Copepods + Phyto for Sale

[StrangeReef]

I have phyto and pods available for sale. Ive been culturing phyto for 2+ years now and have been growing pods since July. 

Currently culturing three species of phyto (R. lens, Iso and tet) And one species of pod (A. panamensis) 

Prices are:

Phytoplankton:
1L = 3.00$
2L = 5.00$

Copepods + Phytoplankton:
1L = 8$
2L = 15$

*Copepods are separated from their culture water and mixed with fresh phyto upon sale*

I can have Brine Shimp hatched and included in the mix of there is enough interest and given 4 days lead time.

Located in Fredericton, I am able to ship via Maritime Bus. 

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Storage:
keep it at room temp, with the lid off. I believe 24 hour light will also help the pods last longer.

The longest I've had some stored in a bottle was 3 days. I believe Nammy stored some for 5 days before for a guy (Kevin S) and said they survived and multiplied while in the jug with 24hr light, open lid and a mixing it around a few times a day.

If you want them to last longer feed a small airline into the water with an air pump. You want little and i mean very little air going into the jug. with the airline about half way down the jug putting out about a single bubble a second will be enough. you are going to need a manifold or a T with a valve, something to bleed off the excess air because a single pump will produce way more then you need.

Feeding:
When i feed my tank I float the pods to acclimate to the temp of the tank, while mixing in bits of tank water usually about 5-10 minutes,.. I feed 500ml - 1000ml at a time to my 40 gallon tank (~65 gallon system) I usually mix Coral Frenzy in with my phyto and pods before i feed just because i have some but I have a non-photosynthetic gorgonian and a Electric Flame Scallop so i give a little more then most would need to. I personally do not turn off my protein skimmer and my return pump doesn't have a "feed" setting so both are running when i feed. Others who have bought from me before unplug their skimmer for a few hours after feeding to no ill effect. Another buyer also just pours a whole 4L into his system in one go.. so feeding guide lines are still kinda blurry lol but no one has had negative results yet. Before I began selling the phyto or had pods growing i was feeding 2-4L a day to my 70gal system, had some algae growth but nothing that got out of control, so i would recommend feeding less then 4L a day to a 70gal system

** I would not recommend feeding phytoplankton to a tank that doesn't have a protein skimmer **
my worry here is that if the phyto isn't removed by a protein skimmer or by filter feeding organisms it will bloom in your tank and you could (in theory) have a crash in your tank or just green water permanently in your tank.. i have also never tested feeding this to a skimmer-less tank so its really still all up in the air.


Seeding:
If you are looking to use this to seed fuge then i would recommend that same as a feeding regiment. They like really low flow areas so if you have a chaeto/algae heavy fuge (or just really low flow) then i imagine they will be able to start a population within the refugium... but they are small enough to still fall prey to things like mysis shrimp and amphipods, plus they are pelagic in nature so will usually flow in the current until they get sucked into a pump... with that said they also can cling to surfaces but the vast majority are free swimming most of the time.. My "fuge" is more of a heater area with high flow and algae so they haven't established in my fuge and with a fishless system i have lots of mysis, amphipods and larger copepods (that i will some day isolate and try to culture) which also prey on these guys and they tends to disappear from my display after two hours or so.. never really timed it though

[StrangeReef]

Not selling any of the Harvest this week. R. lens is still not back up to a good density and it Iso became contaminated with tet, and is now just a tet culture.. yay :/

So I'll be making an order to replace the Iso next week plus ill trying my hand at a few new pod species just to add more to the order so i can justify the shipping and duty to myself

I did start testing the shelf life and storage method that should be used for the pod+phyto mix and will post the results once it is done

[Cabinetman]

This is pretty cool that you're doing this.

[StrangeReef]

So, Thanks to TeeJay i now have Iso again he also gave me some Tisbe pods, L-strain Rotifers and Nanno... R. lens is coloring up now too so next week i will have phyto+pod mix available again.

The week after that (or maybe next week) ill be including the rotifers in the mix.

The week after that (two weeks from today) my Artemia and Tisbe should be harvestable.

with a whole mountain of thanks to TeeJay.


Longevity/shelf life trial is still underway, no crashes of any bottle as of yet. settlement of phyto is more prevalent in the 24h light group but they are also not getting shaken as often as other groups. the refrigeration group is looking much better then i anticipated they would... but everything is still in progress.

[StrangeReef]

So it's been a week since I started this trial and no dead bottles as of yet most bottles are clear/cloudy but the pods are still alive.

The group that was in the fridge still has the most colour to the water and the pods handled 2-4C very well. They were warmed to room temp and left open for an hour once a day and shaken of course.

Judging densities by eye it looks like the fridge group is also the least dense, making me think that they will continue to breed in the bottle w/o air, even the closed bottle group is still alive and plentiful, the phyto they eat not so much though.

Here is a picture of all the groups:


3 in each group, from left to right:
Fridge
24h light + open
Ambient light + open
Ambient light + closed


both ambient groups were just kept on the window sill

[StrangeReef]

I will be doing a harvest tonight.

the Phyto this week is Nanno and Iso.

I've discontinued Tet for the time being and R. lens took a turn for the worst again yesterday when the power went off for a few hours.. ill check it tonight to see if its still alive, if it isn't I'll bring Tet back for next week.


No Artemia, Rotifers or Tisbe this week, they are still ramping up to production volumes/densities

[StrangeReef]

Harvest was done Saturday.

I have 10gl of Iso and Nanno mix this week. (R. lens still hasn't come back around)

I'm looking to harvest out my secondary (5gl) culture of A. panamensis this week to make room for Tisbe and rotifers as I get them up to prduction volumes. So anyone who gets phyto+pods this week I'll get a higher than normal concentration of pods in the mix.

Artemia are finally at reproductive age and should be harvestable next week or the week after. Tisbe and rotifers are on a similar timeframe.. Odds are Tisbe will be the last to make it up to havestable densities

PM me with quantities if you are looking for some this week

[StrangeReef]

Harvest is done for this week.. and guess what.. R. lens IS BACK!! I think I've finally figured out how to keep this species happy so fingers crossed she don't crash again.

Tisbe is now dense enough to move them to a bigger tank. I'll move them to the 5gl this evening after the Moncton crew clear out that second A. panamemsis culture. Hopefully ill get them up to a 10gl culture by the week after, then they will be available for sale.

Rotifers were re-isolated this weekend and i have yet to see anymore pods in their culture. So hopefully they will be harvest ready in 2-3weeks

Artemia are officially making babies, i sold a small amount of a mix of them and pods yesterday and the babies are pretty much the same size as the adult A. panamensis so i don't see a point in mixing and selling the two ATM but i imagine by this time next week there will be enough of a size differnce to make it worth it.





Side note: I kept some of those pods from the longevity trial in their bottles just to see how long they can go.. and i still have 3 bottles, that have not been open or shaken in 14 days (have been in there for 21 days) and they are still alive! and in pretty good concentrations as well, stopped reproducing, but adult pods are alive

[Cabinetman]

This is interesting stuff. Thanks for posting.

[StrangeReef]

Thanks to all that ordered, small A. panamensis has been cleaned our.

Still have pods n' phyto available but will be at regular concentration