Seapods

[MikeDeL]

Anyone ever buy a bottle of these? http://www.seapods.com/ Worth it or not? Anyone carry them locally?


Thanks,
Mike

[Tim Marvin]

LOL, I'll split a bottle with you if you find some.

[NaCl_H2O]

ReeferMadness caries them for $25/bottle - buy a $100+ coral to get free shipping, and then they seem cheap ;)

I think WolfReef in SA was carrying them too?

[DeletedAccount]

WolfReef carries them in SA, not sure about Austin.

I use them as an emergency food source for a few of my critters, also a good way to get the population regoing.

[jlam]

Austin Aqariums is carring them now for 20 dollars a bottle. I think they got them in yesterday I am going to pick up a bottle of them today hope they still have some.

[jlam]

Ohh I talked to the people at Seapods as well. They said that each bottle has about 100 adults and about 300-400 juvenile sounds like a good deal if you have pod eaters.

[StephenA]

I put in a request at AquaTek to carry them.

[jlam]

Blah.. I went there today and they said that the UPS driver did not have them and they hope to have them tomorrow. So I guess I will go and check tomorrow.

[StephenA]

Keep us posted on the price.

[CD]

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/products.html

Mike - I was very pleased with the order of amphipods we got from the above store...good prices, quick shipping, all critters alive. (From that link, go into the SW Invertebrates section) They have any kind of 'pod you could wish for...copepods, amphipods, mysis, etc.
If you do buy the copepods locally, make SURE they are keeping the bottles in the 'fridge...otherwise, you will be buying a bottle of dead 'pods ;) (Note; the "Dome" has them, but they don't put them in their 'fridge so they're just expensive bottles of water).

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=8174073.19552*hd8Jw2&next=6&prod uct=LIVE_CULTURES

I also found the above sellers (Florida Aqua Farms Inc.), which have SUPER great prices, but you may want to eMail them first for availb. of the type 'pods you are looking for.

Wendy :)

[StephenA]

WolfReef carries them in SA, not sure about Austin.

I use them as an emergency food source for a few of my critters, also a good way to get the population regoing.

And they are alive in the bottle?

What do they do to keep them alive?

[CD]

And they are alive in the bottle?


Yes.



What do they do to keep them alive?


The copepods will stay alive in the bottle for up to one month IF the bottle is refridgerated. I would personally just dump them in the 'fuge and let them breed, but if you buy them for regular feeding (like Misti probably does due to her seahorses) then they will stay alive in the bottle for up to a month. If the bottle is older than that, I wouldn't waste the money.

The amphipods will need to be put in either a fuge or a dedicated breeding tank immediately. The amphipods that we bought from that first link I listed above are breeding like crazy in our 'fuge now, and our tank is finally "crawling with pods" again at night. We have both amphipods and mysis breeding in our tank and fuge. Not sure where the mysis came from, as I didn't buy any to put in there, but I'm GLAD they are there!

Wendy

[StephenA]

Yeah, I would just dump the bottle in the tank.

[Tim Marvin]

Wendy, I have tons of mysis. Probably your source.

[CD]

Wendy, I have tons of mysis. Probably your source.


COOL!! :D Thank you ;)

Wendy

[JimD]

I was just at the Dome, out of curiousity I read the label on a bottle of Seapods and it specificly said, "Keep at room temperature", "Do NOT refrigerate"! Where are you geting your info from Wendy?

[DeletedAccount]

I contacted Seapods and OceanPods and they both told me the same thing.

[DeletedAccount]

HI - the bottles can last up to 4 weeks. When you make the order, let
me know that you will have them on the shelf for a while and I can put
in some extra copepod food. The bottles can be fed one part at a
time, they don't need to be fed all at once. To extend shelf life of
an open bottle, refill the part you emptied with fresh seawater - that
way the copepods will have more room to grow and reproduce.

Hope this helps.

Adelaide



Misti,

Thanks for the kind word about our Seapods!

Shelf life is almost indefinite - as they can reproduce in the bottle. We've
had bottles sit on the shelf for four months and last ok. You can even feed
a bottle a drop of greenwater once a week and that would also help extend
the shelf life of the pods in the bottle.

Please do not put in the fridge! Leave them out at room temperature and not
in direct sunlight.

Thanks,
Steve


These are from the makers of OceanPods and SeaPods, respectively. I have seen a few places that fridge them and have them on the shelves for a while. They will not be alive! From personal experience with these, Adelaide's answer is more correct as far as shelf-life. They do not last in the bottle for more than a month. Maybe one or two - but very few.

If you are in need of a large souce of copepods to start a culture or feed immediately, check out www.copepods.com. They prices are very good.

[thedude]

I just talked with Michael at AA, and they do indeed have the seapods in stock for 20 a bottle. He's going to start carrying them but expects to blow through this first shipment fairly quickly.

[CD]

Where are you geting your info from Wendy?


