Microfood culture: phytoplanktons, Rotifers, ciliates, Artemia, and copepods
- Thread starter FMarini
- Start date
Depends on what copepods we're talking about. The ones I have the most experience with (Tigriopus californicus) would require quite a few 10g tanks, some 55ul, 100ul and 250-400ul screens. Do read up on the nutritional requirements of the particular copepod species your dealing with though, somes growth is inhibited by certain phytoplanktons.
Those aren't real copepods Gresham, You can't many culture any fish on harpacs. They are not worth much in regards to larval feeds, some will even eat your larvae.
Calanoids are very different, require much stricter culture protocols and food. You'd need a 20L or so of top quaility algae a day to maintain a good calanoid culture; and that is at small scales.
Calanoids are very different, require much stricter culture protocols and food. You'd need a 20L or so of top quaility algae a day to maintain a good calanoid culture; and that is at small scales.
I can't many culture? At small scales? Tired and overworked? 
So your saying herpacs are not real copepods? Do they know this? :lol:
Understood that not many will eat the hairy herpacs, but the system I use to grow them, was bastardized from a calanoid set-up, with a few modifications (screen sizes/vertical walls of window screen/feed)
Do you not distpute that certain algaes have shown to inhibit growth, even act as a prophylactic?
So your saying herpacs are not real copepods? Do they know this? :lol:
Understood that not many will eat the hairy herpacs, but the system I use to grow them, was bastardized from a calanoid set-up, with a few modifications (screen sizes/vertical walls of window screen/feed)
Do you not distpute that certain algaes have shown to inhibit growth, even act as a prophylactic?
Luis A M
Premium Member
Andy must be overworked,guess he didn´t check this
I think what he means,(and I share) is that harp.pods are nice and easy to culture,but they are mostly useless as larval food or for any other practical use for the hobbyist.
I thought mandarin feeding was the only use they had,but now I see that it is not practical to culture all the pods these guys need on a daily basis.It is better to wean them to adult bs and then frozen or prepared foods.Or left in a large tank with lots of LR with enough harp.pod population to keep them well fed.In this case you don´t need to culture them either.
The copepods that we need are calanoids and cyclopoids that are a substantial part of ocean´s plankton and of larval´s food.
I wanted to have it straight,cause many people could not know the differences between benthic and planktonic copepods and think they´re all the same.
Some harp.pod sellers exploit this confussion.There is a harp.pod being offered showing the picture of a calanoid pod.
I think what he means,(and I share) is that harp.pods are nice and easy to culture,but they are mostly useless as larval food or for any other practical use for the hobbyist.
I thought mandarin feeding was the only use they had,but now I see that it is not practical to culture all the pods these guys need on a daily basis.It is better to wean them to adult bs and then frozen or prepared foods.Or left in a large tank with lots of LR with enough harp.pod population to keep them well fed.In this case you don´t need to culture them either.
The copepods that we need are calanoids and cyclopoids that are a substantial part of ocean´s plankton and of larval´s food.
I wanted to have it straight,cause many people could not know the differences between benthic and planktonic copepods and think they´re all the same.
Some harp.pod sellers exploit this confussion.There is a harp.pod being offered showing the picture of a calanoid pod.
Summarising the inputs by Andy and Luis, herpacticoid copepods are actually benthic copepods which spend their time mostly on substrata. These are very easy to culture as their growth mainly depends on the amount of surface area provided. However as stated, fish larvae which are pelagic fair poorly on such copepods as their prey needs to be pelagic as well. As such, herpacticoid copepods are'nt suited for most fish larvae as most of the time they are'nt available in the water column.
Calanoid copepods are mainly pelagic. As such, the feasibility of culturing these guys would depend on the water volume that could be provided. The main drawback of such cultures is the amount of space the cultures would take up. While herpacticoid copepods are grazers (on diatoms. etc), these guys take up microalgae directly from the water. As such, food supplementation is also more of a hassle. The only publication on culturing calanoid copepods I can remember is about the culture of Gladioferens imparipes.
Calanoid copepods are mainly pelagic. As such, the feasibility of culturing these guys would depend on the water volume that could be provided. The main drawback of such cultures is the amount of space the cultures would take up. While herpacticoid copepods are grazers (on diatoms. etc), these guys take up microalgae directly from the water. As such, food supplementation is also more of a hassle. The only publication on culturing calanoid copepods I can remember is about the culture of Gladioferens imparipes.
Luis A M
Premium Member
Very well summarized,Junkai!
I could only add that benthic adults and nauplii harp.are negative phototropic (run away from the light and congregate in dark places) while pelagic calanoids are the opposite.
There has been some limited use of harps in larviculture however;
Tisbe holothuriae has pelagic phototropic nauplii,and Euterpina acutifrons has pelagic adults and nauplii.This last species has proven to be easy to culture and extremely productive,as has been shown by Hawaiian researchers.Use of them has not prevailed,however,perhaps because they are not very appealing to larval fish.
There has been a bunch of papers on calanoid culturing in the last ten years (Klein Breteler,Stottrup and others).Nothing especially difficult,they thrive on phyt
nly that as productivity is lower,they need larger volumes of culture to obtain the desired amount of nauplii.
I could only add that benthic adults and nauplii harp.are negative phototropic (run away from the light and congregate in dark places) while pelagic calanoids are the opposite.
