Copepod Cultivation

Daniel266jz · Mar 27, 2020

Hey guys,
Just looking for some tips on cultivating copepods. I just started this for my mandarin dragonet. I will post a picture of my setup below. So basically what i did is start a copepod cultivation station inside my aquariums stand (Biocube 32). What i used is 3QT plastic jugs, airline tubing, 4-way airline tubing control station with air flow controller valves, tisbe copepods, tigger copepods, and PhytoFeast for the pods food. How long does it take for these two pods to grow? Inside the stand they stay at 74 degrees, and i does the phyto whenever i see the water turning clear, and my air flow is 2 bubbles per second. My tigger pods are doing well and eating a lot, i can see tons of them swimming around, this is at my one week mark. My tisbe pods i can see the bigger ones but their water goes clear so i know they are in there. For collection of the pods I use a 200 MICRON filter sleeve, what I did was take a small brine shrimp net and cut that net off to pass the filter sock through the opening. The opening of the filter sock is round so the square frame of the net is able to hold the circle frame of the filter sock. I plan on pouring water through the sock and catch the pods then turn the sock inside out and just dip it into my display, if there is any other ideas with the filter sock please let me know. Please rate my setup and send any tips. I

Daniel266jz · Mar 27, 2020

This is the pic, I forgot to mention I keep a led chaeto grow light from amazon that is taped with electrical tape to only show two LEDs and I have then on from 6:30AM to 6:30PM

Daniel266jz · Mar 27, 2020

Anyone?

Ewok1 · Mar 27, 2020

Daniel266jz said:
Anyone?

I’m not sure about the lights because they don’t like light from my experience.

ectoaesthetics · Mar 30, 2020

If the setup is working, thumbs up! I have never raised tsibe. However, I do breed tigger pods in my yard. I think they are a LOT easier to breed in the yard than in the house. I don't know why. My population booms in the spring and summer. I keep a bucket of water in the yard, add chaeto, add tigger pods and on occasion I add phyto. I can get denser cultures with the phyto, but it seems not to really be necessary in the yard. In the house I have to keep the water slightly green and bubble it and heat it and and and.... I do live on the central coast of Cali so it might just be my area. They are native to the tide pools just down the hill from my house. But I have read posts from people in the midwest and Canada that also thought it was WAY easier to keep them in the yard in the shoulder seasons and summer. When I lived in CO for a few years I used to have to keep them in the shade during the summer (110F).

I just use a BBS net to scoop them out.

Daniel266jz · Mar 30, 2020

ectoaesthetics said:
If the setup is working, thumbs up! I have never raised tsibe. However, I do breed tigger pods in my yard. I think they are a LOT easier to breed in the yard than in the house. I don't know why. My population booms in the spring and summer. I keep a bucket of water in the yard, add chaeto, add tigger pods and on occasion I add phyto. I can get denser cultures with the phyto, but it seems not to really be necessary in the yard. In the house I have to keep the water slightly green and bubble it and heat it and and and.... I do live on the central coast of Cali so it might just be my area. They are native to the tide pools just down the hill from my house. But I have read posts from people in the midwest and Canada that also thought it was WAY easier to keep them in the yard in the shoulder seasons and summer. When I lived in CO for a few years I used to have to keep them in the shade during the summer (110F).

I just use a BBS net to scoop them out.

My tigger pods actually had a random die out after doing very well. My tisbe are doing good and I dose photo every morning. I split half of them into my DT just in case they die out also but it seems they are doing just fine. I have no idea why the tigger pods did not make I though. Maybe I’ll try next time as long as my tisbe are fine then I’m good for now, that and my mandarin also eats frozen brine lol