Where can I get freshwater copepods?

[hailey11]

Hello! Does anyone know where I could find freshwater copepods? I've been searching online recently, but the only thing that ever seems to pop up is saltwater copepods. And the freshwater copepods that are available are very, very expensive. Thank you!!!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, and sorry for the late response!

Freshwater copepods are pretty tough to come by at the moment, but they're offered by the following sites:

Ward's® Freshwater Copepods

The culture supplied includes copepods in various stages of development.Live specimens are used for a wide variety of studies including studying the physiological effects of drugs on a specimen’s heartbeat and temperature on metabolism, the locomotion of microscopic organisms, and studying plant...

www.wardsci.com

Copepods (Cyclops), Living

Cyclops. May include females with egg sacs and several in the nauplius stage. For a class of 30 students. Cannot be shipped to California. Freshwater.

www.carolina.com

Paradise Pets: Freshwater Copepods

www.paradisepetshop.net

If you're looking for other freshwater feeders/microfauna (such as rotifers, ciliates, water fleas, amphipods, ostracods, or isopods), then Ward's and Carolina both offer a decent variety.

Disclaimer: order at your own risk, as I haven't personally ordered from any of these yet. I've heard that Paradise can be a bit slow/not great to work with, but they did come through on the orders (I've only heard of one or two people ordering from them, though, so it's a small sample size); I've heard Carolina can have pretty bad quality control on their cultures (seems to be a mixed bag with it); I haven't heard much about Ward's but it is an academia-oriented site rather than a hobbyist-oriented one.

Hope this helps!