Collecting ocean pods?

[oldsaltman]

I have to make a trip to the beach soon and would like to collect some pods. I can get to an area that should be clean and non commercial. How and where do I find pods and collect them?

 

[illal]

why do you want ocean pods??? you should have plenty in yur fuge

 

[greenbean36191]

You tow a plankton net.

 

[oldsaltman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9313945#post9313945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by illal
why do you want ocean pods??? you should have plenty in yur fuge

That is the problem. I did have some but I can only find a few now. I would just like to add a few thousand. I wasn't planing on towing my boat there so don't think I will try the "plankton net".

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9314115#post9314115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SA057
T I wasn't planing on towing my boat there so don't think I will try the "plankton net".

they have hand plankton nets. you asked how to do it, that is how its done.
https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=186765.31459*eJ64-1&next=6&product=COLLECTORS

 

[oldsaltman]

Sorry, I took it as a joke.

 

[oldsaltman]

Do you just scoop up ocean water and filter them out?

 

[alan214]

Once you catch them, you're going to need a food source for the pods. This may become a circular conversation at that point because if you had the right conditions in your tank, you'd most likely already have pods.

If the goal is to just "feed" the pods you catch to the tank inhabitants then I suppose there's no need to worry about providing them nourishment.

 

[oldsaltman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9314594#post9314594 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alan214
Once you catch them, you're going to need a food source for the pods. This may become a circular conversation at that point because if you had the right conditions in your tank, you'd most likely already have pods.

If the goal is to just "feed" the pods you catch to the tank inhabitants then I suppose there's no need to worry about providing them nourishment.

OK, more explanation. 18 month old tank, very good, stable water chemistry, healthy fish etc. Mostly DIY live rock so not many pods to start with. It was seeded with some live rock. I just want to increase the pod population.

 

[mcurl98]

Are you talking about copepods, amphipods, isopods? If copepods, when I dose DTs on a regular basis, the population really explodes and stays at a high level. They breed very quickly.

 

[rustybucket145]

feed phytoplankton! you feed the bottom of the food chain, and it in turn feeds everything else. All the way up the line.

 

[illal]

who knows what your adding to your tank when you do it that way... theres no need to add them with the right water conditions in an established tank....if you dont already have a dsb in your fuge i suggest that

 

[oldsaltman]

I did feed phyto for a while. I cultured my on, but the culture crashed after about two months. I guess I can but some. I would just like to get some free pods if i can do it that way.

 

[LeslieH]

You don't need a plankton net, nice though they are. Go to a clean beach where you can get to submerged rocks, algae, & sea grass. Take a large aquarium net & a large bucket or plastic tub with a tight fitting lid. Fill the bucket with seawater. Sweep the net quickly through the sea grass or algae then swish it through the water in the bucket to wash out the pods. You may also get small snails, nudibranchs, and other critters as well. Pick up algae-covered rocks & clumps of sea grass & swish them in the bucket. Pods are not always abundant so you could get 1000s or just a few. When I want to bring live animals back to my lab I cut a small hole through the bucket lid so I can insert a tubing with an airstone which is connected to a battery powered airpump. Are you in the tropics? If not the pods may not lsurvive in your tank long enough to establish a population.

 

[Xirxes23]

if there are tidepools nearby you can just go at low tide and use a large syringe to suck up some pooled water... absolutely loaded with pods, as they get trapped when the tide recedes.

 

[oldsaltman]

TIDEPOOLS

I should have thought of that. Thanks

 

[kryppy]

Great thread.

Some of those ocean pods are mean, and BIG!!

Be careful what you add to the tank. Big goggle eyed isopods are bad.