The Pod Farm

[CAmor07]

Why do you need a airstone for over 1/2 of water?

[altolamprologus]

Why do you need a airstone for over 1/2 of water?

I originally wrote that under the assumption that water movement would be needed to oxygenate larger volumes of water. I have since discovered that airstones are never needed, I just never got around to editing that.

[CAmor07]

Thank you and also all my pods seem to be hanging outside of the water like above the water line

[MeepNand]

Why not stickied?

[altolamprologus]

Why not stickied?

Because no one really cares about zooplankton as much as I do....

[metrokat]

I care!

[MeepNand]

The mandarins care, alto.

[metrokat]

Can I put Tigger pods in the same culture as tisbes?

[altolamprologus]

Can I put Tigger pods in the same culture as tisbes?

The tiggers would outcompete the tisbes for food and possibly eat them. I would do it separately. My experiences with mixing cultures have not been so good.

[metrokat]

Alto, my tisbe culture has been up and running since April 1.

I've never done a 100% water change but I have harvested successfully once a month.

 

How can I give this culture a new jump start, the pods are still alive. I ran out of phyto so I added a piece of nori, I also have algae wafers.

 

Also wanted to start a tiger pod culture soon.

[altolamprologus]

Alto, my tisbe culture has been up and running since April 1.

I've never done a 100% water change but I have harvested successfully once a month.

 

How can I give this culture a new jump start, the pods are still alive. I ran out of phyto so I added a piece of nori, I also have algae wafers.

 

Also wanted to start a tiger pod culture soon.

Is there a question here? lol

 

For giving the culture new a jump start, I would siphon out 75% of the water (catching the pods in a coffee filter or something) and add all the pods back in when you replace the water. My cultures all started crashing around the 6 month mark even though they were perfectly healthy before. I think only doing partial water changes and very few big ones led to declining water quality which ultimately killed the pods.

 

Tigger pods are super easy. They don't care about temp, salinity, water quality, or anything. The only thing to watch out for it to make sure you harvest regularly because they stop reproducing if the population gets too dense and that can crash a culture

[jedimasterben]

Ok, so I wanna start culturing. My 80g tank has more pods than I would ever care to count, but Isee my anthias and chromis picking at little dudes all over the place. I am looking to grab a pair of mandarins (I would LOVE a blue-er male and red female, but neither show up often :/), so I want to make sure they will never need to touch prepared foods, though I will train them to frozen and dry so long as they cooperate

 

 

I want to section a 10g tank, half tigger, half tisbe. The tank will sit in a window that will receive direct sunlight for at least four hours daily, and partial sun for around six, so plenty of light for phyto. Phyto for tiggers, flake for tisbe. No heaters (I do not even own one), the room will not exceed or drop below 76 degrees.

 

I will do partial water changes weekly when harvesting (small quantities, of course) and replace with water from my main tank. I will probably add the 'dirty' copepod water back to my main tank, more clam and coral food, I say.

 

Am I missing anything?

[altolamprologus]

Ok, so I wanna start culturing. My 80g tank has more pods than I would ever care to count, but Isee my anthias and chromis picking at little dudes all over the place. I am looking to grab a pair of mandarins (I would LOVE a blue-er male and red female, but neither show up often :/), so I want to make sure they will never need to touch prepared foods, though I will train them to frozen and dry so long as they cooperate

 

 

I want to section a 10g tank, half tigger, half tisbe. The tank will sit in a window that will receive direct sunlight for at least four hours daily, and partial sun for around six, so plenty of light for phyto. Phyto for tiggers, flake for tisbe. No heaters (I do not even own one), the room will not exceed or drop below 76 degrees.

 

I will do partial water changes weekly when harvesting (small quantities, of course) and replace with water from my main tank. I will probably add the 'dirty' copepod water back to my main tank, more clam and coral food, I say.

 

Am I missing anything?

Do more than one culture of each. They WILL crash eventually so it's good to have at least one backup. Other than that, the plan sounds good.

[metrokat]

Alright. My Tisbe culture crashed. I cleaned it out and I'm ready to start on the Tigger Pod culture. Alto, you don't list that mandarins will eat them in the first post of this thread. Do they not like these critters?

[altolamprologus]

Alright. My Tisbe culture crashed. I cleaned it out and I'm ready to start on the Tigger Pod culture. Alto, you don't list that mandarins will eat them in the first post of this thread. Do they not like these critters?

Tigger pods are pelagic for the most part so the mandarins can't really catch them and they end up getting eaten by other fish or sucked into the overflow. However, when first added to a tank they tend to cling to the glass so if you turn off your pumps for about 15 minutes, your mandarin will be able to get a good nutritious meal.

