Best Place to buy Copepods
- Thread starter asmodyus
- Start date
ChadRaay86
New member
lol, true story
What do you need them for? I bought a bunch of those tigerpods, but really they end up populating on their own from frags you buy, live rock etc. Plus what you can buy are most likely the free swimming kind that will be devoured in minutes. The live rock holds the good ones...
asmodyus
New member
Mandarin of course and I bought a couple of the refrigerator here and there but there seems to be not that many.
ChadRaay86
New member
How old is your tank and how big is it? I have a 300 gallon display with a nice refugium (chaeto, caulerpa, etc) and a ton of pods and I haven't been luck with either of my Mandarins. I introduced one at six months of tank maturity an another at 8 months and neither one did too well. There were plenty of pods (flashlight check at night is a good indicator) as well and I don't have any aggressive fish.
So, depending on your tank size and maturity a mandarin is a risky pursuit. I'm not saying don't go for it, but buying a few hundred or even thousand pods is no replacement for a well established population and large water volume.
If you still want to go for it, find a volume dealer that has thousands of more than one type of copepod for sale (free swimming etc) and introduce them into both your refugium and display at night (when all of your fish are sleeping or they'll go to town). Monitor the growth of the population with flashlight checks and only after a couple months would I try. Also, I think they make a copepod hut (basically a breeder) that you put in the tank and your mandarin can wait out side of for a snack.
Bottom line, mandarins are a very beautiful fish, but much like the moorish idol, they are extremely difficult to care for and IMHO better left in the ocean and out of the hobby as the failure rate in captivity is just too high
Good luck!
So, depending on your tank size and maturity a mandarin is a risky pursuit. I'm not saying don't go for it, but buying a few hundred or even thousand pods is no replacement for a well established population and large water volume.
If you still want to go for it, find a volume dealer that has thousands of more than one type of copepod for sale (free swimming etc) and introduce them into both your refugium and display at night (when all of your fish are sleeping or they'll go to town). Monitor the growth of the population with flashlight checks and only after a couple months would I try. Also, I think they make a copepod hut (basically a breeder) that you put in the tank and your mandarin can wait out side of for a snack.
Bottom line, mandarins are a very beautiful fish, but much like the moorish idol, they are extremely difficult to care for and IMHO better left in the ocean and out of the hobby as the failure rate in captivity is just too high
Good luck!
aguila88psi
Zoa Addict
Get a female Mandarin, they eat frozen and pellets more readily, I would recommend going with a reputable clean source for copepods as you'll be pouring the whole container of the copepods in your system and you don't want to introduce pests
asmodyus
New member
How old is your tank and how big is it? I have a 300 gallon display with a nice refugium (chaeto, caulerpa, etc) and a ton of pods and I haven't been luck with either of my Mandarins. I introduced one at six months of tank maturity an another at 8 months and neither one did too well. There were plenty of pods (flashlight check at night is a good indicator) as well and I don't have any aggressive fish.
So, depending on your tank size and maturity a mandarin is a risky pursuit. I'm not saying don't go for it, but buying a few hundred or even thousand pods is no replacement for a well established population and large water volume.
If you still want to go for it, find a volume dealer that has thousands of more than one type of copepod for sale (free swimming etc) and introduce them into both your refugium and display at night (when all of your fish are sleeping or they'll go to town). Monitor the growth of the population with flashlight checks and only after a couple months would I try. Also, I think they make a copepod hut (basically a breeder) that you put in the tank and your mandarin can wait out side of for a snack.
Bottom line, mandarins are a very beautiful fish, but much like the moorish idol, they are extremely difficult to care for and IMHO better left in the ocean and out of the hobby as the failure rate in captivity is just too high
Good luck!
That is what I was hoping for to find some people or a place that sells in larger quantities the only thing I found so far is this place https://livecopepods.com/PodShop/ online figure I try to find one local. I checked out Reef2Go beside everybody and there mother saying they suck there kinda pricey.
kcsnook
Member
I bought mine from a seller on Ebay that grows all in house and free of pests. Sent you the link in a PM, yes costly but it will help seed your tank. When I set my latest tank up I seeded with 3 types and in my opinion the population exploded. Lights off they are on the glass and rocks and flying and zooming everywhere.
BlueCoast
New member
I purchased some pods back in 2011 from Aquaculture Nursery Farms. I still have mine going strong in a 1 gal container. I sieve it weekly to boost the pod population in the tank. A little phytofeast once a week or so keeps them well fed.
You probably want Tisbe Bimenisis, they are bottom dwellers that the mandarins go after.
My mandarin eats frozen, but I like to have pods in the tank as in-between meal snacks. From what I understand they do not have a well evolved gut and need to eat many many small meals throughout the day.
You probably want Tisbe Bimenisis, they are bottom dwellers that the mandarins go after.
My mandarin eats frozen, but I like to have pods in the tank as in-between meal snacks. From what I understand they do not have a well evolved gut and need to eat many many small meals throughout the day.
BlueCoast
New member
You need to know what kind of pods you are buying, Mandarins are pretty specific about what types of pods they eat. They want benthic(bottom dwelling) not pelagic (free swimming).
I HIGHLY recommend culturing your own pods. It is super easy and provides a constant food supply. The bottled pods will have a hard time reproducing in the reef tank. I dropped $20-30 and still have a culture going 3 years later...
I HIGHLY recommend culturing your own pods. It is super easy and provides a constant food supply. The bottled pods will have a hard time reproducing in the reef tank. I dropped $20-30 and still have a culture going 3 years later...
BlueCoast
New member
very easily... That's how.
They are pretty tolerant of water conditions. I have a little 2 gal hex aquarium that I culture them in. I have also used the BRS containers that the 2 part comes in. Keeping 2 cultures going side by side is a good idea in case you mess up and one crashes.
I have an air line in the tank, no bubbler or airstone, just an open line doing a few bubbles per second.
I use phytofeast for feeding out for convenience. A little bottle lasts a few months. I tint the water with a few drops of phyto, once it clears add a few more drops. Depending on how many pods are in there it can take anywhere from a day to a week to clear up. I use a rotifer sieve I had left over from clown breeding days to sieve them out.
Once a week, or once every 2 weeks, I do about an 80% change. I keep the container lightly covered to reduce evaporation.
That's it.
BlueCoast
New member
Parvo and Acartia are pelagic copepods, they are free swimming in the water column.
Tisbe B. are benthic, they live on the rocks and sandbed.
For mandarins, you would be better with the benthic pods.
MJNTWise
7 Year Newbie
Well as far as reeftogo. I just ordered there Red Mac Pack Algae Pack and was very pleased with how big they are, I will post pics later. This isn't the first time I have ordered from them, I have order there copepods before and was very pleased. I have not order fish or corals from them.
sivart1210
New member
Anyone in the Pinellas park area that could part with some chaeto?