LOL...you WOULD ask that...Heh. I'll have to look through all our books and see which one stated that, and the exact wording. I remember that the theory was basically that if they are stored at 6°C (43F), that their metabolism is slowed down considerably, conserving essential nutrients, lipids, and fatty acids...so in effect, they wouldn't starve to death in short order from using up all their own nutrients to survive, AND they would be more healthy "food" for the intended recipient. So that would mean that a lowered metabolism (via colder temp.) would allow them to live longer in the bottle, right? Makes sense to me. :)

The only thing I found on the internet pertaining to temp. was that they can live in temps of 43-82 degrees F., but this was in the wild and not in a bottle of water. I also ran across info for lifespan on the copepods - it's only 40-50 days.

I'll keep looking for the source of the info, but as I said, it sure makes sense to me. LOL - I called Chris, and he remembers me reading this to him, so I know I'm not nuts...heheh...well, maybe just a little. :wacko :lol

Wendy :D

[Reef69]

i want some seapods...i want to add a couple of bottles in my 90 gal, once i see they start to mate..lol..i would like a pair of mandarins..any suggestions?

[Ram_Puppy]

for mandarins? you know all the do's and dont's about getting them right? your tank is big enough for 1, not sure about two, if you have a fuge for them to breed in, you should be ok.

[CD]

i want some seapods


If you want a mandarin, I would go with live amphipods and mysis...they breed a lot faster, plus they are a little bigger - so more bang for the buck (food wise). Give them a couple of months to multiply in your 'fuge/tank (build up a good supply for the mandarin) and you're ready. I'd have to agree with Ram on having two in there though...that would be pushing it pretty hard for a 90G. Heyyy - there's a good excuse to get a bigger tank. :skeezy

Wendy

[Aqua-Dome]

THE SEAPODS' BOTTLES CLEARLY SAY (IF YOU CAN READ SMALL TYPE) DO NOT REFRIGERATE.

[cbianco]

TAHGAC

This is your first post, why are you yelling at us already? Just curious.

Christopher

[Seapods]

...snip... From personal experience with these, Adelaide's answer is more correct as far as shelf-life. They do not last in the bottle for more than a month. Maybe one or two - but very few.
...snip...

As I wrote in the email that was repasted here - our experience in R&D of reproduction and shelf life showed life in the bottles four months after bottling WITHOUT ever opening the bottle and feeding them. Yes, the number of copepods in the bottle was visibly less than what we started with but there was still life nonetheless.

Further tests showed that adding a single drop of greenwater every week kept the bottle going and the numbers higher than the previous test.

HTH,
Steve Shannon
Seapods
www.seapods.com

[StephenA]

Welcome to our site Steve!

[Seapods]

Thanks!

I've been putting together a lot of Q&A stuff on Reef Central in our sponsor forum: http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=372

Cheers,
Steve

[alexwolf]

FYI I have an order of these coming in Wed or Thurs. :)

[DeletedAccount]

Welcome, Steve!

Back to the original question, they are worth the money. I know $25 seems expensive for a bottle of stuff you can barely see, but the life in the tank 3 months later when you are teeming with the buggers is great!

[StephenA]

One of our Austin Sponsors, AquaTek (http://www.aquatektropical.com/), has them as the Featured Product on their website (http://www.aquatektropical.com/). They should have them in next week.

I got a bottle, I could see them swimming around pretty good. I'me sure my corals ate up the ones I couldn't see.

[Seapods]

<- puts math wiz hat on

Seapods MSRP is $20 :)

[StephenA]

That's what I paid ^_^

[witecap4u]

Sounds like a waste of money for me. I(or alot of people on here) could give you a clump of caulerpa that you can float in your tank for a day and you'll end up with the same results if not better, and then you can throw the caulerpa in your fuge or the trash, or use it to feed your tang....cs

[StephenA]

The caulerpa would last about 30 sec in my tank before the naso and rabbit fish sucked it down.

[DeletedAccount]

I like it to boost the life in the tank, but also as a food source. Some of us have critters that eat the pods so quickly that they do not get time to sufficiently multiply - The pods in a bottle are life savers in those instances.

I also have chaeto in my tank that teems with life - but most tanks have bad guys I do not want to introduce to my fry and dwarf SH tanks, so I prefer a "safer", hydroid free source for the food. This is where the pods in a bottle are a great lifesaver.

I culture my own amphipods, copepods, rotifers, and brine - BUT when a culture (or all of the cultures as happened last week) crashes my babies still need food. That is when the desperate search for the SeaPods occurs for me.

Also, when I go out of town my husband is not going to play in the mucky cultures. Giving him a bottle to feed out of works much better.

[DeletedAccount]

Quite a few around here charge $25.

[StephenA]

It's been a week since I put SeaPods in my new tank. At night the glass is crawling with all kinds of tiny pods now. This was a steril new tank very little rock, southdown and 2 fish.

[Reef69]

I dumped a bottle of seapods on my tank a couple of weeks ago..havcent seen ****

[Seapods]

I dumped a bottle of seapods on my tank a couple of weeks ago..havcent seen ****

Tell us more about your tank and what kind of fish and inverts are in it?

Also, can you sneak up on your tank late at night a couple hours after the lights have been out with a flashlight and look on the glass, in the corners, and along the top of the water - I hope you'll find some.

Seapods

[StephenA]

I checked mine at night, they also show up better at night when I cut the pump off.