[metrokat]

Tigger pods are pelagic for the most part so the mandarins can't really catch them and they end up getting eaten by other fish or sucked into the overflow. However, when first added to a tank they tend to cling to the glass so if you turn off your pumps for about 15 minutes, your mandarin will be able to get a good nutritious meal.

Thanks. Well, he seems to be loving the reef caviar and the roe I got from the Japanese supermarket, in addition to Nutramar OVA. So at this point, maybe my energy is better spent trying to grow phyto? Do you happen to have research or a thread on that?

[theGil]

So much info, and a lot of it changed along the way. Haha. So, I just wanted to post my plans, and see if everything sounds ok.

 

Today, I'm expecting a delivery of:

 

ReefPods Tisbe (2 x 16oz bottles)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=3058

 

AlgaGen PhycoPure™ Copepod Blend (1 x 8oz bottle)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=3059

 

I plan on dumping one Tisbe bottle into my 40g tank, where I have a new male spotted Mandarin that may or may not be eating Ova (probably not). His gf (not new) has been eating frozen brine since day one, so the Tisbe pods are mainly for the male's sake.

 

So, I'm planning on using my recently-vacant Fluval Spec (2g) to cultivate the Tisbe pods from the second bottle. There's sand and water in there now. I believe the most recent suggestion in this thread is to go bare bottom with Tisbe pods. Is that right? So, I'm gonna remove the sand.

 

Should I refill the Spec (after removing sand) with some of the current water? Or should I just start with fresh SW?

 

I was going to set the Spec's pump to it's slowest setting (I believe it's 40gph at max setting). Sound good? Or is the max 40gph setting better?

 

I was going to remove the filter media (currently a course sponge (cut to size from an AC70 sponge) and a bag of Purigen)). I'm not trying to filter anything out of the water, right? So the Spec's rear compartments will be empty, other than the pump. Sound good?

 

I was going to put some Cheato in the display area. Good idea? Or should it just be the bare bottom tank, water and pods?

 

I have the Spec's stock light (never used it) and an IM Clamp 4W light (which I used on this Spec). Should I use one or the other or neither?

 

I really don't want the money I spent on these bottles to go to waste, so any help in starting my "Pod Farm" would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[theGil]

Tisbe pods have arrived!

[ApplestoApples]

Thanks for a great and very informational thread! Quick question though, I started a Tisbe culture a few days ago, and I think I overfed it. How much food do I give them?

[ApplestoApples]

2 liter. I put in way too much food in the beginning but it balanced out now.

[Belac]

I know every one is useing 5 gallon buckets or larger. I was wondering what size the original jars were. I have some one gallon pickel jars that are sitting around waiting for something I can use them for. I have conisdered trying to breed pods in the past. I just have never gotten around to actually trying it.
I do culture my own phyto so that isn't goign to be an issue to keep them fed. So other then food and light do they need any thing else. Probably going to do tiger pods because they eat phyto. I may try to culture some amphipods too seeing as I have a lot o them around my main tank. Any one tried to culture those on here?

[Belac]

Ok. I may give it a go and see what happens with the gallon jars. I really have no idea how I can cram any more stuff under my stand at the moment. My phyto farm is down there right now along with thge sump and every thing else....

[ApplestoApples]

I started my culture and it is growing. It has been about 2 wks, do I do a water change or wait until their population grows more? also, what do I do with the water change water? Put it in the tank in case there are any copepods in the water?

P.S. These are Tisbe pods, not sure if it matters.

[flypenfly]

Question:

 

I plan to get a ORA trained dragonette but wanted a backup plan just in case.

 

I am running 2 tanks.

 

If on the second tank, I keep a copepod population thriving there with no predators and lots of food, can I just swap over a large live rock between the two tanks every week or other week to supplement the diet of a dragonette?

[altolamprologus]

Hi guys, sorry I've been gone for so long. Life kind of got in the way. Anyway, thanks Bluprntguy for taking over and answering questions I hope the pods you got from me are still alive and kicking.

Question:

 

I plan to get a ORA trained dragonette but wanted a backup plan just in case.

 

I am running 2 tanks.

 

If on the second tank, I keep a copepod population thriving there with no predators and lots of food, can I just swap over a large live rock between the two tanks every week or other week to supplement the diet of a dragonette?

That should work as long as the second tank really is devoid of predators. Keep in mind most fish will eat at least some copepods. Even clowns will pick copepods off the rocks. Dosing both tanks with small amounts of phyto every couple days will help keep the population multiplying quickly.