has any one ever cultured tigger pods for their dragonette?
- Thread starter cside
- Start date
alton
Well-known member
I thought there was a post somewhere here on Reef Central that you could not? The problem that I see with them is they stay in the water column for all fish to eat, plus with them being red it is very easy for them to get picked up. When I put a bottle in my 40g for seeding my jawfish went ballistic and ate them all because of they way they swim, and yes I released them 1/2 hour after the lights went out. One thing I can attest to fish love them.
namxas
Things With Stings R Us!
Besides being "pelagic", Tigriopus californicus is actually a coolwater species that produces an inodinate number of males at "tropical" temps, so the culture eventually burns itself out rather quickly. However, these pods are great for one-time feedings.
A better choice would be a demersal species such as Tisbe sp., which are available from Premium Aquatics and other sellers of such critters. Note that these pods are much smaller than "tiggers" and aren't bright red swimmers, nor do they have a catchy nickname.
HTH
A better choice would be a demersal species such as Tisbe sp., which are available from Premium Aquatics and other sellers of such critters. Note that these pods are much smaller than "tiggers" and aren't bright red swimmers, nor do they have a catchy nickname.
HTH
sslak
New member
I cultured tigger pods for the first 3 months I had my mandarin. I found it very easy. I cultured phyto in soda bottles and pods in Glad double sandwich containers.
The problem is after adding literally hundreds of thousands of pods to my fuge, once I quit culturing them I stopped seeing them in the fuge. As others said, tigger pods don't live and reproduce in a reef tank very well, if at all.
I also target fed the mandarin out of a pipette and she now eats mysis/brine and other prepared foods from the pipette now that she's been trained.
The problem is after adding literally hundreds of thousands of pods to my fuge, once I quit culturing them I stopped seeing them in the fuge. As others said, tigger pods don't live and reproduce in a reef tank very well, if at all.
I also target fed the mandarin out of a pipette and she now eats mysis/brine and other prepared foods from the pipette now that she's been trained.
seafarm
Premium Member
Tigger-Pods will NOT grow well in your main display tank. They are too large to hide so they get eaten quickly, and they starve because there is not enough microalgae for them to feed on.
They are NOT cold water species. We've been culturing them at 75-90 F for many years. And there is no significant bias towards males and females at higher temperatures.
.....
Tigriopus californicus don't live in the ocean - they live in the warm splash zone pools up above the ocean. These pools are shallow and get quite warm during the day, some much warmer than reef systems. The following published scientific study shows that they live in temperatures ranging from 42 to 92 F:
(http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...CDE6D441F93.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=70713).
In the tide pools where Tigger-Pods live there are no predators so they don't have the instincts to hide in the rocks when fish come by. Since they don't hide they get eaten pretty quickly in display tanks. We recommend they be cultured in a sump or refugium where there are no predators. They can also be easily cultured in a separate system like a 9x13 cake pan.
The population of copepods in a reef system is often food limited by the amount of natural microalgae that the reef system produces each day. If you supplement with microalgae you increase the amount of available food, and hence the population that can be supported. When additional pods are added the amount of food required immediately goes up, especially when feeding very large copepods like Tigger-Pods. Unfortunately many people don't add additional microalgae so both the Tigger-Pods and the existing copepod population end up with a food shortage and quickly starve.
They are NOT cold water species. We've been culturing them at 75-90 F for many years. And there is no significant bias towards males and females at higher temperatures.
.....
Tigriopus californicus don't live in the ocean - they live in the warm splash zone pools up above the ocean. These pools are shallow and get quite warm during the day, some much warmer than reef systems. The following published scientific study shows that they live in temperatures ranging from 42 to 92 F:
(http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...CDE6D441F93.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=70713).
In the tide pools where Tigger-Pods live there are no predators so they don't have the instincts to hide in the rocks when fish come by. Since they don't hide they get eaten pretty quickly in display tanks. We recommend they be cultured in a sump or refugium where there are no predators. They can also be easily cultured in a separate system like a 9x13 cake pan.
The population of copepods in a reef system is often food limited by the amount of natural microalgae that the reef system produces each day. If you supplement with microalgae you increase the amount of available food, and hence the population that can be supported. When additional pods are added the amount of food required immediately goes up, especially when feeding very large copepods like Tigger-Pods. Unfortunately many people don't add additional microalgae so both the Tigger-Pods and the existing copepod population end up with a food shortage and quickly starve.
alton
Well-known member
Thanks for posting Randy. Here is the link
http://www.reed-mariculture.com/copepod/
I forgot about the cake pan and I promise I didn't fall asleep at LMAR when you spoke about it.
http://www.reed-mariculture.com/copepod/
I forgot about the cake pan and I promise I didn't fall asleep at LMAR when you spoke about it.
