Copepod Culture
- Thread starter drawman
- Start date
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
I have two Tigriopus cultures, one with slow air and one without. I'm hard pressed to make out any difference in culture growth rate. They seem like hardy little buggers. They put up with all kinds of salinity and my cultures get direct sunlight in the afternoons and don't seem to mind the temperature spikes.
I feed them Gresham's phyto mix product (Phytofeast?) along with a mix of straight IA T-Iso. I'm not so worried about density right now as I have these cultures on hold, but I'm planning on getting one of those aluminum baker's carts (you've seen those, right? Something like this:
, from here: http://www.doc.state.nc.us/EPRISE/products/metalpro.htm) and just filling every shelf with a shallow copepod culture. Even if they aren't the densest cultures, I figure I can make up for that with sheer number of cultures.
I feed them Gresham's phyto mix product (Phytofeast?) along with a mix of straight IA T-Iso. I'm not so worried about density right now as I have these cultures on hold, but I'm planning on getting one of those aluminum baker's carts (you've seen those, right? Something like this:
, from here: http://www.doc.state.nc.us/EPRISE/products/metalpro.htm) and just filling every shelf with a shallow copepod culture. Even if they aren't the densest cultures, I figure I can make up for that with sheer number of cultures.
My culture has been up and running a few days now, No noticeable increase in pods. No loss of pods, so I guess things are going well?
One thing is the side with cheato needs way more phyto? The side with tiger pods needs way less, Dose the cheato use the phyto some how? The cheato side has way less pods in it, but uses phyto much faster.
Another observation is the tiger pods produce a lot of waist. The entire bottom of their side is covered in pod poo.
Do any of you guys have info on the pod life cycle? They lay eggs right? I would like to get a link to the pod life cycle and learn more about these things.
Thanks
Cope
One thing is the side with cheato needs way more phyto? The side with tiger pods needs way less, Dose the cheato use the phyto some how? The cheato side has way less pods in it, but uses phyto much faster.
Another observation is the tiger pods produce a lot of waist. The entire bottom of their side is covered in pod poo.
Do any of you guys have info on the pod life cycle? They lay eggs right? I would like to get a link to the pod life cycle and learn more about these things.
Thanks
Cope
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
From what I recall, it's about a month lifecycle or so? Relax. 
I usually wait three or four months before I harvest out of a culture.
I usually wait three or four months before I harvest out of a culture.
jglackin
New member
The Tiger Pod (tigriopus californicus) is very commonly used in a lot of research. You can google it and get all kinds of information.
I was talking with a friend of mine that lectures on culturing pods and told him what my plan was. His feedback to me is that the trouble with many pods is that they have a very slow breeding cycle. I believe that Tiger Pods can take anywhere from 15 to 25 days to go from egg to adult. That doesn't seem that long, but since my rotifer culture pretty much doubles daily, Tiger pods are much slower. Wait a couple of weeks and then see how things look.
I was talking with a friend of mine that lectures on culturing pods and told him what my plan was. His feedback to me is that the trouble with many pods is that they have a very slow breeding cycle. I believe that Tiger Pods can take anywhere from 15 to 25 days to go from egg to adult. That doesn't seem that long, but since my rotifer culture pretty much doubles daily, Tiger pods are much slower. Wait a couple of weeks and then see how things look.
Any ideas as to why the cheato side uses so much more phyto?
It's funny, I'm having a massive pod explosion in my DT right now? I think it just took some time for the population to rebound from the introduction of my mandy.
I'll give it time and see how it goes.
As far as water changes how do you guys do it? I was thinking about rubber banding a coffee filter over the siphon hose, to strain thwe water from the pods?
Thanks
Cope
It's funny, I'm having a massive pod explosion in my DT right now? I think it just took some time for the population to rebound from the introduction of my mandy.
I'll give it time and see how it goes.
As far as water changes how do you guys do it? I was thinking about rubber banding a coffee filter over the siphon hose, to strain thwe water from the pods?
Thanks
Cope
jglackin
New member
Go here: https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi
They have everything you need for aquaculturing equipment.
They have everything you need for aquaculturing equipment.
kiran523
New member
Does anyone have any experience using algae cryopaste (Nanno, Tet, or Tahitian blend) for their tank? I am using home brewed phyto right now. I have a lot of feather dusters, sponges, non-photosynthetic gorgonians.. Will the paste do the job or will the dead cells (of the paste) just settle to the bottom of the water column before being utilized?
I love the idea of being able to use one product for feeding the culture as well as the tank.
I love the idea of being able to use one product for feeding the culture as well as the tank.
jglackin
New member
I use the paste for both. I have rotifer cultures that I feed the paste to and I feed both the rotifers and the paste to my fuge every night. I have seen nothing other than pod population growth. I also have some filter feeding clams that I got at a Vietnamese grocery store for 10 cents each and they have been thriving on the paste. Everyone told me that they wouldn't last more than a few weeks. I have had them for months.
If you add the paste to your tank, use a very small amount. It is very easy to over feed with that stuff.
If you add the paste to your tank, use a very small amount. It is very easy to over feed with that stuff.
Up date. So all my pods are breading well. The tiger pods are coming along nicely, The side with cheato and pods from my DT worries me tho. The pods are breading, the cheato is growing, but last night I saw a flat worm on the glass. I'm sure it was a flat worm, looked like an amoeba, with a "V" tail. So how worried should I be about flat worms in my DT? I have never seen any in my tank, but The cheato came out of my fuge, so it seems to reason they are living in my fuge and DT.
Thanks.
Cope
Thanks.
Cope
runningstix
New member
Jeepers, I have been running a copepod culture for two months now. I use two tupperware containers with no lid and a zip lock cut in half over it. These sit on my kitchen countertop. I started with about 20 copepods in each container which I got from a fellow reefer. I feed each containter 5 drops of kent phytoflex there is no bubbler in it. The progress is amazing right now there are literly thousands in each container. Its very easy and almost impossible to mess it up.
Chad Vossen
New member
for awhile i grew about 10-15 gallons of phyto and all my phyto cultures were contaminated with copepods from my tank. each week i would just syphon a few bottles of phyto through a plastic coffee filter and dump the massive number of copepods into my reef tank.
