LF: Live Phyto Culture and F2 Fertilizer. Richmond
 

I'm looking to start culturing live phytoplankton to feed some pods and was thinking of starting off with Nannochloropsis, but I'm interested in Tetraselmis and possibly Isochrysis as well. I'm looking for a relatively small amount, maybe a cup to start my culture with if that is enough. I'll also need some F2 fertilizer to keep things going. Let me know what you have and where you're at, thanks!

I too am looking for some Phytoplankton starter culture. Tried with Live Phyto Feast with 0 results. Not so sure that it's live...

Live Phyto feast is sterilized phytoplankton so you can't grow it out. Not sure why either of you are interested in culturing phytoplankton. I did it for about 5 years, enormous amount of work keeping the containers and the saltwater sterilized and having to harvest everyday. The phytofeast from Reef Nutrition is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have been able to keep my rotifer/copepod culture alive for over 3 years hassle free 2 minutes of work each day.
Don't waste you time trying to culture Tigerpods, tried multiple times and had no luck, they are a cold water species. If you actually want different types of pure phytoplankton cultures you will likely need to go to Florida Aqua Farms supply. That is where I got all my supplies 20 years ago. Trying to raise anything but nannochloropsis is going to be a nightmare. You could try Canada Copepods, great guy in the Maritimes. He might sell you a pure culture. His copepods and rotifers are top notch.

I made my own F2 formula, there are lots of recipes on the web.

Thank you very much for all that info!

Tiggers are easy to raise in a vessel; be it a bucket, tank, jar. They're from tidal pools where temperatures range from "colder" water to hot during the day. There is nothing stopping someone from breeding tigger pods (like the ones available locally from Reef Nutrition) other than letting their feed and upkeep lapse.

Probably the easiest copepod to raise stand alone.

Been keeping a mixture of Tisbe copepods and rotifers going for over 3 years. Easiest copepod I have ever kept. If I go away, I bottle them up put them in the fridge, Once home they start up like a charm. Keep them in two large jars with an airstone and the water a light brown colour from the phyto feast. I syphon off the stuff that collects at the bottom every day and feed that to my tank and add fresh salt water.

I tried Tigger pods (Tigriopus) twice and both times had trouble keeping their numbers up and after a month or two they crashed. I ran them at the same time as my other culture and tried to keep them the same way. I found I couldn't keep the population high enough to eat the food and it was likely the food (phyto feast) that went rancid and polluted the water. I also tried them with rotifers but the rotifers outcompeted them and they just eventually died off. I might have had more success using live phytoplankton, some suggest you will have better luck if you have some macro algae in their container, however I am not going to put that level of work into it, if I want tigger pods I will just buy them. I am not the only one who has had problems with Tigger Pods.

Dang that sucks, almost exact opposite as my experiences. I ran my last ~8 month or so run of tiggers on RG complete, found it was easier than doing spirulina as I had done previously. Tisbe's on the other hand never seemed happy with anything, that culture fizzled out after two months.

Only stopped completely as I had to make room for another tank, haven't re-started things yet.

I will say whatever one chooses to do, make it as easy as possible to do a water change on whatever it is. EU has some interesting looking wall mount phyto 'reactors' that they like to use, especially Italy.

The secret I have found to the Tisbe is having rotifers with them. This is the way that Canada Copepods ships them out. That way the food doesn't go uneaten.

Thanks for all the information :) Do the rotifers not outcompete the tisbe pods eventually, or do you just need to harvest regularly to keep their numbers in check?

I have been keeping mine since 2017. I bought them from Canada Copepods and the rotifers do not out complete the copepods they seem to keep in a stable equilibrium. I keep the water tinted at all times so there is food for everyone. Copepods don't breed like rotifers and I have found their populations are not high enough on their own to keep their water from polluting. I think the copepods actually eat the phytoplankton and the rotifers as the rotifers are much smaller. You can clearly see the copepods but you need magnifiers to see the rotifers as there are tiny little spots. I have read the copepods are cannibalistic.

Come to think of it, my last round of tiggers had rotifers in there too, completely forgot about that. Yes they both seemed to do well with each-other, I have a bit of a video of them buzzing around as I held the macro lens up against the vessel one evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBfk12Egyg

That's probably why that culture seemed to do really well, rotifers picking up the "food slack" so to speak.

Anyway, sorry OP to derail too much. I think James may still be doing a phyto strain locally.

I gave James some of my rotifer copepod mix a couple years ago. Not sure if he still has it.

Dang. All this talk is making me want to start a copepod culture too

I just sold you some so you should be good to go, its real easy to keep those mandarins fat.

If u decide to part ways with more send me a message...

J&L Aquatics sells both benthic and pelagic copepods. They are a much higher density then I have as probably 95% of my mix is rotifers. If you really need rotifers I will sell them if you have no other option to get them.

James (Jamrobo) from Marshall's may sell them as well.

Ok thanks....if I ever need rotifers I would reach out to you!

FWIW, I have tisbe pods and they are on their own. I haven't had rotifers for a lot of years now as they are a PITA getting into everything. It's like they float through the air to wherever I have phyto or brine cultures.
The tisbe I grow in three storage trays and culture water is only a little over an inch and a half, topped up for evaporation daily. They feed on Nano and I don't have to add nanno often, and, don't have to do water changes often.
Biggest problem though is harvesting them as the water ends up getting crap from fecal pellets and dying phyto so I have to use several mesh sizes to get all out but the stuff that is the same size as the tisbe.

copepod canada
 

Think this site sells the stuff you are looking for: copepod.ca; not sure if is better than the stuff at JL.

I just tried to email them, immediately got error message saying this email is not in service:sad:

The Copepod/rotifer mixture I sold you is from Canada Copepods so you got everything you need

I placed order from them on the 20th, it arrived on the 26th.

They don’t seem fond of emails as they never sent a confirmation, but I am happy with the shipping speed in light of the current situation.

I just ordered from Canada Copepods and I am satisfied with the product but extremely disappointed with their customer service. They don't reply to your inquiry at all and if you ever run into actual product related issues, I don't know how you going to resolve it.

I emailed them about Purolator shipping issue which result in the codepods stuck on the delivery truck for a good 24 hours and left at my door step without notifying us. I emailed codepods canada to ask about if it impacts the culture but I got no reply what so ever.

As for the culture, it is different from the Tigger pods you get from JL. They are much smaller but after about a week, my 75g has full of it everywhere in my main tank. That being said, my tank has 0 fish as it is still in the final phase of the cycling so perfect timing on the seeding.

When I said everywhere, I mean it...It is EVERYWHERE!I got picture of it just not sure how to post it here now without Photobucket.