Copepods, you think you know them? well in this show im joined by Dr. Adelaide Rhodes, a world recognized expert on Copepods. Adelaide will take us though the in's and out's of copepods and what they mean to out tanks today, and in the future.

In this show we discuss
- What are copepods
- Identifying copepods
- What are copepods good for
- How to get copepods in your system
- Breeding copepods in and out of your tank
- And much more

Thread for Manny, looking for controller software (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2087)

This show sponsored by:
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now we're talking! these are the ones i like the most

Gosh, I can't wait for this to finish downloading. I've enjoyed reading her website and have thought she would be a really interesting guest on the show.

waiting for d/l, sounds really really good. Cuz all i know about them is they are good eats for mandarins :D

Rob -

Excellent show. Adelaide was a fantastic guest, with lots of great information. I plan on visiting her site next, if I can ever get off this one! I agree with Veriann - these are my favorite types of shows.

Rob -

Excellent show. Adelaide was a fantastic guest, with lots of great information. I plan on visiting her site next, if I can ever get off this one! I agree with Veriann - these are my favorite types of shows.
awesome, yes, make sure you check out her site, great stuff..
OceanPods

im glad you enjoyed it..
Adelaide was a great guest, and has agreed to do future shows if the listeners want.. just think up some questions and let us know

Great show Rob and informative as usual. It was good to hear from Adelaide as I purchased a bottle of Oceanpods about a month ago and placed them in my tank a few weeks before putting in my clowns. I was very skeptical when first receiving the bottle. I honestly only saw a few copepods swimming around the bottle. I could not believe it a few weeks later when I inspected the tank in the middle of the night to see more than I can count on the glass. I wish I had a refugium, but even without on I still have noticed that these little guys(Harpacticoid copepods) have multiplied big time. At night I can see a bunch of them mostly on the glass in the corners of the tank. I thought it was interesting that she mentioned keeping a bit of the glass with some algae as from experience these little guys flock to these areas of the tank. I will take her advice and stop cleaning at least a partial section of glass for them. When I look on the rocks, I rarely see them but I will pick one out from time to time. I am wondering if this has something to do with current in the tank. I have 25-30x turnover going on and I rarely see them anywhere but the glass.

Some LFS's have been selling an alternative copepod(Tigerpods - Tigriopus californicus). Not sure about the benefits of these little guys in our aquariums. What I have noticed is that the Tigerpods are much larger than the Oceanpods. The Oceanpods are really tiny.

I set up a mini refugium with sand(I guess not a good idea) to start culturing some Tigerpods. I think I will try the 1 G Rubbermaid method as it seems the current 5g refugium idea is going to be impossible to get them out. I am really interested in culturing these little guys. It is great to see these products out there these days as like it was said in the show, the mandarins really need these little guys to survive.

At the moment I have a couple questions regarding copepods in general:

1. In noticing Oceanpods mostly on the glass, would high water turnover(20-40x) effect the production of these little buggers in the aquarium?

2. In such a large system(our aquariums) in comparison to the size of these little guys, can someone explain how it is possible for such a small amount of live phytoplankton to be taken in by these little guys? I guess what I am getting at is if I am not seeing them much around the rocks and mostly on the glass, how are they getting to the phytoplankton if it is in the water column? I am turning off my skimmer for an hour after dosing phytoplankton.

Thanks again for the info, Rob. Can't wait to hear a few more out of the million copepod topics in the future. :p

Great topic Rob, now I may actually be able figure out what is in my tank. I thought the photo below showed Copepods, but now I don't think they are. I also don't think they are Amphipods, because I have seen the photo of them. So after a little research my educated guess is they are isopods. Maybe sphaeromatid? What do you think?

A litttle history on the photo, sometimes Nori falls out of my clip and gets pulled into the overflow. I usually remove it, but when looking this evening, I saw these buggers all over it.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/wildeone/P1010195.jpg

Whatever they are, they are doing a gereat job at cleanup!

