About Calanoid Copepods

[BaboonScience]

Just cruising through the past posts. I am culturing Parvocalanus crassirostris. The adults will hang on a 95 micron screen, most of them. Some will make it through.
First instar seem to be able to pass through a 57 micron screen but hang on my 33 micron screen.
The swim/feed pattern of Parvocalanus is somewhat different from the other Calanoids that I have in culture, even the nauplii. I guess that I will have to try to get a video of that up.
Anyway, I hope the added info helps.
John

[Luis A M]

Good luck with Parvo.I am expecting some from Algagen,too.The ones I had before turned out to be P.scotti.
Yes,once you are trained with your copepod species,you can tell the species of newly hatched nauplii by it´s swimming pattern.

[BaboonScience]

Luis
Are their any real behavioral or nutritional differences between P. scotti and P. crassirostris?
Just curious, now that I am starting to get the hang of the copepod culturing.
John

[Luis A M]

No,they are virtually the same.Proper species ID of copepods is usually debated and based in some minor anatomical detail.

[BaboonScience]

Hmmm.
Seems like "designer species", don't you think?
I guess that I am an old school Lineain biologist.

[Luis A M]

You know John,that the taxonomy of copepods is one of the last realms of morphological systematics...Some day it will be defined by modern scientific tools,but until that day comes,it is still a matter of dissecting them and check minute spines in keys.Even then,ID is sometimes difficult or controversial.I am amazed of the lack of qualified specialists in USA,or at least that they are not available to assist people with consults on determining copepod species.They are good in IDing a species of their area of study,but are very challenged when given a specimen of another area,or worse,of unknown origin.This is the case with the "Tangerines" being sold by Algagen.They came as unnoticed"polizons" in Moina salina shipments.Somebody suggested "Eurytemora",I was given "Pseudodiaptomus" as a possible genus,but now further study points to Arctodiaptomus salinus.So John,it´s not so easy to ID copepods with a key...

[BaboonScience]

Luis
I know that copepod species are notorious for drastic morphological differences in response to environmental parameters. I imagine that makes ID even more difficult.
For our purposes, I am guessing that anything close to the correct size range in the environmental parameters of our culture setup would be a good choice.
Yes, there are some specialists but they are focused on specific projects. I do wish that they would offer some help though.
John

[angi]

Hi John,

I am culturing parvocalanus crassirostris, too. Seems Naupli instar 1 is going sometimes even through 40 my. It is crazy, they are so tiny.

[BaboonScience]

Yep, they hang on a 31 micron net for me.

Note to those trying to culture them:
Go easy on the phyto. Very Lightly cloud the water until the culture gets dense.
Too much food seems to clog their (Parvocalinus) filtering mechanism. Almost wiped my culture before I realized what was happening. Now they are doing great.
John

[angi]

John,
I only can confirm your statement. Nauplii are so small that too much algae cells hinders their floatability. Therefore You may feed only in such a way as they eat within a day. If You have the feed need out, the culture is stable. And I think, if there are much more nauplii than adultus, culture is very stable. But if there are only so many nauplii as adults in the culture
then you must give more water urgently.

[BaboonScience]

Angi
Good and interesting observations.
I am finding that I need to remove water and algae from the Parvocalinus cultures if the algae is outgrowing the copepods ability to consume it. I have placed a piece of 31 micron plankton cloth over the end of a section of air hose with a rubber band. I use this to slowly siphon off the algae laden water without removing the copepod nauplii. I then replace the water with sterilized water from the growout system. So far it seems to work well.
John

[angi]

Good idea, John! Thank You

[BaboonScience]

Thanks Angie.
I am certain that most people that are working with copepods have developed little tricks. Otherwise, the job is quite laborsome.
In addition, there are some tricks that are specific to the species with nauplii under 50 microns, Parvocalinus nauplii, for instance, tend to have trouble with dense algae. I have also noted that the initial stages have trouble with larger algal species and seem to prefer those smaller species like Isochrysis vs a slightly larger species like Tetraselmis suecica or Rhodomonas lens. Once in a larger stage, they accept all as food.

