crzyfshygy
Member
I just bought a Mandarin and although I ahve copepods now. I would like to keep them growing in a seperate area. Anyone doing this??? How would I do it?? Thanks
Copepod Farming...anyone doing it??
- Thread starter crzyfshygy
- Start date
crzyfshygy
Member
miamireefr
Member
If I am not mistaken most utilize a refugium and set it up with some live sand and chaetomorpha and seems to generate the copepods your tank would need to provide for the mandarins eating requirement...but I am not 100%....
Nick
Nick
maxalmon
Active Member
I have a frag tank setup with a HOB overflow, about every week or so I take the sponge filter out of the fragtank overflow and there must be several hundred pods living on it, then I shake them out in a bowl of clean SW and then dump them into my DT... I would agree about the refugium as being a good source. I also have a 10g chaeto tank setup, it's just the tank, some LS a little LR, heater and a blue damsel and a 2x9w coralife light. The chaeto grows like mad, started off with a golfball sized clump and now it's the size of a basketball. I feed the tank frozen cyclopeeze (sp) and it's overrun with pods. I plan on using these pods to establish my new 125g reef.
crzyfshygy
Member
Great keep them comming!!
psusocr1
Active Member
i agree, their EVERYWHERE in my tank, noo need for farming my mandarin eats liek a pig apparently, as said in my filter pad on my overflow if i rinse that out there are thousands of pods on there!
my point: i bet if you threw a sponge or filter pag in the fuge and lay it lay there it wouldbe a bredding ground for them!
my point: i bet if you threw a sponge or filter pag in the fuge and lay it lay there it wouldbe a bredding ground for them!
bojik
Member
If you seed you tank enough your mandarain will never put a dent in em heh. I had one in a 15 long for a while with seeded mysis and various pods. I seeded what looked like mysis off my LFS filter pads. That was what my mandarain was eating out of the display tank. I also seeded in some copepods i bought off the net. All that plus what was on the LR she ate happily. Though she also took to eating the frozen brine too.
sharkbait9
Active Member
Originally Posted by psusocr1
i agree, their EVERYWHERE in my tank, noo need for farming my mandarin eats liek a pig apparently, as said in my filter pad on my overflow if i rinse that out there are thousands of pods on there!
my point: i bet if you threw a sponge or filter pag in the fuge and lay it lay there it wouldbe a bredding ground for them!
That’s all I ever did. I just take a couple of pieces of poly filter pad (white one side, blue on the other) and that’s their “champagne room”
i agree, their EVERYWHERE in my tank, noo need for farming my mandarin eats liek a pig apparently, as said in my filter pad on my overflow if i rinse that out there are thousands of pods on there!
my point: i bet if you threw a sponge or filter pag in the fuge and lay it lay there it wouldbe a bredding ground for them!
That’s all I ever did. I just take a couple of pieces of poly filter pad (white one side, blue on the other) and that’s their “champagne room”
lubeck
Active Member
I believe a fuge does the job. You won't ever have to buy any pods again. The filter foam idea is good and does work but if you feel like cleaning it every week thats your call. With a fuge its more natural and the pods eventually get sucked up to the display tank. No matter if you have lr or cheato in your fuge the pods will come in the thousands.
sharkbait9
Active Member
Originally Posted by maxalmon
I think as a test I'm going to go buy one of those aquaclear foam blocks that's about the size of a brick, weigh it down in the bottom of my fragtank and just see what happens, they seem to love this stuff, you can see them darting in and out all night long.
No need to weigh it down let it float around in your fuge, they will move in in no time.
Once they have taken up residency in the foam they start the --- party. My fuge produces plenty of pods even before I dropped my foam block in. That’s the only real reason why I know the foam works, I dropped/ one fell in and did not notice it.
When I went to pull it out I saw all the pods living and breeding so I left it and placed another one in. The foam floats around all day all night. The foam don’t get dirty and I’m not chasing it around to clean it.
I think as a test I'm going to go buy one of those aquaclear foam blocks that's about the size of a brick, weigh it down in the bottom of my fragtank and just see what happens, they seem to love this stuff, you can see them darting in and out all night long.
No need to weigh it down let it float around in your fuge, they will move in in no time.
Once they have taken up residency in the foam they start the --- party. My fuge produces plenty of pods even before I dropped my foam block in. That’s the only real reason why I know the foam works, I dropped/ one fell in and did not notice it.
When I went to pull it out I saw all the pods living and breeding so I left it and placed another one in. The foam floats around all day all night. The foam don’t get dirty and I’m not chasing it around to clean it.
mudplayerx
Active Member
Copepod farming requires that one gather a female and male with a pipette. A microscope is necessary for this endeavor. The two are then placed in a very shallow dish (petri dish works great). After that culture booms in population, you repeat the behavior with more shallow dishes.
The object here is to have so many dishes going that you can use the copepods as food without ever diminishing your supply.
There's a great article on it in one of the "Coral Magazine"
The object here is to have so many dishes going that you can use the copepods as food without ever diminishing your supply.
There's a great article on it in one of the "Coral Magazine"
sharkbait9
Active Member
Everything we do in life, their are three ways to it.
1 The K.I.S.S method (keep it simple stupid)
2. The over achievers method
and
3. The wrong way
One way works for some and may not work for others. As any one progresses in this hobby they learn that spending all this time and energy to achieve a goal could have been done with the same success, even if they did it an easier way.
1 The K.I.S.S method (keep it simple stupid)
2. The over achievers method
and
3. The wrong way
One way works for some and may not work for others. As any one progresses in this hobby they learn that spending all this time and energy to achieve a goal could have been done with the same success, even if they did it an easier way.
crzyfshygy
Member
mudplayerx
Active Member
Farming/cultivating copepods is different that providing them a breeding place in the same closed system that the mandarin is kept in. The method I detailed was for large-scale cultivation of copepods. It can be done easily and cheaply even with a microscope from Walmart or Kmart in the toys section.
I've done it for a few months in petri dishes before I eventually bought more live rock for my mandarin. Many pet stores will even buy your live copepods or at least give you store credit for them.
I've done it for a few months in petri dishes before I eventually bought more live rock for my mandarin. Many pet stores will even buy your live copepods or at least give you store credit for them.
lubeck
Active Member
I have many different types of pods in my fuge but am unsure what copepods actually look like. I know what amphiod pods look like I have TONS of them but not the copepods. Does anyone have a good picture other than the one in the archive post? The one type of pod I have in the fuge is quite small and seems to have a big head and a semi-long thin tail. What does that sound like?
swisswiss
Member
iv actually recently re-asked this question, i hear its possible to farm them in a large jar, this would be ideal for me since i dont have a sump or extra tank. im uncertain however about what they need in the jar, live rock sand and algae to feed? has anyone tried this method? does it work? do i need to provide air bubbels? HELP!
