Top 3 Questions You Have About Captive Breeding

[Mike]

I'll see what I can do here...

1. I'm assuming you're talking about foods for larval fish? The simple answer here is copepods. Rotifers aren't really a good source of nutrition on their own. They work fine for clowns though.

2. Honestly, I never test pH. pH is important but is usually kept in check with proper husbandry of the larval fish.

3.(a) Broodstock diet- variety of foods and multiple feedings every day go a long way to producing viable eggs and larvae.

3.(b) A reliable heater and thermometer will make things a lot more successful.

WOuld this be a decent place to get a starter pod culture from???? And what would you recommend in terms of species??
"TROPIC - PODS" Parvo 4 oz

[fishtal]

I'm not familiar with that company. This would be a better source with a wider selection: Live Foods for Feeding Aquarium Fish, Inverts & Corals: AlgaGen ReefPods

Copepods are more difficult to culture and reproduce much slower than rotifers. The only copepod I've had really good luck with are tiggerpods. I culture them outside.

More info here: Culturing and Feeding

[Mike]

I'm not familiar with that company. This would be a better source with a wider selection: Live Foods for Feeding Aquarium Fish, Inverts & Corals: AlgaGen ReefPods

Copepods are more difficult to culture and reproduce much slower than rotifers. The only copepod I've had really good luck with are tiggerpods. I culture them outside.

More info here: Culturing and Feeding

When yu say "Outside" do you mean in an exposed pool?? Is that so you always have a dense algea growth for them to feed on????

[fishtal]

Yes, outside on my deck. I have 4 black round tubs that I use. Initially I planned on culturing rotifers out there but ended up with tiggers. I don't feed them anything they just get whatever falls from the sky. They do best in the spring and the fall. When it gets really hot in July/August I have to shade them and populations decrease a bit but increase again when it cools down until around November.

More details here: Culture Journal, Species: Tigriopus californicus

[Mike]

I am going to read your culture journal . That makes sense that you would use straight sunlight to culture the algea and pods together. Seems like a win win for you and them. No lights to deal with for around 6 months out of the year and no cultures crashing on you. I am assuming you bring them inside for the winter months if you're culturing them at that time. It's really clever and great common sense doing it that way.