Tigger & Tisbe Pods

[40B Knasty]

On a side note. I like going in and checking on them twice a day. I have a chair setup to just observe them do their thing. How they mate, all the size differences, egg carriers, has the population increased just in 12 hrs, and new hatchlings. Pretty neat little critters.

 

[40B Knasty]

I definitely thought that I read somewhere about amphipods eating copepods.

I think after Christmas I'm going to start a Tigger pod culture in one of my spare 10g. This thread has been very helpful, thanks to both 40B Knasty and Reef Nutrition's comments!
I already have live Phytoplankton cultures going because I thought that would be necessary to reliably culture pods. But after seeing the results here maybe it would be more cost efficient to use something else, since I'm only culturing 1 species of phyto, I guess that is probably not an ideal diet for the Tigger pods.

Glad you have taken an interest in what has been said. I did get a message from a person from Algagen on one of my YouTube videos. He definitely said the tisbe pod tank had grown the phytoplankton that came in the bottle. Keep in mind that was also what half crashed the tank after 3 weeks. Since you are doing phytoplankton. Be cautious as to how long you wait to do a water change during your startup. I would rather have you avoid my mistake.

 

[leahfiish]

Glad you have taken an interest in what has been said. I did get a message from a person from Algagen on one of my YouTube videos. He definitely said the tisbe pod tank had grown the phytoplankton that came in the bottle. Keep in mind that was also what half crashed the tank after 3 weeks. Since you are doing phytoplankton. Be cautious as to how long you wait to do a water change during your startup. I would rather have you avoid my mistake.

I'm starting to think the phytoplankton cultures are not worth the hassle and that I should just use something else. My main goal is to culture pods, and the species of phyto that I'm currently culturing won't be enough for that. I should have done more reading first.

 

[40B Knasty]

I'm starting to think the phytoplankton cultures are not worth the hassle and that I should just use something else. My main goal is to culture pods, and the species of phyto that I'm currently culturing won't be enough for that. I should have done more reading first.

I honestly had no clue if the spirulina would work. From what chad said seeing the clutches of eggs being green. That the pods must being eating it.
My LFS guy gave me a good 3 months worth of spirulina powder for free and said I am interested to see if it works. It is algae and a very nutritional form of it. A little pinch in some fresh saltwater (about 3oz.) and whip it up fast like you are scrambling eggs. I use a plastic fork to whip it.

 

[40B Knasty]

The mixed tisbe/tigger pod tank is looking great right now! Look at all those eggs bearers!

 

[jnvd3b]

I am definitely seeing more pods now it’s been less than a week but I would say they’ve roughly doubled. As a result I doubled the available water - it’s now half-full - by dripping fresh saltwater in slowly. Also i had to add a small triangle of marinepure to the tank as in only 2-3 days it was starting to smell really bad and then i realized i had zero filtration in there. Seemed to work as the next morning the smell went away. As a safety precaution i bought an ‘ammonia alert’ off ebay to keep an eye and figure out when a water change is needed, rather than just guessing and potentially crashing the culture.

 

[40B Knasty]

I am definitely seeing more pods now it’s been less than a week but I would say they’ve roughly doubled. As a result I doubled the available water - it’s now half-full - by dripping fresh saltwater in slowly. Also i had to add a small triangle of marinepure to the tank as in only 2-3 days it was starting to smell really bad and then i realized i had zero filtration in there. Seemed to work as the next morning the smell went away. As a safety precaution i bought an ‘ammonia alert’ off ebay to keep an eye and figure out when a water change is needed, rather than just guessing and potentially crashing the culture.

I like the ammonia badge idea a lot. Good add to the thread.
The MP triangle will give more beneficial bacteria volume. I have a softball size piece of dead rock.
Glad the smell dropped and the pods doubled. Keep up with watching the tank and how it goes through its stages of the start up. Like I mentioned you will find your tank's "safe bet" and when to do the water change. Increasing the water volume probably helped the most with the ammonia.

 

[NS Mike D]

getting ready to set up a tigger tank, changed my monthly subscription from tisbe's to tiggers. for now my fuge will have to do along with frozen to feed my mandarin.

I have a lot of rubble rock that i have been slowly adding to my two fuges and DT to create more safe places for the pods and plan on adding to my pod tank. they have been curing in a heated, pump circulated bucket for a few weeks, but I'll add bacteria to make sure the pod tank can handle the ammonia.

I like the idea of of also adding cheato to the pod tank. I'm not worried about contamination. since the rock has been curing with water from my DT and the cheato will also be coming from my tank, I expect there will be some degree of variety of micro fauna with it's own food chain. That's fine by me. If I observe that the tigger population has dwindled below a level acceptable to me, I am sure our friends at #reefnutrition , via the retailer near me, would be happy to help me restock the population.

... and after this, I'll restart the brine shrimp system.

 

[40B Knasty]

I am waiting an extra week to harvest for now. Dumped about 10-12k in the DT before a 5 day vacation. Both tigger pod colonies are still looking great. Probably 30-40k in each tank. Just letting the younglings mature a little more.

 

[Tristren]

This is a great thread, thanks.

I'm definitely going to set up a Tigger tank (at some point this year). I have an extra 10g so will use that and start with a bottle of @Reef Nutrition pods. The spirulina definitely sounds like a big help. I do think I'd like to set up a phytoplankton reactor at some point, but to feed the tank, not the culture necessarily...

I'm trying to make sure that there is as much life in the tank as possible.

I want to set up a rotifer culture setup as well at some point...

Lots of interesting options!

Cheers, Tony

 

[40B Knasty]

This is a great thread, thanks.

