How to catch and isolate a particular "wild" Copepod?

[LeesMarines]

Big hello guys and I'm needing to catch, isolate and cultivate a particular type of Copepod. The guy I need to get my hands on is Parvocalanus Crassirostris. Unfortunately here in Australia Parvocalanus Crassirostris is not available commercially which is a real pain in the butt because I know Reed Mariculture DO supply this little guy but it's not available for export to Australia. I do also know that they are quite a common Copepod free floating in ocean water not too far away so thinking wild caught might be my only way (although I did think of contacting a University to see if they possibly could assist with this/could sell me a starter culture). This also might be an interesting piece of info. for those looking at breeding because this particular strain of Copepod is the "go to" for raising larvae stage Centropyges (a dream fish for many want to be breeders!). So my question might be a little scientific based but hoping someone might have some experience with catching Copepods via ocean water sampling and then isolating particular strains they required. From what I'm researching it appears you can use different scales of micron net to isolate size wise. It also appears they may need to be isolated via microscope and safe colour injection to spot and isolate the guy needed! Any experience or tips greatly appreciated as this is all foreign to me.
*PS if you reside in the US and are interested in breeding dwarf angels this is your "go to" strain and you can start a culture a whole lot easier by purchasing a bunch of adults from Reed Mariculture! This still isn't totally straightforward though as they only prey on certain live microalgaes and if stocking density is mishandled both with food supply and the Copepods themselves you will crash the culture. Tricky little bugger!

 

[VintageReefer]

@Reef By Steele
Can you ship these pods to Australia ?

 

[Malum Argenteum]

although I did think of contacting a University to see if they possibly could assist with this/could sell me a starter culture

That's where I would start, more or less. Cold calling universities maybe isn't the best way; I would dig into the relevant literature, find out which journal article authors might be working with the species (or might have some leads), and drop them a friendly email that explains exactly what you're up to.

 

[Reef By Steele]

@Reef By Steele
Can you ship these pods to Australia ?

Not that I know of. They would probably not
Survive with the time it would take to get through customs, and would probably take months to get paperwork etc done to even be able to try.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Big hello guys and I'm needing to catch, isolate and cultivate a particular type of Copepod. The guy I need to get my hands on is Parvocalanus Crassirostris. Unfortunately here in Australia Parvocalanus Crassirostris is not available commercially which is a real pain in the butt because I know Reed Mariculture DO supply this little guy but it's not available for export to Australia. I do also know that they are quite a common Copepod free floating in ocean water not too far away so thinking wild caught might be my only way (although I did think of contacting a University to see if they possibly could assist with this/could sell me a starter culture). This also might be an interesting piece of info. for those looking at breeding because this particular strain of Copepod is the "go to" for raising larvae stage Centropyges (a dream fish for many want to be breeders!). So my question might be a little scientific based but hoping someone might have some experience with catching Copepods via ocean water sampling and then isolating particular strains they required. From what I'm researching it appears you can use different scales of micron net to isolate size wise. It also appears they may need to be isolated via microscope and safe colour injection to spot and isolate the guy needed! Any experience or tips greatly appreciated as this is all foreign to me.
*PS if you reside in the US and are interested in breeding dwarf angels this is your "go to" strain and you can start a culture a whole lot easier by purchasing a bunch of adults from Reed Mariculture! This still isn't totally straightforward though as they only prey on certain live microalgaes and if stocking density is mishandled both with food supply and the Copepods themselves you will crash the culture. Tricky little bugger!

If you can actually get the copepods from the ocean, the best way would probably be to sieve them as you discussed. These guys are super small, and so by running them through a 50 micron, I have found babies in the waste water a couple days later. I don’t find that with others. So that might be a way to isolate them.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Big hello guys and I'm needing to catch, isolate and cultivate a particular type of Copepod. The guy I need to get my hands on is Parvocalanus Crassirostris. Unfortunately here in Australia Parvocalanus Crassirostris is not available commercially which is a real pain in the butt because I know Reed Mariculture DO supply this little guy but it's not available for export to Australia. I do also know that they are quite a common Copepod free floating in ocean water not too far away so thinking wild caught might be my only way (although I did think of contacting a University to see if they possibly could assist with this/could sell me a starter culture). This also might be an interesting piece of info. for those looking at breeding because this particular strain of Copepod is the "go to" for raising larvae stage Centropyges (a dream fish for many want to be breeders!). So my question might be a little scientific based but hoping someone might have some experience with catching Copepods via ocean water sampling and then isolating particular strains they required. From what I'm researching it appears you can use different scales of micron net to isolate size wise. It also appears they may need to be isolated via microscope and safe colour injection to spot and isolate the guy needed! Any experience or tips greatly appreciated as this is all foreign to me.
*PS if you reside in the US and are interested in breeding dwarf angels this is your "go to" strain and you can start a culture a whole lot easier by purchasing a bunch of adults from Reed Mariculture! This still isn't totally straightforward though as they only prey on certain live microalgaes and if stocking density is mishandled both with food supply and the Copepods themselves you will crash the culture. Tricky little bugger!

