Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Temperature range for plankton

Microalgae / Planktonic Algae - Most Beneficial Types. The least beneficial group would probably be the blue-greens or Cyanobacteria or Cyanophyta esp. the large filamentous and colonial types. These are often too large for zooplankton to filter from the water. I think the blue-greens are also the least nutritious of the algal groups. Many zooplankton are pretty much indiscriminate filters and strain, collect, and eat microalgae and organic detritus from the water. There is a big size range for the planktonic animals that inhabit the water column. The bigger filter feeding organism you are the bigger things you can eat; however exceptions occur. Most protozoans (one celled animals) range in size from 20um (1/50mm) to 250um (1/4mm). Rotifers range from 50um to 250um and the largest types are abt. 1000um (1mm). Planktonic Crustacea are usu. 250um to the largest of 18mm; however most are 500um to 1000um. When you are this small you have to eat things a lot smaller than yourself.

These organisms are responsible for collecting the "green" water and moving it up to the next feeding level; phytoplankton as the food or nutrition-energy goes to zooplankton. Phytoplankton are eaten for only a short while by newly hatched fish. As they quickly increasse in size they switch to smaller zooplankton then larger zooplankton. The medium and larger zooplankton are eaten usu. by the smallest fish. Now the food or energy is in the third level. Lots of phytoplankton are required to produce food for the small fingerling fish.