Collecting copepods locally

[paytonv]

Im in Longwood and was wondering if anyone knows of any places locally from ocean of course where I can harvest live copepods to add to my system. If so, where? I appreciate the help.

 

[JUICE!]

skinny joe probably will tell you....he's getting mostly amphepods though

 

[MitchReef]

If you are a member of ORCA, and you come to the meeting, SkinnyJoe will probably just bring ya some, unless the thrill of the hunt does it for you....Contact him, bring a bucket of tank water and a battery bubbler and he will load you up...

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

yep. i've been trying to go out but it's been storming over here the last 3 days. i'll try again tommorow. as far as collecting them it's easy but getting all the other muck out is a different story. i'll make a post tommorow or early saturday to get a list of people that want some

 

[adamjr]

Joe, is this somethign you have to dive deep for? Any how-to instructions? Sounds like an interesting project for when I move down.

 

[chrisstie]

Be careful of what you get locally. You could be bringing in localized bacterias/protozoans that could be harmful to your tank that would be different than in the much less polluted open water areas.

If you bought any amount of live rock copepods will be there so long as they have a food source - phyto, etc

Not saying not to do it, just be cautious

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12829163#post12829163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adamjr
Joe, is this somethign you have to dive deep for? Any how-to instructions? Sounds like an interesting project for when I move down.

nope just collect seaweed and then there is a long and crappy process to get the pods out and like chrisstie said not get the bad stuff. the are setup in a 55 gallon in the garage and there is bioballs setup in the water column then the pods hangout in the balls and all you have to do is take some water out the tap the bioballs over the bucket and they fall out and no other stuff gets into the water. i never advise to use the water. just take a net and get them out. they will range from .5mm to 5mm big. i have to use a 55 gallon due to the amount i can get. the last time i collected a bunch they crashed the tank. i would say in the hundereds of thousands. btw like everyones is saying the are ampipods not copepods. the people that get them from me have no adverse afects and there mandiarns get fat and all the other fish also like them. another cool thing is they are breeding when you collect them. within weeks you will see the egg shells all over the tank. when you move down here i show you in person how to strain them.

 

[Meisen]

Yeah bioballs are the perfect growth medium for pods apparently. Some species feed on the bacteria and/or detritus that buildup in them. We used to have a biotower made from a 6' X 20" sewer pipe section (yeah, thats a lot of balls!) on our coldwater marine tank. When we took it down for cleaning after a year or so it had literally millions of pods in it. I was cleaning up pod bodies off the counters and sink area for months and I collected a couple ziplocs full of them (froze em and fed em back to the tank.....)

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12944483#post12944483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Meisen
Yeah bioballs are the perfect growth medium for pods apparently. Some species feed on the bacteria and/or detritus that buildup in them. We used to have a biotower made from a 6' X 20" sewer pipe section (yeah, thats a lot of balls!) on our coldwater marine tank. When we took it down for cleaning after a year or so it had literally millions of pods in it. I was cleaning up pod bodies off the counters and sink area for months and I collected a couple ziplocs full of them (froze em and fed em back to the tank.....)

yea the bioballs are a nice thing. when i give them to people it's nice to only give them the pods and not the other stuff out of the river. one time i collected so many in the 55 gallon they were making it all the way to the garage door 25 feet away. and these things breed live mad.

 

[adamjr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12831634#post12831634 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skinnyjoe1976
nope just collect seaweed and then there is a long and crappy process to get the pods out and like chrisstie said not get the bad stuff. the are setup in a 55 gallon in the garage and there is bioballs setup in the water column then the pods hangout in the balls and all you have to do is take some water out the tap the bioballs over the bucket and they fall out and no other stuff gets into the water. i never advise to use the water. just take a net and get them out. they will range from .5mm to 5mm big. i have to use a 55 gallon due to the amount i can get. the last time i collected a bunch they crashed the tank. i would say in the hundereds of thousands. btw like everyones is saying the are ampipods not copepods. the people that get them from me have no adverse afects and there mandiarns get fat and all the other fish also like them. another cool thing is they are breeding when you collect them. within weeks you will see the egg shells all over the tank. when you move down here i show you in person how to strain them.

That's awesome and a lot of great info. I booked my airline tickets for Nov 7 through 11 so I will be down there for the launch if it doesn't get scrubbed/postponed. BTW, did hyou ever get that email I sent while your PM box was full?

Adam

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

i may have got your email but i don't pay much attention to it. my pm box is now empty so shot me a pm. i get my wife to put in for launch tickets for that launch and cross are fingers that it goes in that time frame