WOW! what a great show.

very cool show. i love it. very imformative.. great job rob!!!!

This was a wonderful show man. I was wondering something while listening to it. If copie's are more nutritious than rotifers, might culturing copies be the key to sustaining the fry of other fish species? When we were talking rob, you mentioned that only about 20% of the clown fry survive to adulthood. If you are going to try feeding copies instead, maybe that number will increase. Let us know if you do so.

1. In noticing Oceanpods mostly on the glass, would high water turnover(20-40x) effect the production of these little buggers in the aquarium?

2. In such a large system(our aquariums) in comparison to the size of these little guys, can someone explain how it is possible for such a small amount of live phytoplankton to be taken in by these little guys? I guess what I am getting at is if I am not seeing them much around the rocks and mostly on the glass, how are they getting to the phytoplankton if it is in the water column? I am turning off my skimmer for an hour after dosing phytoplankton.
my answers would be speculative, i will defer to Adelaide on this one

Great topic Rob, now I may actually be able figure out what is in my tank. I thought the photo below showed Copepods, but now I don't think they are. I also don't think they are Amphipods, because I have seen the photo of them. So after a little research my educated guess is they are isopods. Maybe sphaeromatid? What do you think?

A litttle history on the photo, sometimes Nori falls out of my clip and gets pulled into the overflow. I usually remove it, but when looking this evening, I saw these buggers all over it.
yes, think you are right in that they are isopods.

WOW! what a great show.
very cool show. i love it. very imformative.. great job rob!!!!
Thanks guys.. ;)

This was a wonderful show man. I was wondering something while listening to it. If copie's are more nutritious than rotifers, might culturing copies be the key to sustaining the fry of other fish species? When we were talking rob, you mentioned that only about 20% of the clown fry survive to adulthood. If you are going to try feeding copies instead, maybe that number will increase. Let us know if you do so.
actually, what i as mentioning is that i had about 20 survive from my last clutch, people that do this more regularly can get hatch rates as much as 95-98% survival, but yes, it does involve properly enriching (gut packing) the rotifers. Copepods do sound like a great alternative food source, one i will be trying in the future

Great topic Rob, now I may actually be able figure out what is in my tank. I thought the photo below showed Copepods, but now I don't think they are. I also don't think they are Amphipods, because I have seen the photo of them. So after a little research my educated guess is they are isopods. Maybe sphaeromatid? What do you think?

A litttle history on the photo, sometimes Nori falls out of my clip and gets pulled into the overflow. I usually remove it, but when looking this evening, I saw these buggers all over it.

Whatever they are, they are doing a gereat job at cleanup!

I would agree these are isopods. Now I can't see all of them clearly, but one in the upper right corner of the algae is definitely a male sphaeromatid.

As long as your fish are healthy and not covered in bite marks I would say it is pretty likely they are all the beneficial sphaeromatids.

Brian

Hey - that is a great picture of some isopods! Can I borrow it for a presentation? I would give you a credit on the photo.

Isopods are great little bugs, but sometimes they can be the parasitic kind, so be careful if you see anything like that latching onto your fish.

Some copepods are parasitic as well, so it is good to know where they come from when you place them in your tank.

Adelaide

This was a wonderful show man. I was wondering something while listening to it. If copie's are more nutritious than rotifers, might culturing copies be the key to sustaining the fry of other fish species? When we were talking rob, you mentioned that only about 20% of the clown fry survive to adulthood. If you are going to try feeding copies instead, maybe that number will increase. Let us know if you do so.

Hi - This is a great question, and one that many scientists and hobbyists are feverishly working on trying to find the ultimate copepods. I don't think that we will ever find one species of copepod that will be the 'Magic bullet' and solve all the fish breeders needs as far as nutrition, behaviour and size. However, we are getting closer with each try and I'd love to hear how Rob's fish do on the copepods.

Adelaide

...... However, we are getting closer with each try and I'd love to hear how Rob's fish do on the copepods.