Anyway, right now, you really have to look hard to find specific information for a culture problem.
So, I was thinking that it might be a good idea to separate the information into threads for specific culturing tips.
Just not sure how.
Perhaps organize and compile the relevant information into the starter post of this thread?
Any suggestions?
John

[BaboonScience]

Luis
You have previously noted cannibalism in some copepod species. I have several questions right off...

Is cannibalism common among Calanoid and Cyplopoid genera?
I am culturing Pseudodiaptomus, Parvocalinus and Oithona (Apocyplops?). Many others are attempting these organisms along with "Tangerine Pods" (= potential cannibalism). Can the same be said of those three?
In the Parvocalinus, I have noticed that there are few to no first instars in the afternoon/evening. They are present in the morning. Is it common for copepod eggs to hatch at night in normal culture?
Also, with the Parvocalius, I am noticing distinct zonation. I keep clean stock cultures in one and three gallon fish bowls with one flat side facing a vertical incubator flourescent (standard t5 bulb) at about 8 inches from the bulb. The young copepodid stages are as close to the light (when on) as possible. Reproductive adults are in an opposite corner, in slower but regular current. This corner is still well lit by refracted light but the lighting and current are deffinitely different. Nauplii still seem to be somewhat current swept. Is this sort of zonation common?

I guess that I really need to obtain some copepod references.
Thanks in advance.
John

[Luis A M]

I don´t have answers for most of that,John.Predatory observations on A.tonsa and A.salinus are reported.In A.tonsa,as it envolves naups,it could curtail total production.That´s why I deviced the "Copepod Machine".A.salinus seems to coexist with their naups pretty well.I am not aware of such behaviour in the other commonly kept species.
I don´t think copepods need any special lighting.In fact they are sometimes cultured in complete darkness.Typically planktonic calanoids and cyclopoids are atracted to light,while benthic harps run away from it.

[BaboonScience]

[BaboonScience]

Looking at the book prices, I can understand why people specialize. The first ten books on my list range between $200 and $300 US.
And that is for the Marine Copepod selection.
I already have many of the FW selection.
Prices have either gone up or my income has gone down.

Guess this is why we need those knowledgeable people to pitch in. Few of us could afford to do it on our own.
Glad that people like Luis, Jim and Adelaide are around.
John

[Luis A M]

Right some books,especially the scientific ones could be ridiculously expensive.But there are some that I simply must have
But for most level headed hobbyists,a whole book dealing with the biology of calanoids or crustacean larvae is way too much.
I refused to buy Calado´s shrimp book,even if it was decorated with my pics of the L.ambonensis juvenile.Now Amazon lowered the price and I ordered it.

[BaboonScience]

Yes, many of the breeders on this forum simply cannot afford the literature resources that are available to you and me. They rely on those more experienced or those with the literature resources at their disposal to provide the answers to their questions. That is one of the many advantages to a resource like MOFIB.

There is a partial print of Mauchline's book on google books. It provides at least most of the taxonomic key as well as some of the information on ecology.
http://books.google.com/books?id=fbsrq6 ... &q&f=false

[angi]

Wow John, what a great ressource Mauchline is! Thank You very much

[Luis A M]

Indeed,John,great finding!.
Amazing what one can find in the Net;knowing how to search

[dave w]

Folks, I would like to cultivate Parvo copepods in at least 1,000 gallons. Do you recommend a few large tanks with continuous cultures at low density or a number of smaller tanks that can be cleaned and restarted as batch cultures? I am building the system now and would like to design it correctly. My bias is towards continuous cultures at low density with a variety of live phyto to keep crashes from occurring.

Thanks in advance.

[Suzy]

I am just starting this species, too, but I am always partial to having more than one, in case one crashes. I would lean toward a few smaller ones that could be cleaned, in case a pathogen moves in.

[dave w]

[Suzy]

Could you also add additional algae paste once in a while? Or are you trying to go completely au natuaral?

If you have few small cultures, you can reinnoculate the large ones if something happens.