Live Cultures

[Aphyosemion]

Where would I get an amphipod and copepod culture for my tank? I had worms of every type hatch out of my live rock, including peanut worms, fan worms, and billions of little sand worms, but no amphipods or copepods. Do I just keep buying live rock until I get lucky? Is there anyone in the twin cities that would be willing to give me a starter culture? I would pay for it....
How does everyone else get those going?
-Aphyosemion

[Spongebobsquarepants]

Seacrop sells them http://seacrop.com/Merchant2/merchan...tegory_Code=DG

[flashardy]

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/products.html
This is where I go for live foods...I just got a week ago some Mysid Shrimp and Pods!

Hope this Helps!

CLH

[Aphyosemion]

Excellent! I'm glad that I can buy them online. The only issue is that it is below freezing up here and there is no way they would survive the trip. Live plants can't even make it at these temps.
-Aphyosemion

[flashardy]

I had mine delivered in about 34deg...I think u could ask Paul to thorw in a heat pack!
You might want to wait...if it is so cold...are they delivering the mail? If so u could try to contact Paul and see if they will servive the trip...deano@aquaculturestore.com

Thanks CLH

[Geoff]

when are you looking for the pods? they will be at night if they are uncomfortable. why do you want more pods?

G~

[Aphyosemion]

I have looked very closely in the tank at all hours, including in the middle of the night when I got up to use the bathroom. Not one thing that can't be identified as some kind of worm has been wandering around.
As to why I want them, my tank is dedicated to invertebrates and possibly 2 or 3 very small fish like neon gobies or scooter/lawnmower blennies. (I can only dream of a mandarinfish, even though I see them regularly for sale at the stores.) As such I will have filter feeders such as fanworms, flame scallops, possibly barnacles (why not?) or clams, and ultimately I would like to work towards corals. My tank is only 40 gallons with a deep sand bed, so I would prefer not to dump large amounts of dead plankton or plankton substitutes in there when it is possible to have large amounts of live plankton and live food. I have a sponge over my skimmer intake to prevent small critters from being skimmed out and it seems to work great. I have hundreds of little tiny worms floating around on the current, which I think of as the first residents of my "plankton rift." The only annoyance is minor, since I have to clean the sponge when I do the water changes and it is a pain to get it off the skimmer intake.
Anyway, that is what I am planning. Adding a lot of food fouls your water, so why not keep maximum live food in your tank and only use the fake stuff as a supplement? I am still very new at this, but I'm pretty convinced this is the best way to approach my goal of a complete system.
-Aphyosemion

[Geoff]

you are going to need to feed the pods also? all of the stuff you have mentioned do not feed on pods. they feed on smaller critters. the fish are the exception obviously.

there are no free rides when it comes to food in a reef tank. everything needs to eat. so it is up to you to decide which critters you want to feed. if you want to keep a lot of filter feeders than do not run your skimmer at full bore. detune it. this will add more DOC's to the water column. this will allow more food for the filter feeders without you adding more food into the system.

pods are associated with lagoonal systems. these are generally high nutrient systems. how dirty do you want to keep your tank? what kind of corals are you interested in keeping?

G~

[TeakieBarber]

I feed my Copepods and Rotifer tanks my own Phyto, Nannochloropsis oculata,culture. You can use DT's Phytoplankton or make your own. The initial startup for making your own culture is maybe $50-$100, depending what you already have on hand. Considering the cost of DT'$, I figure it's well worth it. Whether you do 2-3 bottles or 6, like I must, there's minimal time involved.

Teakie
PS I have basic instructions on my Web site.

[Aphyosemion]

Well, the copepods would be for the fish and my own entertainment of course, but the smaller amphipods should be small enough to be sucked up by filter feeders, I would think. If not the adults, then the juveniles? As for the overall feeding, my understanding is that the beneficial pods are generally herbivore/detritivore, so feeding them shouldn't be a problem. My skimmer doesn't need to be adjusted either, since it already allows hundreds of very small worms to float around my tank without being sucked up, so it is working exactly as I had hoped. I would hardly describe what I have going as a "dirty" system, but I will have to keep an eye on it in the future to make sure it doesn't get that way. I am thinking I will add an urchin and possibly some sand sifters to keep the sand clean. I will have to consider how efficient they will be in removing my sand living organisms though before I make any final decisions.
I will very likely look into starting phytoplankton and rotifer cultures in the future. I imagine those would be the primary foods for filter feeders and WILL be sucked out by the skimmer.
Oh, and as for the corals, I will look for something that works with my system. If I can't find anything, I will be content to stay with other filter feeding invertebrates.
-Aphyosemion

[tricksterpup]

Originally Posted by flashardy

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/products.html
This is where I go for live foods...I just got a week ago some Mysid Shrimp and Pods!

Hope this Helps!

CLH

I second these guys, they are a pretty good bunch and I have had very good service from them.

Also, if you haven't checked the TCMAS club here in the twin cities. we have members throught out Minnesota. They are a fine bunch of guys here. http://thereeftank.com/forums/http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f58/

[Geoff]

how long has your tank been set up?

if you want corals than lagoonal corals will be your best option. they can handle the high DOC's that your tank will have. pods are opportunistic feeders.

i would stay away from phyto, unless it is to feed the rotifers. this is just like adding phosphates into the tank. this will only fuel an algae outbreak in the system.

G~

[Aphyosemion]

Originally Posted by Geoff

i would stay away from phyto, unless it is to feed the rotifers. this is just like adding phosphates into the tank. this will only fuel an algae outbreak in the system.
G~

If adding live phytoplankton is just adding phosphates to the tank, what happens when I add dead zoo/phytoplankton in a bottle? My thought is that I have to feed my filter feeders either way and the live stuff will add less polution than the dead stuff.
I am still not convinced that I can't establish a well balanced system if I keep my overall bioload very low and most of my food naturally occurring in the tank.
Do rotifers and phytoplankton remain in the tank or get immediately skimmed out within a few hours? Let's say I add a bunch of them and they remain in the tank for 2 hours before being skimmed out. That would still seem to be close to optimal, since the filter feeders would have time to eat and they wouldn't die in the tank and foul the water. The only negative would be keeping a separate tank for the cultures and having to explain that to my fiance who thinks fish are boring and everything else is "icky."
-Aphyosemion

[TeakieBarber]

I think I'd rethink, about my marriage proposal .

Teakie

[Loverotties]

Sea crop got it!