I'm definitely going to set up a Tigger tank (at some point this year). I have an extra 10g so will use that and start with a bottle of @Reef Nutrition pods. The spirulina definitely sounds like a big help. I do think I'd like to set up a phytoplankton reactor at some point, but to feed the tank, not the culture necessarily...

I'm trying to make sure that there is as much life in the tank as possible.

I want to set up a rotifer culture setup as well at some point...

Lots of interesting options!

Cheers, Tony

I am not a pro at this by no means, but I can honestly say with the amount of money I spent to have my dream fish at the cost to set it all up of around $70 to feed it. Well worth it! Not only is it great for me, but I can feel great about honestly saying I am give a great quality life and home for him. If the colony crashes. I have a back up and can always reseed a crashed tank with my backup tank. It is an infinite food source that is easy to establish that I never have to leave the house for. I hope it all works out for you as well.

 

[rpeters]

I am not a pro at this by no means, but I can honestly say with the amount of money I spent to have my dream fish at the cost to set it all up of around $70 to feed it. Well worth it! Not only is it great for me, but I can feel great about honestly saying I am give a great quality life and home for him. If the colony crashes. I have a back up and can always reseed a crashed tank with my backup tank. It is an infinite food source that is easy to establish that I never have to leave the house for. I hope it all works out for you as well.

Is your back you your second tank or do you have some stored in the fridge or something? I know when you get the @Reef Nutrition they are in the fridge do you know how long they will remain in the fridge as a back up? I recently just started a 10g tank for them and was thinking about making a bottle for the fridge every few weeks as a back up and when a new one is made the old one goes into the tank. Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[jnvd3b]

Is your back you your second tank or do you have some stored in the fridge or something? I know when you get the @Reef Nutrition they are in the fridge do you know how long they will remain in the fridge as a back up? I recently just started a 10g tank for them and was thinking about making a bottle for the fridge every few weeks as a back up and when a new one is made the old one goes into the tank. Any thoughts or recommendations?

They will last for quite some time in the fridge. It slows their metabolism down. The bottle I got from my LFS was a month old and when I brought them back to ‘normal’ temp they all survived just fine.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...rnicus-addressing-the-cold-water-myth.297607/

 

[domination2580]

Do you filter the pods when you do water change?

 

[leahfiish]

You aren't using any gravel or sand, right?

 

[40B Knasty]

Is your back you your second tank or do you have some stored in the fridge or something? I know when you get the @Reef Nutrition they are in the fridge do you know how long they will remain in the fridge as a back up? I recently just started a 10g tank for them and was thinking about making a bottle for the fridge every few weeks as a back up and when a new one is made the old one goes into the tank. Any thoughts or recommendations?

I have 2x 5g tanks. None are stored in my fridge for a backup. If you choose to store some. Make sure the cap is open. Honestly there is no point now to have backup in the fridge. Just let them populate populate populate and take out 5k+ pods ever Saturday without even putting a noticeable dent in the population.

 

[40B Knasty]

Do you filter the pods when you do water change?

Watch one of the videos. My airlines that I use to syphon out the water from the tanks to a bucket has a piece foam/sponge at the tip. It stops the pods from being sucked into the airlines. So all the water that is syphoned out into the bucket has very little amount of pods removed from both tanks. Maybe 5 the most I have seen will make it through the foam/sponge tip keeping all the population in the 2 tanks. Then I fill the tank back up with about 2g+.

If you are asking if I pull pods out when I do a water change. No, I usually do that on a separate day, but both tanks I can pull 2k+ pods from either tank at any time. This past week I pulled 2k+ on Tuesday and Thursday just because I can. The right tank has at least 40k. The left tank about 15-20k. The tisbe pods in the left tank have not been visible after a week of the tigger pods placed in there.

 

[40B Knasty]

You aren't using any gravel or sand, right?

No sand or gravel. Just a softball size piece of dead rock with a lot of porosity that is 1lb. Also a softball size piece of chaeto. Those 2 things are the ONLY things in both tanks.

 

[Rmarget]

Great Information! I am starting a tisbe pod culture this week. My only question is how to harvest the pods to put into my DT. Will the Brine shrimp net catch the smaller tisbe pods? or do you have something else that you would recommend using.

 

[40B Knasty]

Great Information! I am starting a tisbe pod culture this week. My only question is how to harvest the pods to put into my DT. Will the Brine shrimp net catch the smaller tisbe pods? or do you have something else that you would recommend using.

Honestly I do not know. That is why I threw the tigger pods in the tisbe pod tank. They looked to small to harvest with my net. You can find a smaller micron net but you would probably have to find it online, pay for shipping, and I doubt they make a net/screen to harvest them for a small use. Only for a mass quantity like what a business would use it for. Tigger pods are a better nutritional food source that has Omega 3. If you wanted to "try" a cyclopod setup which are a pod size between the tigger and tisbe pod that also has another great nutritional value(forgot what it was). Go for it. I would recommend the tigger pods over any from personal experience with the 2 types. Especially when chad had mentioned 1 tigger pod can have up to 30 larvae at a time and reproduce 10 times. So if you start off with a bottle that has 2000pods. 1000pods of those are females. Those 1000 females can produce 300,000 in their life cycle. Those numbers are a fact. The tisbe pods do not have much info aside of me finding a little article that said they can reproduce 2x and have 30-130 larvae in a life cycle. So always go with the least expected from info given at 30. 30x2=60 for a tisbe pod life cycle. That is 940 pods less a female tisbe pod can produce vs a female tigger pod. Then you factor in the nutritional value of the tigger pods, easier to harvest, cheaper to buy a bottle to get you started, and very resilient to temp and salinity swings. Tigger pods from Reef Nutrition wins hands down by a land slide.
1tisbe pod can get you from 60- 260 larvae.
1tigger pod can get you 300 larvae.