Copepod Culture

[Morri]

After Seffie has suggested I need a Copepod culture to feed a Mandorin and this will take 3 - 4 weeks to establish.

I was thinking of using the space under my stand to set a culture up as this space is of little use to me as everything seems too big to fit under there

I was thinking of getting a plastic/class container upto 5 litres (Not sure what yet will have a scout around see what I can find)

some white LEDs from an auction site reusing an old air pump I have lying around.

The question I have is has anyone used LEDs to grow Copepods or know if it will work?

And also is 5 Litres about right for one mandarin? or would a large soft drink bottle be a better size?

I am just trying to not to have the culture on display.

Morri

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I haven't started a pod culture myself yet but have been reading up on it lately as im planning to do so soon.

With regards to the LED's I'm not sure if these would work or not. Everywhere I have read says that they need some light but I don't know if they actually need light of a certain wavelength or intensity to reproduce or just need any old light. Interested in finding out as well though. If LEDS dont work then maybe a small energy saving bulb will (I know people that use these of refugiums and they work for that).

With regards to the containers, I dont think it really makes any difference. Wider and shallower is apparently better but I have seen people using drinks bottles and that has worked as well.

The only other advise I can give would be to have at least 2 or three cultures going at once. You can never have too many pods (especially if you want a dragonet) and if one of the cultures should crash (which can happen) you have two to carry on with (so don't have to wait a couple of weeks to get one going again). I would say the more pods you can get in your tank the better, they are apparently good detris eaters and all your fish will love them.

 

[Colin_T]

LEDs are probably not bright enough to culure green water, which is required for copepod culture. You are better off using a couple of fluoros on top of a tank. The bigger the tank/ container, the easier the cultures are to keep going.
You can culture copepods outdoors in warm weather. Use a large plastic container and fill it up with seawater. Add some lawn fertiliser (1 tablespoon per 20litres of water), aerate the mixture and wait until it goes green. Then add some copepods. A few weeks later you will have heaps to feed the fish.
It is a good idea to start a new culture every couple of weeks. that way if one culture crashes you can fall back onto the other one.

You can also culture gammaris and mysis shrimp in a small live rock tank. Have some live rock in a tank and aerate the container. Have a light on it and let the algae grow on the rocks. If you can have some caulerpa (macro alga) in the tank it will help encourage the crustaceans to grow. Add some live gammaris or mysis shrimp and leave them for a few weeks. Soon you will have plenty to catch out and feed to the fish.

You can try daphnia as well. Daphnia are fresh water and don't live long in seawater. But the fish will sometimes eat them before they die.

 

[Morri]

Thanks will have a try

Will buy the food you ca get on-line seems cheap enough have read somewhere you can culture Rotifers at the same time will get everything setup and give it a try.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Colin, Yeah if you are culturing the phyto as well (green water) then LED's will definitely not be good enough (unless you buy the ultra bright ones which are really expensive).

However a lot of the sites I have been looking at tell you to dose phyto daily, this improves the water quality I guess and makes the cultures less prone to crashing.

 

[Colin_T]

If you want to add phyto-plankton to a culture then you don't need any light, or LEDs will be adequate. The drawback to adding phyto-plankton is the price. It can get quite costly if you get a decent culture of crustaceans going. Having lots of light will encourage algae to grow and reduce the need to add supplemental algae. But it depends on which is easiest for you. If you are limited to lighting and can get a bottle of phyto-plankton, then do it that way. You will have less problems with the culture crashing. But it's still a good idea to have several cultures going at all times.

 

[Trod]

I culture my pods on the window sill with no other lights at all, I add phytoplankton regulary. Mine are doing great, they are in a round bowl, the kind you used to get goldfish in an airstone with a small pump. easy peasy have a look a tina's thread for more help http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...amp;hl=copepods