Adelaide

ME TOO!!!.. :D
but i have to get some copepods growing first.. :)
which means i need to change out my phyto from Nano to ISO, or get a large piston powered air pump so i can culture both, as my little air pumps can barely hang with what i have today...lol

"""""At the moment I have a couple questions regarding copepods in general:

1. In noticing Oceanpods mostly on the glass, would high water turnover(20-40x) effect the production of these little buggers in the aquarium?"""""


The turnover is high, but if there are areas of the tank that are out of the current, the copepods will naturally gravitate there to cling to the substrate. Sand vacuuming will remove more copepods than water turnover, because the copepods are clinging to sand, live rock, macroalgae, etc.

"""""2. In such a large system(our aquariums) in comparison to the size of these little guys, can someone explain how it is possible for such a small amount of live phytoplankton to be taken in by these little guys? I guess what I am getting at is if I am not seeing them much around the rocks and mostly on the glass, how are they getting to the phytoplankton if it is in the water column? I am turning off my skimmer for an hour after dosing phytoplankton.""""""


Copepods are detritivores, so they will recycle their own waste materials, and they retain the nutrients of their food in their flest. The rotifers have to be refed because 1.) they only hold their food in their stomachs and then eject it after a few hours, .) they do not become more nutritious as an animal, they just hold the enrichments in their stomachs for short periods of time.

They copepods are probably grazing on detritus (waste materials) and tiny little algal cells on the glass. That is why it is good to have some phytoplankton in your tank growing on a surface somewhere - doesn't have to be the tank glass can be live rock or on macroalgae.

"""""Thanks again for the info, Rob. Can't wait to hear a few more out of the million copepod topics in the future. :p[/QUOTE]"""""

Thanks for listening to the podcast. I really enjoyed the experience, and hope to contribute in the future.

Adelaide

well...first off, i loved the copopods show....but i did have some questions.
- How long dose it take them to reproduce?
- And how long after birth can they have babies
- how many babies at a time?
- How many times in a lifetime can the have babys?
- Assuming that they dont become something's dinner, how long do they live?

Thanks Vanmo
i will again defer these to Adelaide for the answers

well...first off, i loved the copopods show....but i did have some questions.
- How long dose it take them to reproduce?
- And how long after birth can they have babies
- how many babies at a time?
- How many times in a lifetime can the have babys?
- Assuming that they dont become something's dinner, how long do they live?



Hi Vanmo - Are you a biologist? I am so impressed with these questions!

Copepods are a lot like their cousins, the insects, meaning they reproduce rapidly if conditions are favorable. For example, my favorite species Nitokra lacustris, takes 7 to 12 days to reach maturity, then the females will have egg sacs every other day or third day for their adult life span. Nitokra can live up to 90 days. They will have 30 to 50 eggs in each egg sac, depending on if they are being fed well. They only have to mate once to have multiple egg sacs, because they carry the male's sperm around with them and use it like a time release capsule - pretty cool!

Adelaide

well i am new to the board and I love your podcast. I am learning a lot. I have 20 gal with a 10 gal refugium. My clowns have been breeding for the past year. Would love to c a podcast on how to raise a fry. I bought the book by Joyce Wilkerson which is great, but would still love a podcast on it.

thanx for the work Rob, great board

Derek

well i am new to the board and I love your podcast. I am learning a lot. I have 20 gal with a 10 gal refugium. My clowns have been breeding for the past year. Would love to c a podcast on how to raise a fry. I bought the book by Joyce Wilkerson which is great, but would still love a podcast on it.

thanx for the work Rob, great board

Derek
Thanks Derek
this is something i have been thinking about doing for some time, especially after going through the process several times, and seeing how things may need to vary from whats in Joyce's book.

we'll see what i can come up with.. :)

Welcome to TR, Derek. Hope you learn a lot and have fun doing so!

Wow. I too really enjoyed this podcast. I have been interested in these little creatures since reading about the difficulty raising the centrogpyes. It sounds like there are several groups in Hawaii that have been looking for the magic bullet to solve the first food problem when raising small fry. Is anyone aware of published research that describes their findings in more detail than news bites? Once again. Great show.

