Pods

[sealtea116]

How hard is it too grow/bread your own pods for your fish I have them in my fuge but not a lot of them looking to do a outside breeding I have seen video and seems real easy but what is the green stuff that you put in? Water changes? How long do they last ?
Thanks for any help

 

[MondoBongo]

over all, not too hard.

the green stuff is phyto plankton. super easy to culture.

water changes should be done fairly regularly, depending on the culture. i do mine every couple weeks.

they last quite a while, provided they don't crash. sometimes they seem to crash easily, other times they seem almost bulletproof.

this is more or less the method i used, and i got their screen set and rotifer screen as well to help in harvesting:

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c90/raising-live-rotifers-copepods-c199.html

i've also seen people feed with fish food, instead of phyto. i have yet to try that myself.

 

[sealtea116]

So you have to culture the phyto as well so to get pods I need to culture the phyto and the pods crazy question and you don't have to answer about how much does it cost to start up and how much to run
Thanks

 

[KingTriton1]

Rubbermaid Container $10
Air pump $10
Tubing $5
Gang Valve or single $5
Copepods $20
Phyto Feast live $15
Shipping $35 (I like to have my stuff overnighted)

So your looking at around $100

What fish are you feeding the pods to?

Pods for direct feeding I like Tigger pods.

Pods that survive in the main tank and for Mandarins I like to use Tisbe.

 

[sealtea116]

Well I don't have it now but would like to have a mandarin in the future so I'm trying to make moves to get one. And where do you order your stuff from

 

[KingTriton1]

For Tisbe

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=2190+3058&pcatid=3058

For Triggers

http://reefnutrition.com/order_form.php

Most of your LFS have phytoplankton such as Phyto-Feast live or DT's. Just make sure you check the expiration date. I bought some yesterday and the expiration date is 11/16 so it gives me plenty to work with. I'd personally rather just buy phytoplankton instead of culturing my own.

When culturing Tisbe you will need a sieve of 53 microns for water changes.

http://www.adnup.com/Sieves.php

 

[MondoBongo]

i used old 2 liter soda bottles and large plastic costco pretzel jugs for my culture containers.

if you have sponges or chaeto in your fuge you can actually use pieces of them as well. likely if you look close they're covered in pods and can make good fodder for seeding cultures.

i recently ordered a half gallon of pods from Algae Barn to help bootstrap my new tank, i was pleased with the container i received:

http://www.algaebarn.com/

they have various different sizes/prices levels. they also sell phyto.