Single Species Culture Copepods

Apocyclops panamensis pods are opportunistic feeders eating phytoplankton, fish waste, and other detritus in your tank. This makes them a critical part of any clean-up crew. As juveniles, Apocyclops copepods are benthic meaning they stay hidden in the rockwork, macroalgae, and glass in your aquarium. As they progress through their life cycle they become pelagic meaning they are free swimming. These life cycle changes makes them an excellent addition to aquariums with “pod hunters” as Mandarins will hunt them from the rocks and wrasses and anthias will benefit from them in the water column.

In sum, the cyclopoid copepod Apocyclops panamensis is an excellent addition to any population of microcrustaceans. Resilient and fast-growing, they are likely to colonize your aquarium and play an important role in removing unsightly algal films over the aquarium substrate and provide an constant food source. We highly recommend dosing Phyto Buffet to provide for their nutritional needs, and it aids in establishing colonization.

Tigriopus californicus copepod is an wonderful addition to any saltwater aquarium as this species of copepods are rich in astaxanthin which will helps bring dull colored fish back to their naturally vibrant colors seen in the wild. These bright red colored copepods are  larger sized copepods (250-1500 microns) and make an enticing meal to any fish due to their quirky swim pattern, whose erratic, jerky swim pattern combined with their color and size.  we highly recommend these pods for reefers who keep fish with high metabolisms allowing them to forage all day long, and are an excellent choice for finicky fish. Having a live food source will also help to lower nutrients often caused by over feeding prepared foods that sink to the substrate and start to decay in your tank. We highly recommend dosing Phyto Buffet to provide for their nutritional needs, and it aids in establishing colonization.

In sum, the Harpacticidea copepod Tigriopus californicus is an excellent addition to any tanks micro fauna. providing optimum clean up capabilities combined with a ready food source.  As we Huskers like to shout "go big red!"

Tisbe biminiensis are small copepods that tend to inhabit the cracks and crevasses of live rock and macroalgae. These pods can maintain their population in your aquarium as they tend to hide in your rock work where you might see your Mandarin Dragonet hovering like a brightly colored fairy pecking at them as it constantly grazes for food.  Being nocturnal in nature helps them a sustainable food source in your tank, yet they still provide a highly nutritious snack or meal for your fish.  Tisbe biminiensis also assist with Clean-up by consuming nuisance algae in your aquarium and refugium.

Tisbe biminiensis is a harpacticoid copepod. Thus, as an adult, it lives on the seafloor. Because it spends most of its adult days crawling around on the rock, sand and glass surfaces, it feeds primarily on detritus and algal films. Juveniles, on the other hand, inhabit the open water column where they graze on phytoplankton. We highly recommend dosing Phyto Buffet to provide for their nutritional need, and it aids in establishing colonization.

In sum, the Harpacticidea copepod Tisbe biminiensis is an excellent addition to any tanks micro fauna. providing optimum clean up capabilities in those hard to impossible to reach areas.

BENEFITS OF PODS IN YOUR AQUARIUM: The primary benefits include FOOD SOURCE, CLEAN UP CREW (CUC) and BIOME DIVERSITY. Copepods aid in the husbandry of certain aquarium inhabitants which require an endless food source as their metabolism requires them to hunt non-stop.  these include but not limited to Mandarin Dragonets like our beloved Rainbow Wish and Paisley, other dragonets such as HUSKER our Ruby Red Dragonet (Can’t live in the Cornhusker state and have a red and yellow fish and not name it after your team lol) plus pipefish, seahorses, anthias, various gobies such as sleeper, sand sifting, etc.  Copepods also provide a consistent and viable food source for many different captive bred fry. Plus as an added bonus almost all if not all of your fish in your aquarium BENEFIT as they munch on these protein and fatty acid enriched treats. Copepods are a valuable member of your clean up crew. They aide in Algae control due to pods small size, they can get into the tiniest of crevices and clean the algae down to its roots and help reduce the formation by reducing nutrients in your aquarium. They aide nutrient export by consuming bacteria, detritus and uneaten food and converting it to protein and fatty acids for our fish.  Copepods add to an increased biome when colonies of different species establish colonies with in our aquariums.

PLEASE NOTE: Reef By Steele ships all pods in all life stages. Our Pods contains a range of juvenile to adult copepods. Some juvenile copepods are difficult-to-impossible to see with the naked eye upon arrival, but are ideal for establishing copepod Colonies. We recommend adding all copepods at least 1 hour after lights out to avoid a feeding frenzy!

PHOTOS ARE REPRESENTATIVE AND NOT ACTUAL PRODUCT