Yeah, we are pretty bummed that we can't sell a single living thing to Australia due to strict biosecurity. However, there are universities that have captured, isolated and studied this species. Check out this paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133269 Below are some screen shots from the paper. Maybe James Cook Uni has them!

-Chad

 

[Reef Nutrition]

This may help, as well. Good sights to find this species. Here is the paper where I found this: https://www.novapublishers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/978-1-63117-846-7_ch2.pdf

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Do you have a University or Community College, that has a Marine Biology Course? You could take a course there. Talk to the Professor or Teacher, before hand to see if that can be your project.

 

[LeesMarines]

@Reef By Steele
Can you ship these pods to Australia ?

No unfortunately and Reed Mariculture has informed me Australia won't allow them in. A common situation here in Australia and also kind of crazy if you ask me when you can actually find them prolifically in the ocean water all around Australia in fact it's one of the most commonly found... Some of the bio security laws are a little off skew here if you ask me...just personal opinion...

 

[LeesMarines]

That's where I would start, more or less. Cold calling universities maybe isn't the best way; I would dig into the relevant literature, find out which journal article authors might be working with the species (or might have some leads), and drop them a friendly email that explains exactly what you're up to.

Yes and thank you for the tip. I agree I have downloaded the list of professors working in marine biology at Australia biggest marine sciences based University which gives you their email addresses so was just going to send a few friendly emails and see if they had some advice or could possibly supply a start up culture. Who knows they may be interested in following some progress in this field because it's a great field of research for marine biology. I did find a paper online by a student here aimed right at the potential of using this copepod for marine fish aquaculture so it's definitely in their field of research. Fingers crossed!

 

[LeesMarines]

If you can actually get the copepods from the ocean, the best way would probably be to sieve them as you discussed. These guys are super small, and so by running them through a 50 micron, I have found babies in the waste water a couple days later. I don’t find that with others. So that might be a way to isolate them.

Thank you for the tip!

 

[LeesMarines]

Yeah, we are pretty bummed that we can't sell a single living thing to Australia due to strict biosecurity. However, there are universities that have captured, isolated and studied this species. Check out this paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133269 Below are some screen shots from the paper. Maybe James Cook Uni has them!

-Chad

Huge thank you for your advice and assistance and that's the guys I've narrowed it down to university wise as well. James Cook University is the epicentre for marine biology here in Australia and it makes sense when you're located on the Great Barrier Reefs doorstep. Have to say definitely a little annoyed and confused as to why we can't import a Copepod that's one of the most commonly found in the water here anyway..pretty much forces home aquarists to become scientists and makes marine breeding that little bit harder... Australia has quite a few bizzare bio security laws and having been involved with importation and the aquarium industry for quite some time now it is also obvious it's not entirely based on environmental impact....we wouldn't be allowed to import Oscars or guppies if that was the case...hurts my brain haha...huge thank you again for the info.

 

[LeesMarines]

This may help, as well. Good sights to find this species. Here is the paper where I found this: https://www.novapublishers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/978-1-63117-846-7_ch2.pdf

It's actually super common in water all around Australia and from many surveys I have seen conducted scientifically it's regularly in the top 3 most often found here...so that's a positive..at least I know I have a high chance of finding them in the ocean water I'm going to sample if that's what's required.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

From what I'm researching it appears you can use different scales of micron net to isolate size wise. It also appears they may need to be isolated via microscope and safe colour injection to spot and isolate the guy needed! Any

Yeah, this would be my suggestion - catch a bunch of plankton in the ocean, sieve them to get into the right size range, use a microscope and pipette to hand select the rights pods to move them into their own container (removing any strays of other kinds of pods that get into the mix), and use those in the container to start your own culture.

 

[LeesMarines]

Well have to say the University has been totally UNhelpful!...I sent a dozen emails to members of the marine biology staff and received 1 reply....and that stated that the person contacted was no longer employed by the University!..well I guess it's a lesson learnt and I won't lie definitely disappointed as I also said any help at all would be amazing and even just a "sorry we are unable to assist" goes further than no response at all I feel..well looks like I'm going the "ocean caught isolate by microscope route"....really is a pain that Australia is crawling behind the rest of the world with some of this stuff and they use bio security as an excuse...from working in the aquarium /fish import industry here you can see grey areas everywhere and it is very very annoying...
I guess once I isolate this Copepod strain and can maintain healthy reliable cultures I will be able to then assist other marine fish keepers/breeders because Parvocalanus Crassirostris is a very very important early food source for the breeding side of things.. huge thanks guys for your assistance and I guess marine breeding in Australia is really begging for some go-ahead!!

 

[GARRIGA]

If Australia has biosecurity laws against import then wouldn't that prevent universities from selling to the public? Perhaps a scientific scene net for catching zooplankton is the only option then figure out through trial and error or contacting those that do this on how to isolate.

 

[LeesMarines]

If Australia has biosecurity laws against import then wouldn't that prevent universities from selling to the public? Perhaps a scientific scene net for catching zooplankton is the only option then figure out through trial and error or contacting those that do this on how to isolate.

The University is in Australia and the copepods are collected from Australian waters so import laws and "bio security" are irrelevant in this situation but yes looks like It's microscopy and sieving