Catching Copepods

[Jody]

Hi All

Just wanted to know is there a copepod trap of some kind i can make. I have lots of them in my RCS tank . I have a bunch out now and in a small container but its a real pain getting them with a turkey baster.

The plan is to start a culture and use them for fry/small fish food

Have a small culture here now feeding them yeast and soy flour , I have green water cooking.

Are pods good food for fry/small fish ?

 

[OrionGirl]

Yes, pods are a good food. For a 'trap, I'd use the same thing as for vinegar eels--run the water through a coffee filter, rinse with clean/dechlorinated water, turn the filter inside out and swish through the tank you're feeding.

 

[Jody]

only problem i have with the coffee filter idea is its full of shrimp and i well just end up catching them also.

But i well give it a try anyway

Thanks

 

[digitalphrage]

I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind but....

In my tanks, they tend to spend a lot of time resting on the sides of the tank feeding on algae. So, what I would do is just leave one side of the tank to grow algae (don't scrape algae off it, even if it starts to look unsightly and increase light to that side if possible). Let the population grow a bit, and then once there are lots of them, use some airline tubing to siphon them off the side of the tank.

Then you can take the water and copepods that you siphoned out and filter that through a coffee filter or simply pour directly into another tank for feeding. You'll probably still manage to catch some baby shrimp now and then, but for the most part, they'll be better equipped for escaping the tube than your copepods, so accidental catch will be minimal.

 

[Jody]

Thanks M8 , sounds like a good idea i well give it a try tomorrow .

Think i well use a BBS net

like the one in the pic

 

[Jody]

Thanks digitalphrage

worked like a charm and the BBS net also worked

my fish are so happy now