Cultivating T. Californicus pods

[printerdown01]

Hey all,

There is a lot of info out there on cultivating these tide pool pods, but a lot of it is conflicting. For those out there cultivating them:

What are you feeding?
How large is your culture container?
How often are you harvesting/changing water?
How are your densities?
What major pitfalls should I be looking out for?

Any and all tips would be appreciated!

ap


Currently looking at setting up three cultures. No airline. It does not surprise me that most people do better without this. I live where these pods grow and they are always in ridiculously stagnant pools. I plan on trying 3 different food sources: 1) an algae blend 2) dead rotifers (since a lot of people have had a ton of success co-culturing them with rotifers but attribute it to the pods eating the dead ones) and 3) a bacterial food source.

[GreshamH]

Why not ask the people that grow the most? They are more than willing to help you.

[Polyp Envy]

trying to cultivate my own foods now. this might not be the best forum to ask though

[Polyp Envy]

is there a better place here to learn about these things? pods, phyto, brine?

[shifty51008]

trying to cultivate my own foods now. this might not be the best forum to ask though

Why do you say that?

[GreshamH]

trying to cultivate my own foods now. this might not be the best forum to ask though

This is THE place on this forum to ask. There are plenty of people that will help.

I'd suggest checking the top sticky first, there is a lot of good info there. Also, searching this forum yields quite a bit as well, but you need to get creative at times with keywords.

[printerdown01]

Hey PolypEnvy you have a PM with a whole list of links I have accumulated over the last month or so. Some of it is from here, others from old magazine articles, and other breeding sites. Hope this helps you out in your quest.

Gresham, you have PM re: weird feeing questions for T. Californicus. BTW I am currently feeding with your PhytoLive. Since I know that one will work ;).

[Dukester]

i've kept cultures going every summer thanks to reef nutritions tigger pods. i mix up 1 5 gallon pail of salt water.. throw some flake in to get it going, then let nature do the rest, leaves, bugs, anything that falls in is what they like to eat. decaying matter i assume.
they really are very very easy to cultivate.

i have a thread on here about it all.. heres a video of the first go at it after only a week or two, but the end of summer the water is pretty dirty.. i have devised a way to harvest them without filters too.. i use a cup with a straw entry way and since they are attracted to light i add a flashlight to the cup at night, in 5 minutes thousands swim into the cup.. pretty neat.. i started with just a bit of water to make sure there was enough population density to get it going..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzUOC9wcPBw


http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd462/dukester_/th_VID_20121218_180946.jpg (http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd462/dukester_/VID_20121218_180946.mp4)


to answer your questions above

What are you feeding? Nothing, once they get going outdoors they require no food, just keep the container open so stuff can fall in
How large is your culture container? most recently i've switched to a rubbermaid 20G tote
How often are you harvesting/changing water? i never change water, evap and top off are handled by nature. i harvest using the method i mentioned above as many times as i want to, i was adding the amount in the second video 4x a week to my tank. with no apparent decline in population.
How are your densities? i think they are good imo.
What major pitfalls should I be looking out for? dont let your kids fall into the containers in your backyard. ;-)

[printerdown01]

Thanks man! I think as soon as my pod population starts to take off in the garage I will end up culturing these outside… I don't know why I didn't do that from the beginning. Everyone in Canada seems to be growing these outside in the summer. I live 10 min from the coast that these little guys come from and here I am trying to grow them in 6 gallon containers in the garage! Everyone's outdoor cultures seem to be doing better than the indoor cultures. No idea why I didn't just start them outside.

Thanks for influencing me.