No I am not a biologist. In fact I an 14 years old, and have only been doing saltwater for about a year, but the first 7 months I was doign everything wrong so i only consider it about 5 months. I just love our mini-oceans so much and spend ALL my free time doing it. Even while I am at school, I listen on my ipod, to these great TR shows and other podcasts about reefkeeping.

heres my thread about my new tank.

http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1268

Hey - that is a great picture of some isopods! Can I borrow it for a presentation? I would give you a credit on the photo.


Absolutley, so long as it is used for good and not evil purposes! LOL!

Derek; venn,

:welcome: to TR.

Killer show.... I would love to hear more about culturing your own copepods.

Killer show.... I would love to hear more about culturing your own copepods.

Hi - Much of what we discussed is written down in the FAQ's at www.oceanpods.com and www.essentiallivefeeds.com. Feel free to send me questions if you make the attempt!

Adelaide

Hey - that is a great picture of some isopods! Can I borrow it for a presentation? I would give you a credit on the photo.
Adelaide

Oops, I forgot to mention that if you PM me with your email or if you just want to post it, I will send you the high res version of that photo. Thanks for all the great info!

Here is something I don't think was covered in the cast. I have these flatworms in my tank, and I was just following up to ensure that they were safe. I see them at night on the glass moving around. I don't see many, but I do see them. After looking them up at wwwWetWebMedia.com I find that they are a copepod eating flatworm and that they are harmless. Well unless you are a copepod....

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/WormPIX/FlatwormPIX/squidly.jpg

Photo compliments of Wetwebmedia

there are not exactly "harmless" yes, they can consume copepods, they also can threaten corals if they reach very hi populations, they can start getting on coral tissue and causing damage. the damage is not direct, its more from it smothering the coral

Thanks Rob, I will do some more homework so I can handle them if need be!

Rob and Adelaide have made me a believer!

My copepods arrived today... so I guess we'll see how culturing goes! I bought one bottle for my tank and one bottle for a culture I have started.

Tomorrow I get my new phytoplankton strains; Isochrysis and Tetraselmis. I have dumped the rotifers and I am pretty much saying goodbye to nanno, except for the big jug I started with my existing cultures just for shits and giggles :)

Thanks Rob for such a great resource and Adelaide for taking SO MUCH time out of your personal schedule to discuss all aspects of your work for a measly $50 sale. You both rule.

awesome, im glad we were able to help you
please keep us updated on your success

Ok guys. I need to culture some pods for my mandarin. He eats frozen blood worms but I want him to eat his natural food. I bought some of those tigger pods and he woofed them down. I have a small 37 cube tank with a small sump. I don't want to go the refugium route due to lack of space and I really don't want to have to tend to a seperate culture tank either. No space in display for a pod pile either. What I was thinking of was to get one of these small in sump/tank CPR refugiums and filling it with live rock rubble and putting it in my sump, then just dump the pods into this space. Will this work? Do I use the 100gph power head that comes with it? Do I need light since I've got no macro algae in it? How about since I will be dosing DT's to feed the little guys?. See link below to in sump fuge below.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3621&Ntt=cpr&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Will a pump's impeller kill pods? I am assuming the pods are transported from the sump via the return pump in low numbers as they adventure out of the fuge area?

Hi Robster, :welcome: to TR. Although some pods may be killed as thee pass through your pump most will make it to the diaplay alive.

Why not start a side culture?

I just don't want to deal with water changes and sifting the pods out of the culture tank as well as the changes of the culture tank crashing due to water quality. What is wrong with my plan?

I didn't say there was anything wrong with your plan.

However, if you want a larger, more sustainable amount - you will need a side culture. The problem with trying to culture in your fuge or tank is that you have critters in there who like to eat them. Uninterrupted reproduction and propagation is always the best way to go.

It's not that much work, except that you also need to culture phyto for them.

