We would like to thank all of our sponsors, including:

Tigriopus califoricus - Anyone raised these at home?

17 replies [Last post]
anathema
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: Mar 28 2009
Posts: 893
Groups:

Ok, I realize I'm kind of stepping on the toes of a major supporter here, but let's face it, if I can raise something cheaply vs buy it, I will.

These seemed like an easily raised food source for my tank, and so when I got my hands on some (not that hard they are for sale all over) I decided to try and raise them myself. End result, I have a tupperware on my windowsill in my kitchen that freaks my roommate out every time he sees it. I got a small dose of them at the frag trade, and put them in the windowsill.

I dripped a few drops of Reef Nutrition "phyto something in a bottle" in every couple of days for the first week or so, but stopped when the water turned green.

I added some fresh water whenever I noticed evaporation loss.

I've been too busy to otherwise pay much attention to these guys.

After approx two weeks, they all seem to be adult size, a couple have died but most are still alive. However, I don't see any "babies" or smaller sized ones, when I observed wild populations of these several sizes were represented. This leads me to think they aren't breeding, though most of them are towing behind what appears to be an egg sac. Do these require a "shock" event to trigger breeding?

Today I plan to move the population into a 10G tank with a couple of inches of water in it. Before today it's been dry and bare, so it should be safe for them as far as predators. I plan on setting this tank outside, as it's too big for my windowsill. I will also add a couple pieces of crushed flake food, or possibly "golden pearls" which I have left over that is about 200 years old and petrified. I didn't add anything other than phyto in the small container because I was worried about it rotting in the small water volume.

Any tips or pointers would be appreciated if any of you have tried to raise these on your own.

nudibranch
nudibranch's picture
User offline. Last seen 6 days 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: May 8 2010
Posts: 657
Groups:

Phyto-Feast has worked well for me when I raised pods.

25 gal. Red Sea Max- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10939

65 gal. Marine Land Tank- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/11738

"You know someone is a reefer when they compare plants to corals."

jugato
jugato's picture
User offline. Last seen 9 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: Jun 13 2010
Posts: 68
Groups:

Hey anathema. Glad that yours are still doing well. I think the rest of the pods from that bottle are all gone. I just poured them into my tank figuring that since I didn't have any fish to eat them they could build up a population in my tank. I'm guessing the pumps did them in 'cause I haven't seen any in quite a while now.

Anyway, did you check out http://www.reefnutrition.com/tiggerpods_care.html. In particular it says:
"It may seem at first that they aren't reproducing as fast as you would like, but once they get to a certain population level you will see an "explosion" of copepods in your culture vessel."

Maybe Gresham will chime in considering he probably wrote that text.

Dan
Dan's picture
User offline. Last seen 46 weeks 5 days ago. Offline
Joined: Aug 22 2010
Posts: 72
Groups:

this is a cool water species that has a hard time adapting to the reef tank. they are able to adapt if you slowly acclimate them to warm water.

As for my results:

As much as i love the easy access of getting them at the local fish store these are only really made for feeding and hard to raise in the reef tank but its possible...

i eventually found that these little guys found their way into my reactors and reproduced like mad! they didnt like the heat from the light in my Refugium so i guess they made my reactors their refuge...

here is a really good dealer on ebay i found that answers many questions along with being a top rated seller and is reliable ! i highly recommend this seller. if you have more questions this seller is really nice! or you can contact me Stripergod@hotmail.com

http://myworld.ebay.com/gregcaudill

GreshamH
User offline. Last seen 1 day 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: Apr 25 2005
Posts: 12321
Groups:

Dan wrote:
this is a cool water species that has a hard time adapting to the reef tank. they are able to adapt if you slowly acclimate them to warm water.

As for my results:

As much as i love the easy access of getting them at the local fish store these are only really made for feeding and hard to raise in the reef tank but its possible...

i eventually found that these little guys found their way into my reactors and reproduced like mad! they didnt like the heat from the light in my Refugium so i guess they made my reactors their refuge...

here is a really good dealer on ebay i found that answers many questions along with being a top rated seller and is reliable ! i highly recommend this seller. if you have more questions this seller is really nice! or you can contact me Stripergod@hotmail.com

http://myworld.ebay.com/gregcaudill

Not true. They are NOT a cold water species as they do not live in the ocean but rather the upper splash zone. That zone ranges from 50 - 90's. Their natural range is from Alaska to Central America... the upper splash zone in Central America is in the high 90's for 4-6 months a year.

We have raised Tigger-Pods in reef temps for 5 years. Our largest harvests are when the water is the warmest.

anathema
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: Mar 28 2009
Posts: 893
Groups:

Hey Justin, thanks again for sharing!

Yes, I saw that on the Reef Nutrition site, but was hoping someone had a setup going they could share details of. Gresham does I'm sure, but I'm positive it's more labor intensive than mine. Wink

So what I ended up with was a 15G eclipse system with about 4 gallons of water in it. I chose that over the 10G because it had a lid, and I'm keeping this outside. I grabbed the first cannister of expired old food out of my scrap box and it turned out to be freeze dried rotifers from BSD, so I'm adding a tiny bit of that to the phyto regimen. I'll update on how they are doing if I see any progress.

sfboarders
sfboarders's picture
User offline. Last seen 8 hours 44 min ago. Offline
Joined: Jul 17 2009
Posts: 1623
Groups:
2012 BAR Member

This guy is breeding Tigriopus successfully. Gresham chimed in on his thread. Has some pretty cool photos in there too.

John Cool

nudibranch
nudibranch's picture
User offline. Last seen 6 days 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: May 8 2010
Posts: 657
Groups:

jugato wrote:
Hey anathema. Glad that yours are still doing well. I think the rest of the pods from that bottle are all gone. I just poured them into my tank figuring that since I didn't have any fish to eat them they could build up a population in my tank.

I did the same thing in a 5 gal.(it had low flow) and left it like that for a month and they reproduced rapidly.

25 gal. Red Sea Max- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10939

65 gal. Marine Land Tank- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/11738

"You know someone is a reefer when they compare plants to corals."

Matt_Wandell
User offline. Last seen 21 hours 22 min ago. Offline
Joined: Jan 28 2008
Posts: 316
Groups:

Question for everyone: What do you target feed them to? Or do you just intend for them to be a general live food source always present in the tank?

anathema
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: Mar 28 2009
Posts: 893
Groups:

I plan to broadcast feed them, nothing specific though I'm betting my fish will take a heavy toll on them when they are intorduced into the tank.

GreshamH
User offline. Last seen 1 day 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: Apr 25 2005
Posts: 12321
Groups:

anathema wrote:
Hey Justin, thanks again for sharing!

Yes, I saw that on the Reef Nutrition site, but was hoping someone had a setup going they could share details of. Gresham does I'm sure, but I'm positive it's more labor intensive than mine. Wink

So what I ended up with was a 15G eclipse system with about 4 gallons of water in it. I chose that over the 10G because it had a lid, and I'm keeping this outside. I grabbed the first cannister of expired old food out of my scrap box and it turned out to be freeze dried rotifers from BSD, so I'm adding a tiny bit of that to the phyto regimen. I'll update on how they are doing if I see any progress.

Gimme some time to decompress from my trip and I'll give you a more detailed response.