How long can a copepod culture last?

[bubba005]

I am getting ready to start up my first copepod culture in order to keep a mandarin and I have a few questions before I start. Right now, I am planning on feeding the culture with phytofeast and keeping it in a three gallon tank with a small HOB filter (no media to obstruct the pods). Firstly, would this arrangement allow pods to reproduce without being killed in the filter pump? Additionally, would I be able to maintain this system permanently without a crash by removing about ten percent of the tank’s water and pods and pouring it all into my display tank twice a week? If this system is not sustainable, should I keep multiple smaller cultures that can be restarted from each other more regularly? Thank you!

 

[reefsaver]

I'm pretty sure they can be kept indefinately or at least for long time, and if they're transferred from a bottle to a larger more stable 5-10 liter vessel and are being fed Phyto often they can live much longer.
I've heard of people even cleaning up their poop after a while.
Monitor populations, do water changes and don't forget to feed them and I think the culture should be sweet.

 

[DaJMasta]

I wouldn't use a tank, but they can go for a long time. Keeping out contaminants and other organisms is sort of tantamount to how long they can go, but they can be very simple - I'm using 2.5G plastic drink containers (with a spout) that have a bit of rigid airline for flow and aeration. I do daily harvesting of somewhere around 5%, then replace what's removed with a mix of fresh seawater and phytoplankton, depending on the type of copepod and the tint of the water (most want it to be pretty clear). No need for heating, light, or other flow, really, but if you see a layer of algae or detritus build up on the bottom, it's a good idea to drain the vessel, replace a portion with fresh water, and put it in a new clean one.

FWIW, my preference for a mandarin would be to train it onto frozen foods, though having extra copepods available isn't going to be a detriment.

 

[StubbyAcro]

Hatching brine shrimp for mandarins is more practical

 

[TokenReefer]

Hatching brine shrimp for mandarins is more practical

But that wasn't the question...

 

[bradreef]

I grow 3 types of pods and I like these jugs.

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You will be way better off with a slow drip from airline tubing and an air pump. I would also consider a 2 liter bottle setup to grow phyto as well so you don't have to buy it. A dual airpump with valves would work well. Live phyto is also less likely to foul the water. Just watch for buildup on the bottom of the container and siphon out occasionally. I also have a diy pod hotel behind some rocks to give them a repopulation area. My Mando got fat quickly.

 

[saltyponies]

I raise brine shrimp to adulthood for seahorses. Similar question to a copepod culture but how do you change their water? Like... if I siphoned water out then the little guys would get all sucked up...

 

[TokenReefer]

When I tried coopeds (and brine shrimp too actually) I had this same question and found a technique that worked.

Basically it was to start small and expand. I used 5 gallon bucket, started with ~1 gallon of water. As they grew (and multiplied) I added more water by roughly a gallon. This made more room and diluted built up detritus etc. Repeat until harvest or bucket full or transfer... I'm sure there are better techniques but this worked as well for me

 

[bubba005]

Hatching brine shrimp for mandarins is more practical

I plan on doing both, i already ordered brine eggs. I just expect the brine shrimp to be much more simple since the culture is one and done after it hatches, unlike the pods

 

[bubba005]

I wouldn't use a tank, but they can go for a long time. Keeping out contaminants and other organisms is sort of tantamount to how long they can go, but they can be very simple - I'm using 2.5G plastic drink containers (with a spout) that have a bit of rigid airline for flow and aeration. I do daily harvesting of somewhere around 5%, then replace what's removed with a mix of fresh seawater and phytoplankton, depending on the type of copepod and the tint of the water (most want it to be pretty clear). No need for heating, light, or other flow, really, but if you see a layer of algae or detritus build up on the bottom, it's a good idea to drain the vessel, replace a portion with fresh water, and put it in a new clean one.

FWIW, my preference for a mandarin would be to train it onto frozen foods, though having extra copepods available isn't going to be a detriment.

Understood. My new plan is to have 5 pod cultures in smaller Tupperware’s and then one brine hatchery, all using the same air pump. I’ll likely try to harvest like 25-40% of each culture and harvest a different culture each day to give the populations time to recover. Instead of using a mesh filter to harvest I’ll just remove that much water from the culture and replace it with fresh saltwater to keep the water from fouling. The mandarin in question thankfully does appear to be eating frozen cyclopods and I’m working on getting him to eat mysis with target feeding, but I want to have a fail safe method of feeding him a sufficient amount of pods. Hopefully the pods I add will also reproduce in my refugium to keep the population somewhat stable. Does this plan seem viable?

 

[DaJMasta]

That's basically what I do, drain the culture partially into a bucket and then run that through a sieve so when I actually feed them there's not as much culture water (some extra nutrients, but also extra salinity over time). I don't think it's required if the mandarin is eating frozen, but it isn't a bad thing and other things can eat copepods as well.