Nothing else will be eating the pods. This is a suction cup acrylic cube that you place in your sump. I plan on loading it with live rock rubble and then dumping in a couple bottles of pods. The ones that escape will be pumped into the display by the return pump. Will this small space be enough room for them to reproduce? Do they need a light source? Will the rubble be sufficient for them vs. macro algae?
The mini in sump fuge comes with a 100gph power head. Should I use this or not? Too much flow? The fuge does have holes in it to allow some water exchange.

Hi - Rob was writing to me on the side, so I am just posting our conversation to see if it informs the process. Let me know if you need more details:

> I have a Mandarin in my small reef tank (37 gal). It has only 40
> lbs of live rock in it. I do not have a refugium and don't have any space
> for adding a fuge at this time. He is eating frozen blood worms but
> prefers pods. I purchased a bottle of the larger type of brown pods
> (Tigriopus Californicus?). They claim there were 500 in there. It appears
> that he has eaten these all up within a month. Is this possible? Is it
> possible for me to put your 2000 pods in my tank and have them reproduce
> keeping a constant supply for the mandarin? Or will he eventually wipe
> these out? I do not have any other pod eaters in the tank. Just trying to
> determine if I should just overstock the main tank with pods or setup a
> culture tank with my 2.5 gallon tank I use for hatching brine. Your
> thoughts?
>

Hi Rob - When you have the live food in with the fish, it is a numbers
game ultimately. The Ocean Pods bottles I sell have about 1,000
animals, but most are small. While it may sound counterintuitive, the
small ones will actually help your mandarin more because they pack a
lot of nutrition into a small space, they provide stimulation because
they hang out near the bottom where the mandarin hangs, and they
reproduce faster and avoid predation more than the larger species you
might have tried with. If you want to be extra extra sure you have
enough, you don't have to set up an entire tank system. You could
actually get away with a simple side culture in a large mason jar or a
tupperware container. Check out the FAQ's on my website, and that
might give you some ideas. A brine tank is okay, but if it is conical,
that will not be an advantage to the copepods, they need flat surface
areas for grazing and production. Just try a simple jar at first.

Hope this helps

> If I were to do a side culture in a 2.5 gallon glass aquarium could I
> keep it in the garage if I have a heater in the water? How often do you
> have to do water changes on something like this? How about dosing with
> DT's. How much would I put in the tank per day? 1 drop per day, per
> week? Is an air pump needed? Should I use an airstone or just the air
> tubing?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob


I like to use a piece of rigid tubing or pipette if I use air, so I can
regulate flow better. Airstones are okay, but hard to control the size
of the bubbles which might get trapped under the carapaces of the
copepods.

I wouldn't do water changes often, but I would split the container into
a backup jar or tupperware dish whenever you change something about the
system. If you use homegrown or algal products like DT's, I recommend
that you put about 1 mL every three days to a week - watch that the
coloration does not become too dark or that any cloudy or smelly water
starts to happen. I would change water once every two weeks or so,
just 25 % , and filter out the copepods so you can put them back into
culture. Of course, once you start adding to your system, just top off
the wate rto replace any removed to get the pods out.

Adelaide

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. I know you must have a busy schedule and appreciate that you take the time to answer basic questions for us reefers. What about the mini fuge w/live rock rubble idea mentioned above. Do you think this small space will be (7-3/4" x 4" x 7-1/2") packed with live rock rubble will be enough space to pack 1 bottle of your Oceanpods? Do you think they will be able to reproduce there and then occasionally be exported via my return pump to the main tank? Will this be enough to keep my bloodworm eating Mandarin happy? I was thinking I would refresh this once per quarter...? Also, the fuge comes with a 100 gph powerhead that sucks in water outside the mini fuge and blows it into the fuge. There are also holes on around the mini fuge for pods to escape and to help with water exchange.

Anyone have an opinion on this idea?

Well I can't say much but that size is only 1 gallon and 100x that for circulation sounds way too high.

