Fish & Invertebrates
Copepod Culture: Feeding Mandarins and Boosting Reef Biodiversity
How to set up a 5-gallon copepod culture to feed mandarin gobies, sea horses, and pod-dependent corals.
Copepods are the foundation of natural reef food webs. A 5-gallon culture supplies a 75-gallon reef indefinitely with live pods for mandarins, dragonettes, and finicky eaters.
Equipment
- 5-gallon bucket with lid
- Air pump + airstone
- Starter culture (Tigriopus or Tisbe)
- Live phytoplankton for feed