Culturing Copepods

[TigerIssey]

Reet, at the beginning of June it will be 3 months since setting up the Nano, everything swapped into the 40g so I am presuming I can count this towards the period of time I wait before introducing a Mandarin Dragonet.

Therefore when I get off holiday at the end of June (21st), I would like to start my cultures in prepration for the one fish I have wanted from the beginning.

I have found that in order to culture the copepods I will need to feed them phytoplankton. I have found the starter kit on Reefworks but to me for what it is, it sounds expensive.

I would like to hear how you culture your pods, I know there are a few of you out there that do so, such as Seffie and Trod, Ben has done so aswell I think.

I would also like to know if I can get a culture going within the refugium part of my sump where my Chaeto is housed, or if I would need a seperate culture in order to maintain my little Mandy.

Any help is appreciated, Thank you in advance.

 

[rabbut]

Basically, it's just a bare tank with an air line in and salt water. Add enough phytoplankton to keep the water a slightly cloudy appearance and dose whenever it goes clear again. Pull pods off with a fine net, and you get all adults and leave the rest in there... You obviously need some pods to start the culture also

 

[Trod]

I looked at the reefworks starter kits too, and you're right they are just not worth it.
I bought a little round glass fish bowl, the kind you used to keep goldfish in as a kid added a small pump with an airstone, then water and phytoplankton I got the culture from seffie, but you can buy some from reefworks or I also added some of this http/www.midlandreefs.co.uk/xcart/produc...mp;bestseller=Y
So it probably cost about £35 in all. I keep mine on the window sill in the dining room, I add a pint once a week to the tank then replace that water with new Feed phyto every couple off weeks.

Not the most attractive look, but my house looks like the LFS anyway and it works

 

[ben1987]

i used an old lunch box. Apparantly its better to have a larger footprint than be taller like a coke bottle. Air pump regulated so its really slow bubbles. Live phyto so the waters got a green tint like trods. You have to ake sure you keep evaporation topped up!

 

[TigerIssey]

Does the culture need light??

If it only needs a very slow airflow it means I can tap into either the Marine tank one for protein skimmer (when it arrives) or tap into the one for the 55 gallon tank.

If it needs light, I can use a light in a cupboard can't I??

There are loads of starter cultures on ebay so I intended to get that from there and there is phyto on there too.

Should I tip a little of the starter culture into the refugium aswell??

 

[Wordy]

Are Mandarins ok to keep in Nanos? I asked in another thread but was advised against it.

 

[TigerIssey]

It is advised againt keeping them in a Nano, I have now swapped my Nano into a larger tank, I will still need to culture pods though, hence being prepared by getting them started a few months before purchasing one.

 

[Wordy]

Ahh ok gotcha, missed the upgrading part of your post

 

[ben1987]

they are meant to have some light yes. Thats wy trod has hers by the window. BigC uses his air pump for cultures and then the rest into the air intake on his skimmer. I know TMC skimmers perform a lot better with extra air.

 

[TigerIssey]

I have ordered a 400lph Eheim air pump, it will be powering an Aquamedic Midiflotor Protein skimmer. (up to 100g)

I am wondering if I can rig up some sort of container that will hang off my sump, it will get light on a reverse cycle to the tank and be within easy access of the air pump aswell. Then it is all nicely contained in the cabinet.

 

[ben1987]

im sure you can sort that out!

 

[Trod]

Are Mandarins ok to keep in Nanos? I asked in another thread but was advised against it.

I have mine in a nano, as long as you are willing to put in the time feeding them and making the pods, then they are fine. The reason they advise against keeping in a nano is that there isn't usually enough LR to sustain a large copepod crop for them to eat, so as long as you keep topping this up a mandy will do fine

 

[TigerIssey]

im sure you can sort that out!

I am thinking Ben that you may have more faith in me than I do.

At present I am thinking some sort of square acrylic container or vase that I can use cyanoacrylate to glue some kind of hanger to. There are all sorts of weird shelves and sticky up bits on my sump so I think some DIY has been done before. For instance, I still cannot work out what one piece of glass was for and the lid needs another cut out as I have pipes coming out differently. I have also used one shelf for the Bubble stop, hangs great.

The other thing, when you harvest them do you put them straight into the tank or should I use the return chamber of the sump so that they get added gradually.

How much phyto do you lot add at a time, 100ml or is it less than this.

 

[ben1987]

i used to add mine to the main tank after lights out. I got wuite a big pipette thing i use for feeding corals. I used to squirt a load in the rock work when the fihs were in bed with that.

If you just pour them in in da time they get eaten before the manadarin gets a look in

 

[TigerIssey]

Good tip, thanks for that Ben. I was wondering how you stopped them from being eaten straight away.