culturing zooplankton

[fatkatx]

I'd like to set up a low-cost system for culturing various live enriched zoops in a range of sizes from rotifers to pods to brine shrimp.

Does anyone have any pics/experience in such a setup?
What are the basics I need to know to effectively culture these guys?
Are they worth the trouble to supplement the inert diet for my tank?

Thanks!

 

[mscarpena]

In my experience they are not worth the trouble. I raised clownfish for about 3.5 years and stopped because it took so much time. I raise phyto, rotifers, and brine shrimp. I feed a wide variety of frozen foods and find that to be easiest, best, and cheapest. My electric bill was about $240.00 per month in the winter. It is now under $100.00 consistanly. Set up is not very hard. Any water container will do with sponge filters or just air stones. Lots of tank cleaning, and water changes. Also they tend to crash a lot at start up. Also phytoplankton and rotifers really do not do very well at higher salinity as a reef tank. I would stick with the frozen foods. GL and if you decide to do it and want more info PM me and I would be glad to help.

 

[Myrddraal]

I'm raising tigriopsis (sp?) in a three drawer rubbermaid paper container. I feed them DT's to keep the water very pale green, and otherwise ignore them. I harvest each tray once a week or so, pouring it out through a brine shrimp net. I discard the old water, top off with fresh ASW, and start over. Enough pods stay on the walls of the drawer that I don't need to worry about adding any to restart the culture.

 

[mscarpena]

How long does a bottle of DT's last you. Also DT's is about $20.00 per bottle?? I think Tigriopsis are large copepod from Alaska right??? All I was saying is you need to weight the time and cost to the benifit. I can not get anything locally to start a culture so I need to overnight or at least 2 day everything and that is expensive with shipping cost.

Also yu could put a few 3-4 pepermint shrimp in a sump an they reproduce a lot. Thats is good natural food.

 

[Myrddraal]

They're tiggerpods basically, a calanoid copepod. The medium bottle of DTs is around $25 here, lasts about a month or so.

 

[fatkatx]

cool thanks for the advice, I was thinking of introducing a small fairy wrasse to my 25gal mixed reef and with its small mouth, I thought live brine nauplii or pods would be a healthy supplement. But, mscarpena if it's as expensive as u say it is I think ill stick to frozen.

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15026704#post15026704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Myrddraal
They're tiggerpods basically, a calanoid copepod. The medium bottle of DTs is around $25 here, lasts about a month or so.

Tigriopus californicus are harpacticoids, not calanoids.

They range from Baja, Mexico to Alaska. They are not oceanic living copepods but rather "upper splash zone" tide pool critters. They can take a wide range of living conditions, from _90f to 50f in seconds.

 

[CLINTOS]

What size range are Tigriopus californicus compared to amphipod and rotifer's?

what do they eat?

can they survive a while in the aquarium or reproduce?

 

[GreshamH]

2 seconds on google yielded...

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/phyla/rotifera/rotifera.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphipoda

Depends on what amphipods and what rotifer we're talking about really. Rotifers range from ~30µl to 500µl, while amphipods can get
massive at around 140mm (or small as 1mm).

Your average adult "L" type rotifer is ~275µl
Your average adult Tigriopus californicus is ~1.7mm - 2.5mm
Not sure on your common aquaria amphipod but probably at least ~3mm to 4mm (at least the ones I normally see are about that size @ full adult)

Yes T. californicus can reproduce and survive in aquaria. Some strains or more adapt to this then others due to how some culture them/selectively breed them. With out over stepping the UA that is all I can say on T. californicus.