There has been some limited use of harps in larviculture however;
Tisbe holothuriae has pelagic phototropic nauplii,and Euterpina acutifrons has pelagic adults and nauplii.This last species has proven to be easy to culture and extremely productive,as has been shown by Hawaiian researchers.Use of them has not prevailed,however,perhaps because they are not very appealing to larval fish.
There has been a bunch of papers on calanoid culturing in the last ten years (Klein Breteler,Stottrup and others).Nothing especially difficult,they thrive on phyt
nly that as productivity is lower,they need larger volumes of culture to obtain the desired amount of nauplii.Luis and Fuel, I´ll go searching the web soon, but do you have any links to these articles ?
The only information I have is the "Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture" and it´s really good but still short on copepods.
Just reading anything I can about everything...
Thanks,
Anderson.
The only information I have is the "Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture" and it´s really good but still short on copepods.
Just reading anything I can about everything...
Thanks,
Anderson.
mwp
In Memoriam
Going to post this in it's own thread too 'cause folks often look for the info and can't find it. Here are some of the earlier threads that name possible or actual copepod genera/species utilized as first foods for centropyge pygmy angelfish larvae:
acartia clausi - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=740764
Parvocalanus species - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=476262
Clausocalanus sp. & Oithona simplex - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=403757 - and - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203229
There are probably others, but after searching for 2 nights through all the flame angel threads, that's all I could find.
Matt
acartia clausi - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=740764
Parvocalanus species - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=476262
Clausocalanus sp. & Oithona simplex - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=403757 - and - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203229
There are probably others, but after searching for 2 nights through all the flame angel threads, that's all I could find.
Matt
mwp
In Memoriam
Two quick articles on Copepod Culture:
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/W3732E/w3732e0t.htm
http://www.jyi.org/research/re.php?id=147
Matt
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/W3732E/w3732e0t.htm
http://www.jyi.org/research/re.php?id=147
Matt
Luis A M
Premium Member
Matt,I´m impressed!:eek2:
Very good info including RC threads,extracts from books,papers and bibliography,everything is valuable
Knowing how to search in these days is everything.I gathered the data you showed thru the years reading books and contacting authors to have copies mailed.
And you only invested two nights to get it!:lol:
Very good info including RC threads,extracts from books,papers and bibliography,everything is valuable
Knowing how to search in these days is everything.I gathered the data you showed thru the years reading books and contacting authors to have copies mailed.
And you only invested two nights to get it!:lol:
mwp
In Memoriam
A big part too is knowing how to get the information FOUND - i.e. it's not easy to search RC, and the words contained in the post mean so much when it comes to finding things - i.e. if you search for "Flame" vs. "Flame Angel" vs. "Centropyge" or "Copepod", or any combination of those, in the breeding forums, you'll get entirely different threads. Jam packing those titles and posts with as many key words as might be relevent for the topic helps other people find the info (i.e. googling "Spawning Synchiropus" vs. "Breeding Synchiropus" will give you entirely different results, yet within both those results may be some relevent info).
Anyway, I hate to pump up such a powerhouse, but it seems if I can't find it on Google it probably doesn't exist. Just like always, the key to finding info is trying as many different yet relevent search terms (i.e. only by searching "Wolfgang Mai + synchiropus" did I find his earlier article from the '90's, in french, on breeding S. splendidus). The articles above were quickly found by googling "Acartia copepod culture" - there are MANY MORE than the first couple I posted.
FWIW,
Matt
Anyway, I hate to pump up such a powerhouse, but it seems if I can't find it on Google it probably doesn't exist. Just like always, the key to finding info is trying as many different yet relevent search terms (i.e. only by searching "Wolfgang Mai + synchiropus" did I find his earlier article from the '90's, in french, on breeding S. splendidus). The articles above were quickly found by googling "Acartia copepod culture" - there are MANY MORE than the first couple I posted.
FWIW,
Matt
Three manuals for copepod culture
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/hatchery-feeds/pdf/frdc-final-report-96398.pdf
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/hatchery-feeds/pdf/copepod-culture-manual.pdf
http://www.lei.furg.br/atlantica/vol27/Numero2/ATL04.PDF (in portuguese, hehehe)
Now I think I´m starting to help !
Anderson.
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/hatchery-feeds/pdf/frdc-final-report-96398.pdf
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/hatchery-feeds/pdf/copepod-culture-manual.pdf
http://www.lei.furg.br/atlantica/vol27/Numero2/ATL04.PDF (in portuguese, hehehe
)Now I think I´m starting to help !
Anderson.
Luis A M
Premium Member
Problema nenhum!<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7955860#post7955860 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aomont
http://www.lei.furg.br/atlantica/vol27/Numero2/ATL04.PDF (in portuguese, hehehe
I know the area.We drove all Cassino beach,(300 km,said to be the world´s longest),took the ferry,the infamous Strada do Inferno and almost lost the two 4WD trucks in quicksands in Bacopari dunes!:eek1:
I collected A.tonsa and Pseudodiaptomus richardi in the neighbour Uruguayan coastal lagoons.
Kathy,you´re not losing much.Couples of pods were held in small vials for 5 days and eggs counted...
There are some really interesting copepod papers out and coming out in journals recently. Even starter cultures for sale now. I can't find the guys name but a guy in Brazil is working on A. tonsa with good results. If you keep on me I should be able to dig up the contact info. You can't ship or send crustaceans in and out of Brazil so its hard to get something from the outside world. Good thing is that Brazil has some really nice stuff and you don't really need our junk. I'm going to be in Brazil sometime late this year or very early next year. Its really not hard to get a cleaned up sample from wild plankton if your really persistent like Luis is.
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