, strength of egg membranes and vigor of the larvae. When we pioneered the first successful aquaculture of the Gem Tang, or when we succeeded in being the first in the US to aquaculture Purple Tangs, we weren't going to start with anything but the healthiest, strongest broodstock. For herbivores we all know it's important to get them enough algae; in house, we rely on Nutramar Nori and Ogo for this task. All the herbivores we breed get plenty of greens, but they also need a good bit of protein, and for this we feed Nutramar Algae and Color Boost Shots and Pellets as well as a wide array of Gamma Frozen foods. Everything loves the Shots, and they are a staple for our other broodstock as well, though often in the Nutramar Complete formula.

The next step of this process (food wise) sounds a little odd, but here at QM Labs, we only use the Nutramar live Phyto products to feed our food. Yes, you read that right. The smallest larvae will often only accept live food, which means they need rotifers, copepods and later artemia. Critically, these foods also need to be really nutritious, because there is only so much energy these larvae can expend per bite, and the food value of those bites (on average) needs to be higher than what is expended. This has been a challenge in marine aquaculture for decades.

Making microscopic food nutritious means feeding them tons of phytoplankton and as a result, Nutramar's Live Algae Products are the fuel for the entire operation. This has many advantages, it is a normal food for the rotifers, copepods and artemia, but it also allows us to completely avoid using preserved algae, which can foul a system faster than it feeds to critters in it. On the contrary, the Live Algae Products actively consume metabolic waste and provide the most nutritious foods possible for the little critters who will be food themselves; turning them into living vessels of concentrated vitamins and fatty acids (a process you've likely heard of – gut loading).

Rotifers are the smallest of these critters and are fed to the newest and smallest larvae. Among others, our aquacultured Oyster Blennies fall into this camp, as they have notoriously tiny larvae. Next up are the copepods. Once larvae get big enough, they graduate to copepods. There is a huge range of sizes for copepods, and some fish larvae are hatched big enough to eat the smallest ones. Copepods are extremely nutritious when fed well and also have a very erratic swimming motion that makes them neigh irresistible to even the pickiest fish larvae. The final step of the live food process is Artemia (Brine Shrimp, Sea Monkeys, you get the idea). These are “big food” but once they are a couple days old are usually pretty nutritionally poor (unless you gut load them.) Luckily, we have the right blend of Nutramar Live Algae on hand to take care of that.

Once the fry is big enough to take Artemia, they are usually big enough to start taking Nutramar Crumbles and Shots. Weaning the fish onto the prepared foods is done slowly, the same way you would do it with a wild caught fish in your home aquarium, offer both live food and pellets at the same time, until the fish take both with equal gusto, and then taper off amount of live in the ratio. The Shots allow for a great distribution of food, and small amounts can be bitten off them. The Crumbles are also crushable to a very fine bite size, making them appropriate for smaller mouths.

Once fish are big enough to take Nutramar pellets, it becomes the base of the fish's diet. Nutramar Pellets offer unmatched nutritional value, protein levels, fatty acids, mineral content and digestibility and are available in two formulas, “Algae and Color Boost” as well as “Complete.” We then supplement this with thawed foods from Gamma that are also mouth size appropriate. These foods are flash-frozen to preserve the highest possible nutritional value for our (and your) fish. They are also then Gamma irradiated, making sure that absolutely no pathogens can come into your system via your food. That's a guarantee no other frozen food maker can make. 

Succeeding in Marine Aquaculture has never been a matter of luck. It's hardcore science and dedication (and a little luck here and there never hurt anyone). Repeatability requires patience and resolve, and we've found it also requires the absolute peak in regard to nutrition, and that's where Nutramar and Gamma come to the fore. By integrating all the Live Phyto products and the rest of the Nutramar prepared foods, we effectively remove one of the biggest barriers to success. Nutramar offers you every single one of these products, right in your neighborhood Local Fish Store, just ask for them!