No more Amphipods

Sachs Systems Aquaculture also carries amphipods, as do some LFSs.

I realize the OP asked for amphipods, but I'll also mention that SSA carries Live Ocean Plankton ("A variety of organisms from 50 microns - to 1000 microns") and Live Ocean Copepods ("Ocean plankton skewed towards copepods. Organisms from 50 microns - to 1000 microns in size."). Both of these packages carry the risk of introducing something parasitic or otherwise harmful, but have the potential benefit of adding some variety to the micro-invertebrate population in a tank.
 
I have a 10 gallon running with some chaeto in it. I have it running as a ready QT and possible breeder tank for my bangaii cardinals.

There are a good many amphipods and bristle worms in there. What sort of food/feeding schedule would be best to add to keep the pod population going?
 
This is a problem that I have noted in our low nutrient systems... even with extended system volume and/or a refugium and a place for pods to breed, the problem is more that low nutrients exist throughout a system, not just in the DT. I recommend culturing them in a separate tank or ordering some online.

Exactly. I've found that when I slack on maintaining my tanks, and consequently get some detrus/algae buildup, I soon see a major increase in the pod population--both kinds. Obviously if you're keeping organisms that require meticulous water quality, it's enough to keep on top of whatever balance is necessary to keep everything healthy, so there's a trade-off (maybe at the expense of not seeing many pods). If you add pods to a low nutrient system, I doubt the population will be able to sustain itself due to a lack of food.
 
I dont currently culture amphipods, I did it a few years back mostly to make sure I had enough live food on hand for some SHs that I was trying to teach to eat frozen food, so I did not optimize my techniques. I did take reasonably good notes on my setup and maintenace though, sometimes it pays being obsessive and being way into this!!! :)

I used a 10 gallon tank at room temperature (75 fairly constant) that I lit with a 70w MH on a 12 on 12 off cycle (I tend to use MH for everything, Im sure less would work), the tank had 1/2 inch of sand and 2 lbs of LR rubble the only circulation was provided by a luft air pump without an airstone. I added 4 handfulls of ulva (which I had in my most productive fuge at the time), and innoculated with all the amphipods I could catch in my other systems (I dont know how many this was probably 1-200). I fed the tank daily with one pinch of new life spectrum food I had ground in a spice grinder, and started harvesting four weeks leter, there were more amphipods in the tank than I could count. I harvested 10-20 daily for the duration of the culture (5 months) and did not observe a visible change in the culture population.

For maintenance, I performed a biweekly 50% WC (filtered through a section of panty hose to save as many amphipods as possible) with water from the sump of my large system, detritus included. I also removed bristle worms I ran across during the WC, or noticed any other time.

Once set up this was a very simple thing to maintain and had the production that I was looking for. I would think that if you were just trying to restock a DT with them, you could set up the culture, keep it going for 6-8 weeks (or so) and then add all of the contents to your tank before starting it again. Also, tt takes about four weeks into their life cycle before they start producing young, which are live (the Plankton Culture Manual says this happens when they molt), which means that it would take a few months of unhindered growth before you hit the exponential growth phase (useful if you are trying to culture them as a food source).

Hope this helps!
 
Absolutely helps - great note-keeping and very much aprpeciated!

I actually have a little cuture of copepods - will need to get another 10g tank and start an Amphipod minifarm :)

First, though, have to buid a storage closet for my wife!
 
My tank is 4 years old this month and i've seen a huge decrease in the overall pod population. Domn't see many in teh DT at all these days. Don't really see many in the fuge. Where I do see them around the sponges I stuffed in bubble traps. I have sponges everywhere - great denitrying bactweria breeders and the pods seems magnetically attracted to them. I think I throw some the DT for a bit.
 
Chances are you have some, but a very small population due to insufficient food or some sort of competition. Other critters may be eating the larvae before they even get a chance. Have you checked the tanks with a flashlight after lights out?

This is most likely the case. I have a bare bottom in my frag and a ton of copepods. I don't know a whole lot about them, but I have observed the population explode when I use phytoplankton on a regular basis.
 
I had actually stopped using phyto (maybe my probblem) as it would give me algae blooms when I used it (could have been coincidental).
A few months ago I started using an Algae scrubber (vertical first then horizontal) with excellent success on my algae/ caeano may I add.
However, I thought I could stop using Phyto supplementation as the ATS (i.e.: Algae farm) would produce enough Phytoplankton for the pods as well as the main tank?

Have not had any luck getting Amphi's from local reefers :(
 
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