Trying to culture copepods for saltwater aquarium?

Question

I have all the criteria met to start "growing" copepods as food for my reef tank (mainly green mandrarin and scooter dragonet) all i need to know is what species to start with. will just a bottle of tigger pods work or just any kind or is there one in particular

Answer 1

Any will be fine. I would suggest a refuge set up to give them a "safe haven" to grow nice and fat in! I am curious what size tank you have? A single Manderine will decimate a healthy pod colony in anything smaller than a 50 gallon tank in a month or so.

Answer 2

Besides having a large enough tank, you need the right sort of pods. What comes in naturally on the live rock is best. Just set some up in a separate tank and they'll reproduce as long as there's food and no predators to eat them. A few months ago one of the major fish publications did an article reviewing the use of "Aquapods" for feeding as I recall, they weren't that popular with the fish. I'll take a quick look through my collection and see if I can find it and give you the name and issue if you want to try and find a copy.

ADDITION: The article was in Tropical Fish Hobbyist Feb 2007 by Josh Day on keeping mandarins in nanotanks using supplementary food sources. The first mandarin died of starvation despite three bottles of pods in a 10 gallon tank - while the pods were reproducing (it never ate them). A second mandarin ate them all within a few days, then showed signs weight loss. The author switched to capelin roe from an oriental food market and found the mandarin would eat these without mouthing and spitting out (as it had been doing with the pods).

Answer 3

the ideal element to do is verify what length tank you will do. Get as super of a tank as you could, as a results of fact Saltwater fish choose extra area than freshwater as a results of fact Saltwater holds much less oxygen than freshwater and maximum saltwater fish get greater. ingredients Tank/Stand/and so on lights furniture. Are you doing coral? difficult or delicate? look into T5 lights and steel Halides. you will choose around 3-5 watts in line with gallon. Heater- Submersible, marineland is a powerful type or hydor clear out- Get a canister clear out. the recent FX5 is loopy fantastic with the aid of Fluval, get one which will bypass each and every of the water interior the tank a minimum of 5 situations in line with hour. Protein Skimmer- Coral existence makes some large ones. Substrate- Use the two crushed coral or aragonite (aragonite is sand and crushed coral seems extra like gravel. the two will buffer the pH to the place you pick it (8.2-8.3) After the equipment is dealt with, you establish the tank as you may a freshwater tank, yet you upload interior the sea salt. I want Oceanic or Coral existence. A hydrometer is critical to envision the point of salt interior the water(particular gravity) stay Rock is critical as quickly as the tank is setup and dealing. approximately 1lb in line with gallon is pronounced yet you additionally can combination stay rock with base rock(it truly is lifeless stay rock. it is going to ultimately substitute into stay rock nonetheless) I did a three/4 LR to a million/4 BR ratio as a results of fact it truly is extra low in value and works in simple terms nice. provide it some weeks to cycle, and start up with some fish. i could propose some Blue/green Chromis to start as a results of fact they seem to be a non violent damsel fish while a marvelous form of the different damsel fish get aggressive as they grow old. that must be approximately it, it truly is easy so do a splash analyze and get to it! ideal of success