Help growing copepods in refugium

[Hypen2000]

Hi, I just bought 16 oz 5280 Pods from AlgaeBarn. I also have chaeto and Sea Lettuce in my refug. Wondering how I can keep a good population alive to be a supplemental food for my wrasses and other fish.

I saw this jar method a while back with some algae in it, but I can't find it anymore. Any suggestions/help?

Thanks

 

[pdisner]

Hi, I just bought 16 oz 5280 Pods from AlgaeBarn. I also have chaeto and Sea Lettuce in my refug. Wondering how I can keep a good population alive to be a supplemental food for my wrasses and other fish.

I saw this jar method a while back with some algae in it, but I can't find it anymore. Any suggestions/help?

Thanks

Hi there. I raise 3 types of copepods along with rotifers. I use them for breeding fish and shrimp. First foods. So I’ve learned a lot along the way and can certainly help u out here.
First and foremost, the food that you’re trying to use to keep them alive won’t work. You need to grow some specific strains of phytoplankton to keep them healthy and reproducing. Copepods reproduce sexually when conditions are right.
With some species of copepods you can use a concentrated phytoplankton, something like RG Complete or RotiGrow from Reed Mariculture. It’s the best on the market. They also sell copepods.
If you can be more specific, I can send some research to you and offer some advice along the way if you’d like. I have a Facebook page where I put pics video and info on the breeding projects I dabble in. A lot of cool, close up video.
Anyways post some specifics so I can give you a quick answer. A Copepod culture is simple if you have the right tools. Just get a 5 gal Bucket, use RODI SW @ around 1.023, an airline with bubbles @1 bubble per second. You don’t want heavy bubbles. You don’t need a heater unless you live in an area that is extreme. You’ll want to place them under a decent light, nothing too exotic. I use those clip on lights from home depot. To feed them, green up the water with the algae so that you can barely see the bottom. As the water clears, add more. Again, the type of food that u use is species dependent.
Some species require you to grow live phytoplankton, which is another subject. You’ll really want to research the species of pod before starting to be successful, definately.
Please let me know if I can help as I have had some great success just by researching. I have a ton of research to share. Mostly PDFs. Let me know...

 

[pdisner]

Here is one example of using a jar as u mentioned. They are ice tea dispensers from Walmart. Honestly, ANY food safe container will work, just depends on your preference and what fits. The 5 gallon buckets will yield more pods of course. All up to u. If you look close in the pic you’ll see the pods. These are Apex (Apocyclops Panamensis) copepods that thrive on a product called RG Complete. This species is prolific, a good choice for populating a sump and display. I like to Culture them for feeding the fish larvae that I hatch because of their size and because they like to spend a lot of time swimming in water column vs sticking to the sides.

 

[pdisner]

 

[pdisner]

Here’s a cool pic of one of my tigger pod cultures. Check out the egg sacks. Shows that they’ve been fed the right kind of algae.

 

[Hypen2000]

Wow, you've clearly done your research!

Ok, I clearly jumped into the deep end right away because I got 3 types of pods in that one blend from Algaebarn--> Tigriopus, Tisbe, and Apocyclops.

I also bought their Ocean Magik 8oz bottle that has four Live Phytoplankton strains (Nano, Iso, Tet, and Thal). They say this is what they feed them.

Finally, they are giving me a free Baby Brine Shrimp jar for 1st time customers which come in their decap eggs I think.

This is what I would like to do.
1. Set up the bucket method you mentioned to grow more.
2. Have some in my Sump/Refugium hopefully reproducing there. I also have a skimmer and carbon filter which I'm thinking i need to turn off for a while.
3. I have a QT tank which has NO meds, just normal SW. Maybe have some copepods undisturbed in there.

What do you think? And THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

 

[pdisner]

It sounds like you’re covered! I know nothin of Algae Barn, tho they seem to get a lot of business. Sounds like that’s a good phyto mix. Sounds like you’re got a great foundation. Remember, they like somewhat stagnet water. The trick is keeping the culture from fouling. Don’t overfeed and you’ll be ok. Let the water visibly clear before adding more food. Besides, that stuff is expensive. You’ll really get the best results growing your own live phyto, species specific. I have a pdf that goes into detail about the Apocylcopse pod and how to Culture. It’s yours if u want, just need an email.

 

[pdisner]

There’s a book that goes into great detail about culturing all types of phytoplankton and zooplankton. “The Plankton Culture Manual” by Frank Hoff. He has a few great books. There’s more books I could recommend as well, geared toward the hobbyist, but centered more on breeding.

 

[Joshua2598]

There’s a book that goes into great detail about culturing all types of phytoplankton and zooplankton. “The Plankton Culture Manual” by Frank Hoff. He has a few great books. There’s more books I could recommend as well, geared toward the hobbyist, but centered more on breeding.

What other books does he have published?

