Buying copepods or just bags of water?

FireViper

New member
So far, I've had two orders of copepods delivered from recommended online sellers. My eyes are not as good as they once were, and I'm struggling to see anything larger than specks in the bags, and certainly not anything moving. Are they so tiny I just can't see them? They've both been the "five variety of pods, plus phytoplankton" and are suppose to number in the thousands.

I've picked up a couple bottles of tigger pods from the LFSs, and I can see them easily.

Thanks for any insights!
 
So far, I've had two orders of copepods delivered from recommended online sellers. My eyes are not as good as they once were, and I'm struggling to see anything larger than specks in the bags, and certainly not anything moving. Are they so tiny I just can't see them? They've both been the "five variety of pods, plus phytoplankton" and are suppose to number in the thousands.

I've picked up a couple bottles of tigger pods from the LFSs, and I can see them easily.

Thanks for any insights!



The only time I have been impressed by pods from an online seller they were the amphipod/copepod mix from liveaquaria. I don't how they count them but they are definitely in there. I prefer their pack and ship method as well. They populate a sponge you can just drop in the sump or tank. It can be left in. I have gotten >2 mm Amphipods.

Apexpods from Reef Nutrition are definitely moving when you can get them.




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I wondered the same the first time I bought pods. As I recall my LFS has just gotten a shipment. I emailed the supplier and was told that their life cycle was x days swimming, y days as eggs or cysts or something inactive, etc. and they might be mostly in a dormant stage. I was using the bag to start a culture in a plastic jar from pretzels. Sure enough a few days later my jar had swarms of pods.

I recommend getting a cheap magnifying glass, preferably one with a built in light. It is so helpful for seeing pods, checking out unidentified things that pop up in the tank, etc.
 
You should be able to see em . Be mindful they more than likely will die if temp reaches 80s and unless you report it to the shipper you won't get nothing but fish snacks . I wouldn't order any online once warms days hit


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The only way I know of to get a LOT of pods is to culture them. That's actually fairly easy to do - simply order Algagen pure cultures, set up a 2-1/2 or 5 gallon tank with an air bubbler (no heater required), and feed them PhytoFeast. The regular PhytoFeast is perfectly fine, you don't need the "live" version. You want to put a few drops of the Phyto in per day - enough to slightly cloud the water, but not so much that it settles out on the bottom.

After a week or two, you'll have thousands in the tank. Mix the tank up, pour off half of the culture into your tank or refugium, and refill with new saltwater of the same specific gravity, and start adding more phyto. You'll grow a massive amount of them if you choose.
 
The only way I know of to get a LOT of pods is to culture them. That's actually fairly easy to do - simply order Algagen pure cultures, set up a 2-1/2 or 5 gallon tank with an air bubbler (no heater required), and feed them PhytoFeast. The regular PhytoFeast is perfectly fine, you don't need the "live" version. You want to put a few drops of the Phyto in per day - enough to slightly cloud the water, but not so much that it settles out on the bottom.

After a week or two, you'll have thousands in the tank. Mix the tank up, pour off half of the culture into your tank or refugium, and refill with new saltwater of the same specific gravity, and start adding more phyto. You'll grow a massive amount of them if you choose.

That's what I've been trying. So far, not much luck. Then again, I've seeded the tank with the alleged copepods from one of the suppliers. Small heater, a couple pounds of live rock, some seaweed (forgot the name, but a big clump of green stuff), some live sand as well. Stuff floating in the water, but alas, nothing that looks alive.

Thanks for the help!
 
Breaking news. Several days later, and we have one copepod swimming in the container. We transferred the water out of the bag and in to a glass container, added some phytofeast as well.

Will reach out to the seller. . . .
 
Seller replied that the pods were all healthy and thriving when they arrived on Thursday and that there's more to keeping them alive than adding phytofeast, something that they don't eat, anyway.
 
Then you probably need to find a new supplier. Most copepods that we're interested in eat phytoplankton exclusively. There's a reason that Algagen sells it.
 
Seller replied that the pods were all healthy and thriving when they arrived on Thursday and that there's more to keeping them alive than adding phytofeast, something that they don't eat, anyway.

Nope, time to find a new supplier, you observed activity in the bags and there seemed to be none. Not sure who you used but don't do business with them again.
 
Thanks all. Indeed, I'm looking for another supplier.

The subsequent emails I received were even more stunning--never have I received such condescending comments from someone in the retail/customer service world. I penned a review for Amazon, though I'm sitting on it till my fury drops. Even my 12 year old daughter was aghast at his replies. Maybe cooler heads will prevail, but, somehow I'm not so sure.

