REEFreshments®: Apocyclops Live Copepods (8 oz.) - $14.99-$19.99
SKU:
$19.99
$19.99 - $44.97
per item
REEFreshments®: Apocyclops Live Copepods is a single-specie (Apocyclops panamensis) starter culture, containing a mix of adult and juvenile aquacultured live copepods. Apocyclops are the perfect food for finicky fish (e.g., dragonets and wrasses) and corals, contribute to an aquarium's clean-up crew, and help maintain a balanced ecosystem.
REEFreshments®: Apocyclops Live Copepods (8 oz.) - priced as low as $14.99
About REEFreshments®: Apocyclops Live Copepods
Our Apocyclops starter culture is perfect for aquarists who are interested in raising their own Apocyclops panamensis copepods or who want to give their aquarium inhabitants a delicious snack. Apocyclops panamensis are a cyclopoid copepod, spending part of their life cycle in the water column (planktonic) and the other part as bottom-dwellers (benthic). They are a hardy copepod, being forgiving of fluctuations in both temperature and salinity, they reproduce very quickly, and they can be easily cultured in the main display, a refugium, or in a separate dedicated system by simply adding our Live Phytoplankton.
Directions for Dosing
- Allow bottle to warm to aquarium temperature before dosing.
- Can be used as a broadcast or target feed.
- Can be added directly to display, refugium, or seperate culture vessel.
- We recommend to turn off skimmer(s) and return pump(s) before adding our Apocyclops and leave this equipment off for 15 minutes to ~2 hours to allow animals to consume the live feeds.
- If you choose NOT to turn off your return pump(s), then we recommend to remove micron filter socks for 24 hours when dosing Apocyclops.
Shelf Life and Storage Instructions
- Average shelf life of our Apocyclops is 6-8 weeks.
- Do NOT refrigerate Apocyclops! They do best at room temperature!
- Do NOT freeze Apocyclops!
Instructions for Culturing Apocyclops Live Copepods
While our REEFreshments®: Apocyclops Live Copepods can be fed directly to your aquarium, some customers may choose to culture the copepods in a separate culture tank for a continuous food source for their aquarium. Instructions for culturing our Apocyclops are as follows:
Preparation of Culture Tank:
To culture our copepods, first prepare a culture tank. A culture tank can be anything that holds water -- Even something as simple as a 5 gallon bucket will work. Fill the culture tank with premixed saltwater (specific gravity ~1.024 and temperature of 70F-76F). Add a small sponge filter for aeration/filtration and set it to a light rolling bubble. Add low light.
Adding the Copepods:
Sieve the bottle of Apocyclops with a fine mesh sieve or net, and add your sieved copepods to the culture tank. We recommend inoculating new cultures at a ratio of one 8 oz. bottle of REEFreshments®: Apocyclops to 1 gallon of saltwater.
Feeding the Copepods:
Copepods thrive on phytoplankton and detritus. We recommend adding our REEFreshments®: Live Phytoplankton to feed copepod cultures. Feeding requirements depend on the density of the copepod culture. A good rule of thumb is to add enough phytoplankton to always to keep the water tinted to ensure that the copepods have a continuous microalgae supply.
Maintenance of the Copepods:
Adequate water quality of the culture is of paramount importance. Water quality should be tested on a daily basis and necessary adjustments made accordingly (e.g., maintaining pH). If water analyses indicate a spike in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, perform a water change until these parameters are back at ~0ppm.
Copepod Life Cycle:
On average it takes about three weeks for copepods to mature from an egg to an adult. Be patient with your cultures. It may take a few weeks before you observe copepod densities increasing, as the young nauplii are difficult to see with the naked eye.
Preparation of Culture Tank:
To culture our copepods, first prepare a culture tank. A culture tank can be anything that holds water -- Even something as simple as a 5 gallon bucket will work. Fill the culture tank with premixed saltwater (specific gravity ~1.024 and temperature of 70F-76F). Add a small sponge filter for aeration/filtration and set it to a light rolling bubble. Add low light.
Adding the Copepods:
Sieve the bottle of Apocyclops with a fine mesh sieve or net, and add your sieved copepods to the culture tank. We recommend inoculating new cultures at a ratio of one 8 oz. bottle of REEFreshments®: Apocyclops to 1 gallon of saltwater.
Feeding the Copepods:
Copepods thrive on phytoplankton and detritus. We recommend adding our REEFreshments®: Live Phytoplankton to feed copepod cultures. Feeding requirements depend on the density of the copepod culture. A good rule of thumb is to add enough phytoplankton to always to keep the water tinted to ensure that the copepods have a continuous microalgae supply.
Maintenance of the Copepods:
Adequate water quality of the culture is of paramount importance. Water quality should be tested on a daily basis and necessary adjustments made accordingly (e.g., maintaining pH). If water analyses indicate a spike in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, perform a water change until these parameters are back at ~0ppm.
Copepod Life Cycle:
On average it takes about three weeks for copepods to mature from an egg to an adult. Be patient with your cultures. It may take a few weeks before you observe copepod densities increasing, as the young nauplii are difficult to see with the naked eye.