Copepods

Ok I have a question.
I am interested in culturing copepods for a mandarin that I am getting.
My question is what type of equipment will I need? like what kind of filtration, heat, lights, etc.
Also, what variety of copepods do I need to purcahse to get my culture started?
Any other helpful hints will be greatly appreciated.

 

5 gallon bucket, cheap heater, air pump/stone, thermometer, kitchen sponges. Feed pods 2-3 times a week with phyto, rotifers, and some general fish food.

This is what I use in my cultures:
1000+ amphipods / copepods- FOOD FOR SALTWATER AQUARIUM - eBay (item 140321384721 end time Jun-16-09 09:41:06 PDT)

 

you should not get a mandarin until your tank is a year old at least. And has a well established copepod community. Just get regular copepods DT sells them. They need a refugium or a secluded place in the display tank-safe from anything that can eat them--IE a rock cave.

 

If you want a mandarin try to do what PackLeader says with the bucket it because it does work and one suggestion I would make is to try and get one that will eat frozen foods. It will make your life so much easier.

 

These are the pods you want, bought some a while back from the same seller and are working out well so far.
I ended setting up a 10gal tank under my display with a bubble wand, leftover heater and a small clip on light, also put a couple pieces of leftover lr and micro algae from my fuge in there, kinda making a second fuge thats not plumbed to my dt to see how fast they will breed. After a couple weeks I am starting to see some smaller pods already.

I have been feeding them some silver sides, read that somewhere and phyto. If I need to change out the water I plan on just taking it from my dt and adding new to my dt.

 

i am doing the bucket-o-pods suggest by packleader but I would caution getting kitchen sponges anymore b/c of the reason that sponges from stores come pre-soaked with soap sometimes and thats what killed my pods last time and I had to re-do my bucket. This time I purchased pods from piece-of-the-reef on ebay and they included material that is like a sponge in w/ the pods already so I just put that in the bucket. Good luck!

 

Good Point with the sponges, I think that Piece-of-the-reef uses air filter floss, I buy it at my local pet store for $1 a sheet, Think HD and Lowes sells it as well.

 

ok thanks for ya'll help

 

I have a 5gal bucket-o-pods seeded w/ sand from my tank,a small chunk of live rock, and a filter foam block I left in my fuge over night. The bucket is already teeming with pods after 2 weeks. I'm using some generic filter foam and 5-6 "bath puffs" that kind of mimics chaeto. I am using a pre-set Marineland heater for a 3-5g tank, no lights, a scoop (maybe 2 cups) of sand, and water form the main tank. When I put a bright light against the side of the bucket they swarm it.

Feeding 2x a week on DT, about 10ml. So far I have seen 3 or 4 distinct body shapes on my pods, all are under 1mm long. I'll bring my microscope in some day and do a species count.

If anyone wants to trade pod colonies I'd be happy to send out a foam block in some water for the same.

 

Mandarins can sometimes be coaxed into eating mysid shrimp and flake instead. The 1 year rule is based on a time when we didn't know why they kept dieing, but gosh darn it they were cool to look at. We understand them well enough now that we can safely breed them in captivity. An amazing and incredibly beautiful fish.