# Live food, how to grow and maintain cultures



## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

There are many live foods to propagate. Baby brine (artemia), rotifers. plankton, copepods, plus a few others.
The value of live foods to feed coral and fish is incredible. Getting confident in maintaining cultures of live food can seem daunting, but honestly, some live food is not that difficult to raise or maintain cultures. It requires a few minutes a day, but beyond that, the set ups can be small and inexpensive.

I know TeeMee raises artemia on her kitchen counter with an air stone and glass pint jar.

Carl's artemia set up is larger and runs on about a 3 day cycle.

I kept a rotifer culture until I moved last year.

Here is a paper that outlines several different live food sources for aquariums, thanks to RayJay, who posted this link on Reef2Reef.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/W3732E/W3732E00.HTM

If anyone wants to add their methods for raising live food, feel free to add it here. Hopefully we can make a thread that includes lots of information.

If anyone has questions about what to do, post it here, too.


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## rayjay (Sep 6, 2014)

My brine shrimp page is at http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/brineshrimp.html Haven't updated in a long while but I don't think i've changed anything all that much.

For Tisbe copepods (benthic) I culture them in trays, feeding live phyto. (nanno) High surface area means frequent top ups to control salinity. To harvest you need to stir up the bottom as the Tisbe, being benthic not pelagic, stay there rather than swim in the water column. I use ONLY nano with these because using the powdered blend leaves too much crap that gets captured when stirring up the pods for harvesting or water changes.

Rotifers are probably the easiest to culture as it seems they live through just about anything. Like artemia though, they should be enriched before being used.
Culture them away from anything else because they seem to get airborne and contaminate any other cultures around, leaving only the rotifers in time.
I culture them in inverted 5g water bottles, feeding live nano when I have enough, but use my artemia mixture of spirulina and Algamac 3050 if not. The bad part about my mixture is that the cultures need cleaning out more often (because it is just powder that is blended in water in the blender for at least two minutes), especially if I get too heavy handed with the feedings. Like artemia, lesser amounts with multiple feedings are better and keep cultures from fouling as fast.


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## Whatever (Sep 12, 2018)

*Phyto Cultures*

Great read, where can I get the Phyto Culture for production of Tigger pods and Phytoplankton on a small scale. Thanks


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## Whatever (Sep 12, 2018)

*Phyto Cultures*

Also forgot, the fertilizer so I can reproduce the phyto the first time or should I just buy a bottle of phytoplankton and not have to use the fertilizer, question, question


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## rayjay (Sep 6, 2014)

I guess it depends on where you are located in Huron county. If you are at the end closest to London, I have live nano, f2 fertilizer and tisbe pods (very small)
To culture phyto you ALWAYS have to keep adding fertilizer or like any living thing, without food it dies out.


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## Whatever (Sep 12, 2018)

*Cultures*

I'm in Wingham, I came across a post from Melves Reef and with it was a link to purchase the phyto culture and fertilizer from a company in Florida, I also found a company that supplies culture and pods so I could duplicate Phyto and Ultimately Tigger Pods for my tank,

I could do that but I think I'd rather spend my money locally and most likely learn a lot, at our present time I cant just run out and purchase supplies, supplies that I need which is everything.

I thought that I could make the Phyto in two liter bottles but raising the Tigger Pods I thought I'd get a glass vessel that would hold 3 gl approx. Use the Phyto for the food supply with Tigger Pods, this would be the initial batch, then to do water changes, run the mixture out of a spigot on the bottom of the glass vessel, maybe an inch or two off the bottom, run it through a very fine net collecting the pods for my tank and then replacing the liquid with fresh clean salt water.

Do you kind of follow me, now the discarded liquid should I just throw it away or can I put it in my tank, I di intend on continuing to make fresh phytoplankton for my tank anyway, I doubt I'll be able to sell it to other hobbies since Wingham seems to be out of the way for most.

Can you help me locate supplies, such as Rigid air line, not much maybe two 2ft long, airline tubing, a glass vessel with a spigot near the bottom, I dint expect you to have those thing just be able to point me in the right direction, what do you think? Thanks Jim


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## rayjay (Sep 6, 2014)

I bought the this nanno culture from Reef Crew in Toronto many years ago after I had done a stupid thing and crashed all my phyto that I started from a Florida Aquafarm kit in Florida. I still buy my f2 from Florida Aqua farms as I buy a mass kit that I mix with RODI water to make 4L of fertilizer. Worst part is the shipping which is often more than the product.
Yes right now isn't the best of times to get anything hobby related. I haven't even had demand for the live adult brine shrimp so I stopped those cultures until things resume if they ever do while I'm still alive. They are easy enough to start up again as I have several pounds of cysts in the freezer.
I won't stop the tisbe pods or the nanno because it's not so easy to get going on those again if I need to.
I've only had one sale of phyto and tisbe in the last two months now and had to do it via porch pick-up.
I'm currently only growing the phyto in 2L pop bottles, down to 12L now. Big drop from older days. 
For the phyto, I mix up water using 1 part epsom salts with 10 parts Windsor Salt Select Plus water softener salt from Lowes. I use I.O. for the tisbe pods.
The pods I grow in Sterilite storage trays as I found years ago that the pods did better in shallow containers.
Whatever you use be sure it's easy to clean or you will eventually tire of it and put off a cleaning when it should be done and end up crashing the cultures. You need to have a minimum of two cultures but I prefer three, in case of a crash.
No I wouldn't use the old water from the pods to put in the tank as you may be transferring nasty bacteria that grow so easy in nutrient rich water.
As for a glass container with spigot, I'd never bother with that because I'm too cheap when I can make do with so many other things. I do have a bunch of 5g water bottles I've cut the bottoms out and inverted them and three I've fiberglassed an elbow into the neck (which is now at the bottom) and put a valve on it for draining. I just use a rigid airline to install down in the neck to aid in circulation (open ended no stone). 
The rigid air tubing I bought at Aquarium Services (Big Als) in London and I bought the blue I think silicone air line tubing from Pet Paradise. (this blue line is much better to work with over time than the standard clear)


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## Whatever (Sep 12, 2018)

*Cultures*

That's another good read Lol, I do have a couple of 5 gl jugs that I could use, guess I dont have to fill them right up, so you're making bulk fertilizer, di you sell it? I've got some culture coming but not the fertilizer, I could drop by and ya I guess we have to do the porch pick up, buy some pods from you as well as some fertilizer. I'm guess you're in London or close to it, I certainly am learning a lot talking to you an theres a fellow reefer in Walkerton that makes phyto but not pids, let me know when and if, thanks Jim


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## rayjay (Sep 6, 2014)

Sent you private message.


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