IIRC, I read a thread lamenting the quality of products and customer service in the marine/reef tank hobby world. While we're new to the hobby, seems to be spot on in a lot of instances.

FWIW, the seller is Aquaculture Nursery Farms. Will never, ever, buy from them again.
 
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Sorry to hear you had issues. That's a bummer.

I have ordered copepods, amphipods and glass shrimp from them in the past and have had good results. Maybe it was just a bad or delayed shipment. But definitely sounds like they need to work on customer service.
 
FireViper -

Don't know if this will work for you, but I'll describe what I did. I ordered 4 different varieties of Algagen pods from Live Aquaria (they do still sell them). I set up 4 different 5 gallon tanks with airstones and no heater. The tanks got a little clump of sanitized chaetomorpha (accomplished by soaking in cold chlorinated tap water for 30 minutes), and that's it - otherwise bare.

I ordered Algagen's PhycoPure when I got the pods, but didn't order it again because it's very dilute and somewhat expensive. I switched to regular old phytofeast after that. Cultures were kept at room temp, and received about a 1/4 teaspoon of phyto every 3 days. Culture water was artificial seawater diluted to a specific gravity of 1.020. Evaporation make-up was manual with RODI.

Cultures were harvested by pouring entire contents through very fine nylon mesh after about 2 weeks. Mesh was rinsed off in fresh seawater in a glass that revealed hundreds of the little buggers. One half was used to feed critters (pipefish), one half was poured back into the culture tanks for another round.
 
FireViper -

Don't know if this will work for you, but I'll describe what I did. I ordered 4 different varieties of Algagen pods from Live Aquaria (they do still sell them). I set up 4 different 5 gallon tanks with airstones and no heater. The tanks got a little clump of sanitized chaetomorpha (accomplished by soaking in cold chlorinated tap water for 30 minutes), and that's it - otherwise bare.

I ordered Algagen's PhycoPure when I got the pods, but didn't order it again because it's very dilute and somewhat expensive. I switched to regular old phytofeast after that. Cultures were kept at room temp, and received about a 1/4 teaspoon of phyto every 3 days. Culture water was artificial seawater diluted to a specific gravity of 1.020. Evaporation make-up was manual with RODI.

Cultures were harvested by pouring entire contents through very fine nylon mesh after about 2 weeks. Mesh was rinsed off in fresh seawater in a glass that revealed hundreds of the little buggers. One half was used to feed critters (pipefish), one half was poured back into the culture tanks for another round.
Thanks a ton. Very helpful, indeed! How small does the mesh need to be? Standard fish tank net, or the wife's nylon stockings? Since I apparently can't see the little buggers, I'd imagine the stockings. . . .
 
Thanks a ton. Very helpful, indeed! How small does the mesh need to be? Standard fish tank net, or the wife's nylon stockings? Since I apparently can't see the little buggers, I'd imagine the stockings. . . .



More like filter sock. Microns.


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I use Nitex, about 50 micron. Most copes are in the 1mm - 2mm range (1000 to 2000 microns, while the nauplii are perhaps 1/10th that size, so a slightly bigger nitex net would work. Lots of places sell nitex, both as the raw material and nets made out of it.
 
FWIW, the seller is Aquaculture Nursery Farms. Will never, ever, buy from them again.

FireViper -

Don't know if this will work for you, but I'll describe what I did. I ordered 4 different varieties of Algagen pods from Live Aquaria (they do still sell them).


Interesting timing as I was looking to buy some pods and was considering ANF. And even more interesting of an observation, the description of Parvo pods on the sites....

Bottom of ANF:
Parvocalanus crassirostris is recognized by top aquaculturists and aquarium breeders as one of the best live foods for the smallest and most difficult of the marine fish larvae due to the small size of the nauplii.

This small pelagic copepod is rich in essential fatty acids and provides good nutrition for developing larval fish. In aquariums, the small size is optimum for capture by the finest filter feeders such as feather dusters and Christmas tree worms, SPS corals and sponges.Tropical marine species. Herbivorous, Eats microalgae, Phytoplankton. Reproduces by scattering eggs.

Beginning of LA:
Parvocalanus crassirostris is recognized by top aquaculturists and aquarium breeders as one of the best live foods for the smallest and most difficult of the marine fish larvae due to the small size of the nauplii. This small pelagic copepod is rich in essential fatty acids and provides good nutrition for developing larval fish. In aquariums, the small size is optimum for capture by the finest filter feeders such as feather dusters and Christmas tree worms, SPS corals and sponges.


hmmmmm
 
That is interesting, and makes you wonder who's copying who. But as long as the bag/bottle says "Algagen", I'm happy with it. Everything I've bought with their label has had plenty of live pods in it.
 
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