breeding copepods sg level

E

ecomdesign

New member
I have been looking into breeding my own copepods to ensure my mandarin doesnt run out of food in my 90 gallon tank. I do have a small refugium, but I still want to breed copepods just to be sure.

To breed copepods I will also be culturing phytoplankton. According to the information I have gathered so far I need to use saltwater with an SG of 1.019-1.020 when culturing the phyto. The copepod SG should be equal to the SG in my tank which is 1.025.

Whats the best method of raising the batch of phyto to an SG of 1.025 when starting the copepod breeding tank?

AS I understand, when filling the the copepod tank to start I fill it about 1/2 way with phytoplankton and add the copepods. No other saltwater is added, or can just enough be added to raise the SG?

Sorry for the newbie question...
 
What species of phytoplankton do you intend to use? I use Isochrysis now, and have been culturing it at around 1.023. You could then just use it directly to feed copepods at 1.024, and then move the copepods to your tank at 1.025.

It's important that you have identified the problem with refugiums: without supplemental feeding, copepod production is only going to equal that of the system - possibly nutrient poor if it is a reef tank. Since feeding the refugium is just going to increase nutrients in the tank, it is always best to culture copepods in another system.

The "natural" carrying capacity of a reef tank can often be quite low. I once had a pair of shrimpfish eat up all of the copepods and mysids in a 1300 gallon reef and a 200 gallon refugium...without supplemental feeding they would have starved.

Jay
 
Don't underestimate the work required to maintain phytoplankton cultures and a seperate tank for copepods. As JHemdal pointed out the best salinity for growing phytoplankton will depend on the species.
 
dont under estimate the ability of a copepod, they can be droped from 1.019 straight into 1.025 and never skip a beat!
 
My LFS only sells Nannochloropsis Phyto, so I think I will try that first. From what I read, its the most common. I'm not sure about the type of copepod yet. I have seen tigerpods around here, but from what I understand they do not reproduce well at temperatures found in the home reef aquaium. Any recommendations?
 
You could just make some 'copepod condos' and leave them in your sump. Swap them out in the main tank when needed.

IMG_2382.JPG
 
I have posted a link on breeding pods in the invert forum under pods,pods, and more pods. I raise two kinds and I keep the SG the same as my tank and they do very well I get more than enough pods for my tank and others around my local reef club. They seem to do better with just room temp 70 to 75 is best as I found that warmer temps slow down the reproduction. I also will say this what ever you use to raise then ( tank, water, tubes,ect..) make sure it's just for them alone and keep things sterile as you can. Use 1/4 inch ridged air line with 1/4 flex air line to syphon them out on to a sieve rated for pods then shake into your tank as needed. Once you start the culture give it a month until you start pulling them out so they have time to produce a good population. At this time you will want to back fill the tank with clean water (made just for the culture) and drain the tank down to about a inch or two then fill it back up but only half way is all that is needed. Then once a month after that strain all the pods out and restart your culture after you clean the tank out. I have been raising pods for over a year now with great results. As far as phyto goes I use reef nutrition phyto feast one bottle goes a good ways, you could raise phyto but you will have way more than you will ever use they are not like rotifers and they way they eat. I put a few drops in my cultures 2 maybe 3 times a week so it could cost you less money and time to just buy phyto.

If you need any help please feel free to PM me and I will be more than happy to give you any advice you need good luck!
 
thanks for all that info! Point taken about doing my own phyto. I thought I would need alot because from what I understand from what I have read online I use 100% phyto to breed compepods, but I'm not sure I have understood correctly as that seems a little much.

I read the sticky mentioned above. I never new it was there!
 
The Nanochloropisis will grow well at most any reasonable salinity, including your planed copepod culture salinity. So I'd just culture it all at the same salinity to make life easy ;)
 
Why do you want to go to the trouble of culturing phyto to feed to your (most likely harpacticoid) copepods? Most of them are benthic and feed off small meaty foods and dead algae. If you crush up some good-quality fish foods they will happily take that.
 
"Umm said:
Why do you want to go to the trouble of culturing phyto to feed to your (most likely harpacticoid) copepods? Most of them are benthic and feed off small meaty foods and dead algae. If you crush up some good-quality fish foods they will happily take that.
Click to expand...

Doing that in a steril culture would foul the water then it will crash. Phyto works well and I have seen great results using the said above method. Im sure in a reef system it's is fine as you have other things to filter the water but in a pod culture it's very easy for things to go south very fast.
 
Well, okay. I'm not completely sure what you mean by a sterile copepod culture, though. Why wouldn't you want nitrifying bacteria in there? I usually run mine in open tupperware containers and they seem pretty stable.
 
I mean steril as clean water, I don't use none of the stuff for my pod cultures for my tank. From what I have learned it's that you don't want to build up to many ammonia more than from the pods waste, that if you do introduce non steril water ie tank water and such then you risk putting in other organisms that may compeat with your pods or take them over. If you are trying to raise a single kind of pod you would want it to be steril so that you know that is all your pulling out of your culture. As for placing foods such as flakes or any other meaty foods you would foul the water and cause the ammonia to get to high and the culture will crash I have seen it happen many of times. Also for the most nutritinal value gained it is HUFFA that gives the pods this to pass along to the fish (which can be gained from gut loading with proper phyto) So to keep all as simple as can be using clean water, lab bought pods, and phyto you have a better chance at keeping everything under control. Now im sure there are many ways to culture pods and saying this as your not wrong but this is what I have learned and read. This works very well for me and has for a good while with no problems to the point that I have more than enough pods for my tank and others as they may need them. Please explain the way you have been rasing pods as I would like to give it a shot.
 
Oh, okay. Well, sure. I use new water as well. Honestly, I culture them just like I culture rotifers (different foods, of course): Large daily water changes. If you are doing a 40-50% water change per day, you can feed them pretty much whatever. Remember, too, that copepods have the ability to synthesize their own HUFAs and store them for longer periods of time, so their nutritional quality is much better than, say, rotifers and for a much longer time. That said, you do want to feed them a good quality food. It's just not as vital to gut-load them as intensively before feeding to your tank as you would do with rots. Besides, harpacticoids will find plenty of food in your tank and, so, will keep their quality high 'til the fish find them.

But, my usual method is to culture them in tupperware filled with bioballs. For the first couple of months I don't harvest, just do water changes. I sometimes aerate the cultures, sometimes not. It doesn't seem to matter.
 
Ok cool ill have to try it that way. I do a water change once a month with mine, and they get air all day everyday with nothing in the tank but water and them. What food do you feed them?
 
Daily water changes? have you noticed better growth this way or is it because of the food your giving them. Just wondering as i will be trying to start breeding this weekend. Maybe i will change the water every other week. also curious about the bio balls. I dont understand if they are bottom feeders, what purpose do the balls serve? again, fairly new to all of this and just trying to get as much input as i can.
 
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