Which brings up a question... What is a good flow rate for a refugium (especially one to grow copepod populations)?

I sure the fuge and LR couldn't hurt yor pod population. Would some sand help pods also?

Robster,

I'm going to give you an "out of the box" reply and say that ANY additional refugium that you can set up is better than none. Yes, set up that in sump fuge and put some of the pods in there. You will most likely get a small population going in there. With the protection of the "box", they should sustain themselves. Now, whether or not this is enough for your system... I don't know.

At the same time, you really should try to keep another culture going. First of all, you're going to need lots of pods to keep a mandarin happy if he/she is not eating frozen foods. Other fish/corals/worms/etc. in the display will also add to the depletion of pods as they really are "free game" for anything that can ingest them. Second reason is just for simple "back up". Anyone who "cultures" anything always has a back up plan.

Though really fragile and tiny, pods are pretty resilient creatures. This is why our tanks bloom with them when we add live rock. Just imagine making the harvest, cleaning, preparation, shipping, acclimation process while burrowed into a nook of rock. If they can survive that, they can survive lots of stressing situations. With that said, go set up a crude culture. I've found that the more common amphipods and copepods can deal with real swings in salinity, temperature, and lighting configurations. I've let my cultures go for a week or more without top off, food, and other "necessities". Sure, you may have some die off for some issue or another, but again, they are pretty hearty! I'm currently using tanks for pod production. But in the past, I've used tupperware, plastic pretzel jars, two liter bottles.... you name it. Go ahead, give it a try. It's probably one of the CHEAPEST experiments you will perform in this crazy habit...er...hobby of ours.

FWIW... I personally do NOT subscribe to the impeller sheer issues that many say causes death in micro crustaceans in our systems. First and foremost, those "tests" were conducted using adult brine shrimp. OF COURSE they will suffer from going through that type of abuse. However, the majority of juvenile pods, shrimp etc. are pushed through pumps with no ill effect. It is actually those smaller, younger, more nutritional specimens that we want in our displays.

The pump size/water flow in your fuge should be enough to bring oxygenated water through the system containing the pods, without causing "turbulance" in the system. This is true for most refugium set ups and allows more "contact time" for the water and solids therein to have with the various micro fauna and flora that will "take them up". The ONLY time I add additional flow to a refugium is if I have incorporated a deep sand bed (DSB) that needs good flow to remain healthy.

I practice the same methods in my skimming habits. I allow more time for water to make contact with the bubbles and therefore give the solids more time to adhere to those bubbles. PUSHING too much water, too fast, through any system will result in the re circulation of that water and the contained nutrient load as it loses a game of statistics in the cleaning/skimming process.

Dave

NaClFinatic (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/member.php?u=750) Sand is great...except if you are setting up a true "culture" that needs to be split from time to time. The introduction of sand, while giving more surface space for the lil' bugs to graze and live upon, would make one heck of a mess during moves/splits.

In a refugium system, it would be a positive.

Dave

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. I know you must have a busy schedule and appreciate that you take the time to answer basic questions for us reefers. What about the mini fuge w/live rock rubble idea mentioned above. Do you think this small space will be (7-3/4" x 4" x 7-1/2") packed with live rock rubble will be enough space to pack 1 bottle of your Oceanpods? Do you think they will be able to reproduce there and then occasionally be exported via my return pump to the main tank? Will this be enough to keep my bloodworm eating Mandarin happy? I was thinking I would refresh this once per quarter...? Also, the fuge comes with a 100 gph powerhead that sucks in water outside the mini fuge and blows it into the fuge. There are also holes on around the mini fuge for pods to escape and to help with water exchange.

Hi Rob - Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I did not see the post in my mailbox.