 

[Hypen2000]

It sounds like you’re covered! I know nothin of Algae Barn, tho they seem to get a lot of business. Sounds like that’s a good phyto mix. Sounds like you’re got a great foundation. Remember, they like somewhat stagnet water. The trick is keeping the culture from fouling. Don’t overfeed and you’ll be ok. Let the water visibly clear before adding more food. Besides, that stuff is expensive. You’ll really get the best results growing your own live phyto, species specific. I have a pdf that goes into detail about the Apocylcopse pod and how to Culture. It’s yours if u want, just need an email.

Thx. I’ll pm you for the pdf.

 

[pdisner]

Did you get them? I sent three. Check out my Facebook page. It’s kinda like my vlog, dicumenting all of my breeding projects. @PaulsPodsAZ

 

[pdisner]

What other books does he have published?

One other book I have deals with breeding fish. Very thorough, lots of sources.

He is the founder of instant ocean hatcheries and Florida Aquafarms. Visit Florida aquafarms for a complete list. You’ll have to do a search for the rest of his publications

 

[Hypen2000]

Did you get them? I sent three. Check out my Facebook page. It’s kinda like my vlog, dicumenting all of my breeding projects. @PaulsPodsAZ

Yup I got it. They look really helpful. Look like you sell pods as well? If I had only knew earlier, I would have gotten them from you directly. I like working with ppl who are as helpful as you and willing to teach instead of just selling products. Just wish you were in Nor Cal. Thanks!

 

[Hypen2000]

Yup I got it. They look really helpful. Look like you sell pods as well? If I had only knew earlier, I would have gotten them from you directly. I like working with ppl who are as helpful as you and willing to teach instead of just selling products. Just wish you were in Nor Cal. Thanks!

Did you get them? I sent three. Check out my Facebook page. It’s kinda like my vlog, dicumenting all of my breeding projects. @PaulsPodsAZ

Oh yea, it's going to take me some time to read it though...

 

[pdisner]

Yup I got it. They look really helpful. Look like you sell pods as well? If I had only knew earlier, I would have gotten them from you directly. I like working with ppl who are as helpful as you and willing to teach instead of just selling products. Just wish you were in Nor Cal. Thanks!

I do sell pods. Or did anyways. Last year I was selling and had a ton of clients. I’m just a hobbies like you, but very passionate about aquaculture and want to share. I do supply the animals such as pods and rotifers, but mainly I help people start their cultures, kinda like a Plankton consultant, lol. I do t know everything, so I have some very good sources to include marine biologists I can ask questions to. I then Turn whatever profit is left over after shipping and buy more food and put the rest toward broodstock and building my miniature marine hatchery. Arizona’s first marine hatchery in the desert, lol. A ton of fun.

 

[pdisner]

Most of the people that follow me on my Facebook page are past clients By the way.

 

[pdisner]

Oh yeah, the reason I stopped selling, or at least shipping them out, is that the weather is way to hot in the summertime. They just wouldn’t make it out of Tucson alive. But they do very well in fall and winter. I also have been very busy raising a bunch of stripped blennies the last couple months. . I kept me very busy. You can see that thread in the fish breeding forum or on my Facebook page. Breeding marine animals like fish and shrimp is my first priority. The pods I will always have and can ship out when fall hits like October thru May.

 

[lapin]

If you are not worried about producing a ton of pods, growing them in a fuge is possible. This is what I have going on;
I got the algae barn 5280 pods. I have a lot of different macro alage in my fuge. Reds & greens and one of them is ulva. They will not feed on this. What they do feed on is the green and brown slime stuff that grows on the glass, rocks and leaves of the plants. Same stuff that grows on an alage scrubber. It needs light and nutrients to grow. I think your fuge is new? Yes? You should dose the phyto in your fuge until you run out. Once a day. You can use phyto feast avail at your LFS. Once you get a slime coat growing then you should see the pods moving about eating the stuff off the glass. They will grow in waves. The more slime the more pods. They eat it and your glass gets pretty clean then they die off some because of no food then the slime comes back and the cycle starts all over again.
Disclaimer: This works for me and your results may differ. ;-}
Another good live food that is really easy is "White Worms" Yu can search Paul B here for his thread on the white wigglies.

 

[cracker]

If I may butt in here ,Can you keep a good population in the refugium without phytoplankton,relying on the algae growing in the fuge? perhaps a particular type they would favor?

 

[Hypen2000]

I do sell pods. Or did anyways. Last year I was selling and had a ton of clients. I’m just a hobbies like you, but very passionate about aquaculture and want to share. I do supply the animals such as pods and rotifers, but mainly I help people start their cultures, kinda like a Plankton consultant, lol. I do t know everything, so I have some very good sources to include marine biologists I can ask questions to. I then Turn whatever profit is left over after shipping and buy more food and put the rest toward broodstock and building my miniature marine hatchery. Arizona’s first marine hatchery in the desert, lol. A ton of fun.

That's great. I'm not sure how successful I will be with my pods or if I will be able to invest the time/space to hatch my own for long. So if I don't, I'll look into buying from you if that's ok.