Copepod Starter Culture

Copepods are tiny crustaceans that form a critical part of the marine food chain and serve as an excellent live food for marine fish fry, seahorses, mandarins, and other obligate live-food feeders. This starter culture contains a mixed population of Tisbe and Tigriopus copepods in 250ml of clean salt water, providing a genetically diverse, self-reproducing colony from the outset.

Once the starter culture is established in a 2–5 litre vessel with phytoplankton as a food source, it will produce thousands of nauplii daily within 2–3 weeks. Copepod nauplii are sized 50–200 microns depending on age, making them suitable for fish fry that are too small even for newly hatched Artemia. They are also used to seed display refugia in reef aquariums to provide a continuous live food supply for finicky fish.