5gallon copepod farm

hunt

hunt

Active Member
I have a 29g tank and I want a mandarin and i figured i could simply set a little 5g tank and raise copepods in that and just put some in the DT weekly. Few questions though.
1. What do i do for filtration in a pod tank?
2.What kind of heating and at what temp?
3.How often should i add pods to the DT?
4.How long should i grow and add pods to the DT before i get a mandarin?
5.Do they need any special lighting(please say no)
6. Can i feed them rugular fish food or do i have to grow phytoplankton or something(again, please say fish food)
( I dont have a sump or refugium.)
Any other advise for me please post it.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
Anyone have any little bit of experiance or advice for me?????????
(look, im trying to get your attention now)
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Ya, but do you know how many copepods are out there? They have different requirements. Knowing what one is wanting to culture will help with husbandry recommendations.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
OCEAN PODS PREMIUM - Mix of Three Species for Starter Culture
I was thinking about a mix like this(i pulled this off a website) It doesnt say what kind. I was thinking about doing tigger pods, then i read that they were a cold water speacies. Is the mix a good idea(a little variety)?
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
OK, now im considering Tigger pods again, how long would they live in 79 degree F water
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Out of the 3 that we cultured, we found the Tigriopus califoricus to be the touchier. In the summer our culture rates greatly declined. The Tisbe and the swarming pseudocyclops were the hardiest. We ended up putting a chiller on the Tigriopus califoricus to keep production up and stable.
Tigriopus califoricus will live fine at warmer temps, they just didn't reproduce well for us at warmer temps.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
Darn, really wanted to get out of shipping fees, they have Tigger pods there. They will still reproduce in warmer temps right, just a little slower. What temp should they be at, since im doing a separate 5g breeder tank and adding them to my DT i can have the temp much lower in the small tank
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
We had ours set below 68. You won't be able to keep a tank that low and stable at the same time without a chiller. Your yield in a 5g, of those pods at warmer temps, will not be enough to sustain a mandarin in that sized tank, IMO. You're better off setting up a training tank for your mandarin in order to teach them to take frozen.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Your ambient temperature is 67 day and night summer and winter? If it's that rock solid, you won't need a chiller.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
5n our house the upstairs is always 2-3 degrees warmer and just for kicks i took my thermometer out of my tank and put it were i would have the tank and it is exactly 67-68. So this means i wont need a heater or chiller?
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I kept a stable pod farm going for a few months before breaking the system down. I used a 2.5g tank with a glass lid, a cheapie light, an airpump with a 50 cent airstone, and that's it. I live in florida and I kept the farm out in the garage, so no heater necessary. I would keep the temp of your farm the same as your DT temp to facilitate an easier transfer when you go back and forth.
I used "Reefpods" brand copepods, a swarming variety that are barely visible to the

[hr]
eye. They are available here on SWF, also. Reefpods are a warm water vaiety that breed well in our reef tanks, and they are very easy to propegate.
I started with a bare 2.5g tank, filled with tankwater from a water change. Add the air stone on one side of the tank and adjust the airflow so it creates a gentle circular flow in the aquarium. Add your reefpods. Temp acclimate them and do an abbreviated acclimation protocol to increase your chances of keeping most of them alive.....this is often overlooked with copepods but I believe its necessary. When the pods are in, add a tablespoonful or two of live phytoplankton until the water has a mild green tinge. Let this brew for a week and you will see the pod population take off. It's easy to see, they will congregate on the sides of the tank. If you keep your light on one side of the tank they will gather most on the lit pane of glass. Collect your pods by siphoning off the glass sides, then top off with clean saltwater and a little more phyto. You will know they're consuming the phyto when the water goes clear within a day or two of adding new phyto.
You will also need to siphon the bottom of the tank every couple weeks to prevent detritus buildup. Although you will certainly be killing pods, I don't think it's worth adding the sludge from the bottom of the podfarm to your tank. Again, top off with clean saltwater, more phyto, and let it brew. Keep farming the sides of the tank for pods.
It's pretty easy. Happy Farming!
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
do i have to feed with phyto, iread that you can use a small ammount of crushed flakes or pellets. I really have no room for a phyto culture.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Check your PM box, but I'll repost it here too. Flakes and pellets are "OK" for culturing, but not as good as phyto. You don't need to culture phyto in order to culture pods...a 20 dollar bottle of DT's was fine for a month's worth of pod culturing in a 2.5g tank. You'll need more for a bigger pod culture, obviously. Also you will see less of an issue with high ammonia levels when you feed your bugs phyto.
Cranberry has posted this elsewhere but I'll copy it here: the variety she recommends for most pod cultures in tropical tanks is the tisbe species...and hey! Guess what! That's the one and (supposedly) only species marketed as "ReefPods." I had great success with these buggers.
 
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