Breeding Copeopods. Flatworms.

[Scarface Eddy]

I have been wanting to breed Copeopods for my Mandarin. I have had him in a 20 Gallon tank for about 2-3 Months and he's been doing great. He will eat the brine shrimp I put into the tank to feed my Clownfish. I want to breed copeopods so he has a bit more food just in case he gets hungry throughout the day. I am short on cash right now so I don't have a refugium right now, the guys at my LFS mentioned one, but as of right now I will not be getting one for awhile. I have read of someone breeding them in small glass jars with tank water, a sponge (for the copeopods to live in), an air stone and fed the water phytoplankton (I think thats what it was). I remember reading he set it in the sun and fed the water every so often and he was able to provide a lot for his Mandarin. I would like to know if this would be a good way to start for now and if there is anything else I can feed the water for the Copeopods to grow. The guys at my LFS also said Plant fertilizer would do the same thing. Is there anything else that would help them grow?

I have one last question and this is about Flatworms. How do they appear in your tank? Are all types good or bad? Can you buy them as a food source for Blue Velvet Nudibranch's?

Cheers :)

 

[Waddi]

Flatworms, can come on rocks, coral, frags anything. They can also regenerate from a single cell, very hard to kill, so i suggest you dip all your coral, i use this: Coral Rx. and if you do have flatworms, Sailfert Flatworm eXit is very good, used it and it worked.

 

[Scarface Eddy]

Thanks for the info :). I do not have any flatworms. I am wondering if you can buy them as a food source for the Blue Velvet Nudibranch. I am tempted to get one just for its epic look :P.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have never heard of flatworms being sold as food. Sorry. :(

 

[Scarface Eddy]

Everything I have read on the Blue Velvet was that they ONLY eat flatworms. Is it possible that they would eat maybe other worms? or krill or something?

 

[Bifferwine]

I would not recommend trying to keep any sort of nudibranch. They normally have very short lives in our systems -- only living a week to a couple months. No one really has figured out what it takes to keep them alive.

 

[Scarface Eddy]

Its a shame that something so beautiful doesn't last long :(

 

[little_fish]

You can breed pods in a jar like you said, but its much more difficult than just sticking them in there and putting them in the window. Also, mandarines eat so many of them in a day, its not practical really. You would need lots of jars, so you could pour in a little bit from each jar a day. I would suggest getting your fuge set up as soon as you can.

Also, brine shrimp has almost no nutritional value so i would feed him something else. Sushi roe is great for them, along with the small mysid shrimp, blood worms or whatever else you can get them to eat.

 

[Scarface Eddy]

Thanks :).. I have no space to set up a fuge because my tank is in my room and not much more space and short on cash able to spend on something like that. I'm going to go to this fish guy in my area that bred brine shrimp to feed some newborn baby fish.. so I'l talk to him about breeding copeopods and get him to go more in depth with it.. and ask him more about the fuge etc. I'l see if he has any sushi roe or mysid shrimp.. because if my Mandarin fattens up a bit more off those 2 than I may not have to worry about the copeopods AS much. I know I'd have to have multiple jars.. I was told its recommended to have a 5g-10g tank for breeding copopods.. but I'l have multiple jars to start.