Simple DIY copepod farming setup?

[zhangster]

Hello. Copepod newbie here. I've been looking for ways to grow my own copepods. I searched the web but all the setups on YouTube look overly complicated. I don't have the space or money.

Here's my plan: A 5-gal bucket. Throw in some chaeto, an air stone, some phytoplankton, and of course copepods. A light on top.

When it's time to collect, I will just shake the chaeto in a tupperware with clean water, put the chaeto back in the bucket, and dump the tupperware water in my fish tank.

Will this work? What are the maintenance required on such copepod farm?

Thanks.

 

[zhangster]

Also, can I put some phytoplankton fertilizer in the same bucket to keep an endless supply of phytoplankton? Or will the copepods annihilate the phytoplankton no matter what?

 

[ichthyogeek]

It'll work if you're working with harpacticoid copepods (Tisbe, Tigriopus, Apocyclops, etc.) or probably even amphipods, but I'm not sure if it would work with cyclopoid or calanoid 'pods. If you can, try using rigid airline tubing instead of an airstone. Sometimes airstones produce too small bubbles which can trap and kill 'pods. You can just take water from your system to do water changes/start the culture as well.

Instead of tossing a light on there ($$$), try putting it in an area that receives sunlight throughout the day if you can. Much cheaper option (I do this with brine shrimp, it's great).

The copepods won't annihilate all of the phytoplankton regardless of if you add fertilizer. BUT, I'd be more concerned about the chaetomorpha (which grows quickly) uptaking the fertilizer instead of the phytoplankton. I'd also consider adding in a heater to ramp up copepod growth. There should be a couple of good papers online about optimal growth temperatures of various copepod species.

Maintenance Schedule:

• Change some amount of water at least each week, making sure total specific gravity doesn't change by more than .005 points (i.e. do your topoffs!)
• feed your 'pods. Could be some wasted fish pellets (only one or two at first!), or some store bought phytoplankton (I like Phyto-Feast, dose according to label).
• Change water immediately if you get a bacteria bloom (white cloudy water)
• Change water if phyto-plankton bloom (brown or green water) gets super dense. As a rule of thumb, if you can't see 6" into the bucket, then the culture's too dense.
• Harvest Chaeto on a regular basis
• If too much "muck" is on the bottom of the culture, and that bothers you, switch to a new bucket by transferring the chaeto ball to a new bucket (don't shake it!), and then feed the muck to your system (strain the water out using a sieve, pour the sieve's contents into the tank, and let your main filtration handle the rest).

 

[zhangster]

Thanks a lot! Looks like I wasn't too far off the track. Will give this a shot.

 

[zhangster]

I've been getting good copepods growth in my simple DIY setup in the past week.

My setup is a simple 1-gal plastic cookie container, a rigid air line, and a ball of chaeto. Originally I poured a few tablespoons of phyto into the container. Later I started feeding the pods with Reef Roids. They grow quite fast.

Next thing I'm gonna try is feeding them with Polyp-Booster. It's full of nutrient. I haven't had to do any maintenance yet except topping it off with fresh water every other day. I don't think the pods are sensitive to salinity anyway.

When I harvest I just take a cup of water from the culture and put it into my fish tank, then take the same cup of water from the tank and put it back into the culture.

 

[ichthyogeek]

That's great to hear! What species of pod did you decide to go with? Can we get pics of the setup?


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[zhangster]

I'm not very knowledgeable on pods. I wish I could tell you what kind of pods they are. The culture I started with is a bottle of copepods from my LFS. The bottle said "Food for Mandarin" so I bought it. I think it's a mix of tisbee and some other pods but I'm not sure.

I think I harvested a little early. I'll let the population recuperate for a week before harvesting again.

I've been keeping this under a window that gets direct sunlight. I think next step is to just move it in the cabinet under my DT. Also put the air pump on a timer switch so it doesn't pump air 24/7. Based on what I've read, running air 1/2 of the time seems to be the sweet spot.

That's great to hear! What species of pod did you decide to go with? Can we get pics of the setup?


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[zhangster]

My farm is now teeming with copepods. No more $20 bottles from the LFS. I can't believe how easy it is to grow these little bugs. All they need is an airline and reef roids (I feed a trace amount twice a week).

I haven't done a water change in the pod farm yet. And I don't plan to unless I notice a population decrease. Worse case scenario - the whole population dies off and I start over with seeds from the LFS.