copepods in a bottle!

[m1nh0h]

one of my lfs sells a bottle of copepods sufficient for a 40 gallon tank. If i dumped the copepods into my 30 gallon tank how long would it last before a mandarin goby eats them all? I have had my tank for almost 6 months and there are already some copepods in there. I know its difficult but I want to try to train it to eat frozen food too.

 

[lilyost4290]

It wouldnt last long. Mandarins eat constantly throughout the day. Do you have a fuge? This might help them last longer but I still think you'd have to add more once in a while.

 

[m1nh0h]

I have a hob fuge made from an ac70

 

[Recty]

I'm pretty sure the copepods in a bottle are usually tiger pods, which I believe are a colder water species. They survive in a tropical aquarium but I dont think they reproduce, so you wont end up with tons of baby copepods growing into adults over and over again as a sustainable food source.

 

[SushiGirl]

Wouldn't take long at all, maybe a couple days.

 

[namxas]

As recty mentioned, Tigriopus californicus is a temperate species that doesn't reproduce well at normal tropical temps. What happens is at warm temps, an inordinate number of males are produced, so the culture just burns out.

If you want a pod that reproduces well, look into Tisbe sp.. They're smaller, but reproduce well at "reef" temps.

 

[m1nh0h]

how long do i have to let the tisbe ones populate before i can add in a mandarin goby?

 

[NewbyReefer]

how long do i have to let the tisbe ones populate before i can add in a mandarin goby?

You really shouldn't unless you have a large fuge. A manderin will likely wipe out your pod population within a month or 2 then starve out. Thats why the suggested tank size for such a small fish is 75 gal, just so the pod population can regenerate as fast as the fish eats them. Another thing I've seen success with is if you have a large fuge it might be able to work. (Friend has a 55 gal with a 30 gal fuge). Another idea is see if you LFS can get in the ones that are raised on prepaired foods. They're about twice the price but worth it in the long run.

 

[m1nh0h]

I see, im going to ask my lfs to try to train one for me. If not i'll try to train them myself in a breeder net in my tank. thanks!

 

[djkms]

As recty mentioned, Tigriopus californicus is a temperate species that doesn't reproduce well at normal tropical temps. What happens is at warm temps, an inordinate number of males are produced, so the culture just burns out.

If you want a pod that reproduces well, look into Tisbe sp.. They're smaller, but reproduce well at "reef" temps.

This is not true. I cultured Tigri pods for months at 78 degrees and they reproduced just fine. Or maybe I was just lucky....

 

[Ooulophilia]

If you want a good pod starter culture, find someone with an established fuge and get a handful of chaeto and then swirl it around in your tank - you will have a microfauna population established before you know it.

 

[JamesH831]

IMO, you'd be much better off getting one thats eating prepared food (brine shrimp doesn't count ) or training one to do so yourself. I think of it as insurance in case something happens to my pod population.

 

[alton]

Look in the new Coral Magazine, they show how to raise Tiger Pods in quart jars. Also I have raised a Mandarin along with a friend who raised one in a 29. You have to set up a couple of areas of rubble or large substrate for pods to grow and not keep them with aggressive eaters. I had mine in with two jawfish, he had the run of the tank for grazing since the jawfish stayed in one place. After a year I moved him to my 40 gallon where he lives with two different jawfish.

 

[el aguila]

I have been culturing Tigriporous copepods for over 8 months at room temperature with good results. With a mandarian, I would culture Tisbes instead of Tiger pods.

Very easy - take a plastic rubbermaid conatainer about 4 x 10 x 14 or larger. Place 1 1/2" to 2" of freshly mixed saltwater (same salitnity as your tank) in, add copepod starter, add a few drops of Reed's phytofeast to tint the color of the water green. With my experience there is enough surface area with a shallow container to allow for gas exchange that an air pump is not needed.

Reed's phyto feast is a mixture of 4 different phytos including nanocloropsis (which is relatively easily cultured). The other 3 phytos are a little more difficult to culture. I don't have time to culture them and find it easier to buy Reeds. I am having much better results with the Reeds product than when I used Nano by itself.

Add phyto as needed to keep the water lightly tinted green. When water evaporates add RO water as needed to maintain salinity (about every 2-3 days). Weekly siphon half of the culture out (sucking the gunk off of the bottem) straining them through a sieve to seperate the copepods, add fresh water and phyto back to the culture.

I tried this in 5 gallon buckets, 5" of culture depth, and an airstone, nano, but the cultures crashed on me frequently.

You can set up more than one culture with different weekly harvest days to keep your aquarium well supplied with pods. While you can train a mandarian to eat pellets, it will probably stay healthier in a tank your size if you will culture pods to feed it also.

 

[treesprite]

I was kind of wondering the same thing about tigger pods from the LFS. My pair of dragonettes eat food I put in the tank, and I see pods running around sometimes, but with these fish there's always a bit of worry involved.