Anyway, I think a space of 1/2 to 2 gallons is sufficient to get started. I have several mason jars in this size range I use for excess pods when harvesting, and they do fine in there for several months. I agree with JustDavidP that the shear tests were not done on all species of microcrustaceans. Artemia, or brine shrimp, are found in lakes and other static water bodies, while copepods are often subjected to shear forces in the tide pools and estuaries they inhabit. The harpacticoid copepods have torpedo-shaped bodies and small antennae, which facilitates their survival when drawn through pumps. I have also observed an instinctual tendency to swim away from currents, so this may explain why they are able to persist in systems with large volumes of flowthrough.

Hope this helps, feel free to give me an email nudge at adelaide@essentiallivefeeds.com if I don't see your post.

Regards,

Adelaide

Well... I may have killed all my pods. And I had a very healthy collection going.

With my rotifers, I would literally dump a liter of nanno into the tank, and within a week, the water was clear.

I have been feeding smaller amounts of tetraselmis and isochrysis to my pod culture, and things were moving along so well. Then, last thursday I split all my phyto cultures and dumped a large amount (probably one liter) of isochrysis into the tank.

Four days later, there is no activity. I spoke with Adelaide tonight, and it seems that I am guilty of pod geoncide.

So what did I do wrong?

Well, apparently pods need higher dissolved 02 levels than rotifers do. So, I smothered them. Additionally, Copepods are constantly recycling wastes in the tank that rotifers don't pay any attention to. So less food is needed.

So yeah, I am a pod killer. But I have already lined up a new, healthy starter culture to begin again with. I'm posting this here so someone else doesn't make the same mistake.

Cheers...

Jeff - I am so sorry to hear the news. I am glad you have a back-up culture, that is definitely a good practice if you are going to change any part of your copepod regimen.

I find it difficult not to overfeed. I look at a culture, it is thriving, my first instinct is to pour in more food for more pods.

After getting stung a few times doing this, I have learned that the saying "less is more" holds true in the world of copepods.

As difficult as it may be, pod keepers out there, try to keep your phyto additions to a very light tint of green or brown (depending on phyto species) and if you are using crushed up fish food, just a few pinches will do.

Good luck Jeff on the restart, let us know how it goes.

Adelaide

dumped em in tonight, we'll see how it goes.

*puts on the 'Best of Barry White'* C'mon lil' poddy kids.. culture up!!!

:)

ooh... hadn't thought of a little Barry White... :)

I just wanted to say that this site is great. I appreciate all the work which has gone into it. I can't get episode 69 to download...is there something I'm doing wrong???

I sent an email to Rob about this, thanks for the heads up.

I tried it and also could not download it. It might have something to do with the recent outage.

Thanks Ladygator...I've been reading your bio on some of the various sites. If you're ever in the Florida Panhandle, let me know. I'd love to make arrangements with my local reef club to have you as a speaker. We recently formed ourselves as a non-profit and the club is growing. One of our goals for the year is to grow the club to the point we can bring in special guest speakers. Until then, I'll keep studying pods via these forums and Dr. Fenner's site.

Thanks again for passing along the word about the podcast. When it's working again, I'll check it out.

Wm. "Scooter" Moody
Pensacola, Fl

Just spotted this one out of the corner of my eye and am glad others are hoppin on board with the pods!! It's always fun for me when Adelaide wanders out of the woodwork and does a podcast or post!

I notice here (and a lot of other places) that the overfeeding peice is pretty prevalent and I think it stifles most attempts at culturing. Luckily the answer resides fairly cheaply on ebay ($20-$60 on average) in the form of an enteral feeding pump.

These pumps are used in medical scenarios to continously pump intraveinous food from an IV bag to a patient. They range in complexity from super simple to way too technical, tend to last a lifetime, most feature a backup battery, and the important part... meter and deliver based on ml per hour!

I've been able to increase both the production of my cultures as well as raise the water quality immensely by using these pumps and they have helped a lot in my studies and documentation by helping me meter and document actual food delivered. Take a look around for one!

I'd love to make a solid recommendation on amounts to feed but it's one of the areas I'm currently focused on and what I say today might well be wrong tomorrow!

sorry, it was a residual affect from the outage we had a few days ago.
everything shoudl be resolved now