I've read somewhere here (and elsewhere) about someone culturing Tiger pods using a piece of banana peel in the water (sorry I can't remember which post it was) so I've decided to try it myself.
The idea posted was;
- put a cut piece of a banana peel in the saltwater from the water change in a plastic box,
- leave it outside for about 1~3 weeks and the water should turn green,
- take out the banana peel, seed Tiger copepods and leave the box outside,
- wait and you end up with a booming copepod culture.
My settings aren't identical to what was done before.
- I'm doing it indoors by a window
- My box is way smaller. Mine is a small clear plastic container for kitchen storage. Very shallow in the depth too, I didn't measure but I'd imagine the water depth to be about 5cm or less and the volume to be less than 1.5 litres.
- The copepods I'm trying to culture may or may not be Tiger pods since I've just collected them from my tank without IDing them first. I do have Tiger and Tisbe pods in my tank though. So it may even be a mix of pods.
- I put in the copepods 6 days after I set it up, while the banana peel was still in there. Just a few copepods captured from my tank.
- I left a small piece of a banana peel in the water for 15 days but the water didn't turn green. I took out the banana peel anyway.
- I also added some rodi water to reduce the salinity a little.
- I also put in a small bit of Ulva.
- I keep finding dead tiny flies floating on the surface. I removed about 10 of them when I was removing the banana peel.
- I topped off with rodi water to make up for the evaporation, just once.
- No feeding, no aeration.
- Other than that, it was pretty much just left alone.
- It's been 18 days since I've put in the banana peel, 12 days since I've put in the pods, 3 days since I've taken the banana peel out.
So far it's doing good. The pods are multiplying fast. I tried to film it but the lighting wasn't so good it's hard to see. I can see more pods in there with my eyes than through the video. It's not ready for a proper harvest yet though.
I was surprised especially since I've started with a very small number of pods. I wasn't sure it would work on such a small scale, and I didn't expect them to multiply so quickly.
I'll wait and see if the culture can grow in density. It would be nice if it can.
It would also be interesting to see if this is something I can replicate in the future or just a lucky one-off thing.
This was no science experiment so I didn't bother to measure or record everything.
It might be worth a try as a fun little experiment. Not much work involved really. If you do decide to give it a try, please share it with us. I'd be interested to know the results.
Link to the Video of the culture
The idea posted was;
- put a cut piece of a banana peel in the saltwater from the water change in a plastic box,
- leave it outside for about 1~3 weeks and the water should turn green,
- take out the banana peel, seed Tiger copepods and leave the box outside,
- wait and you end up with a booming copepod culture.
My settings aren't identical to what was done before.
- I'm doing it indoors by a window
- My box is way smaller. Mine is a small clear plastic container for kitchen storage. Very shallow in the depth too, I didn't measure but I'd imagine the water depth to be about 5cm or less and the volume to be less than 1.5 litres.
- The copepods I'm trying to culture may or may not be Tiger pods since I've just collected them from my tank without IDing them first. I do have Tiger and Tisbe pods in my tank though. So it may even be a mix of pods.
- I put in the copepods 6 days after I set it up, while the banana peel was still in there. Just a few copepods captured from my tank.
- I left a small piece of a banana peel in the water for 15 days but the water didn't turn green. I took out the banana peel anyway.
- I also added some rodi water to reduce the salinity a little.
- I also put in a small bit of Ulva.
- I keep finding dead tiny flies floating on the surface. I removed about 10 of them when I was removing the banana peel.
- I topped off with rodi water to make up for the evaporation, just once.
- No feeding, no aeration.
- Other than that, it was pretty much just left alone.
- It's been 18 days since I've put in the banana peel, 12 days since I've put in the pods, 3 days since I've taken the banana peel out.
So far it's doing good. The pods are multiplying fast. I tried to film it but the lighting wasn't so good it's hard to see. I can see more pods in there with my eyes than through the video. It's not ready for a proper harvest yet though.
I was surprised especially since I've started with a very small number of pods. I wasn't sure it would work on such a small scale, and I didn't expect them to multiply so quickly.
I'll wait and see if the culture can grow in density. It would be nice if it can.
It would also be interesting to see if this is something I can replicate in the future or just a lucky one-off thing.
This was no science experiment so I didn't bother to measure or record everything.
It might be worth a try as a fun little experiment. Not much work involved really. If you do decide to give it a try, please share it with us. I'd be interested to know the results.
Link to the Video of the culture
