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Where to buy amphipods?


rt502

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A couple of years ago I used to order an amphipod mix from a borderline sketchy site that sold corals and pods (reef2something or close to it). I have a new tank with a trio of wrasses and would like to give them something to hunt, but don't want to just get bottles of small tisbes. Where is everyone buying their pods these days?

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A couple of years ago I used to order an amphipod mix from a borderline sketchy site that sold corals and pods (reef2something or close to it). I have a new tank with a trio of wrasses and would like to give them something to hunt, but don't want to just get bottles of small tisbes. Where is everyone buying their pods these days?

I think I know the company you're talking about. They went through a couple of name changes in the last 10-15 years before becoming that Reef2something you mentioned (it escapes me, too). 

 

I think that company now goes by aquariumdepot.com. At least, the advertising and graphics look really familiar....

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BTW, that's not an endorsement. They're cheap but, over the years, the service has been spotty. Perhaps that's the reason for the name changes(?). Anyways, I ordered from them many years ago. Pods only. I'm really skeptical about the other stuff from online reviews. But the amphipods that I received were pretty hardy when I received them. (I don't recall if I saw much in the way of copepods in the mix, though.) Others have had different experiences, though.

 

BTW, before reefs2go.com they were PieceOfTheReef.com.

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Yes! That was them. I wasn't a fan of their site or service, and only ever ordered pods, but the pods were tanks. Ideally I'd like to order elsewhere if there's a better option, even if pricier.

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Yes! That was them. I wasn't a fan of their site or service, and only ever ordered pods, but the pods were tanks. Ideally I'd like to order elsewhere if there's a better option, even if pricier.

Are you looking for amphipods or copepods, then? 

 

algaebarn.com is another source. I've known people who've used seeded copepods from them. Of course, you can also get tiggerpods from our sponsor, reefnutrition.com (aka Reed Mariculture). We typically will have a bottle of them (along with other RN products) in our raffle a WAMAS meetings.

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About every 12 months or so I order a 'tune-up' kit from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms to revitalize and diversify the micro life in my tank.  (Part of of the package I got both times included amphipods.) 

 

While placing my last order (about 6 weeks ago) I noticed that they sell the amphipods as an individual item. And they also sell an amphipod 'breeding' kit ... which is basically amphipod breeding specimens and an mat of ulva macroalgae for them live beneath/feed off of. 

 

Like most any online livestock order, you will paying ~$30 for FedEx shipping, but it may be worth checking them out.

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A bag of amphipods from HoT? When did they start selling those? They always have brine shrimp and I've seen the serve yourself copipods dispenser there but never amphipods.

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A bag of amphipods from HoT? When did they start selling those? They always have brine shrimp and I've seen the serve yourself copipods dispenser there but never amphipods.

 

They've been selling them for a long time. In the little fridge by the checkout counter. They are just labeled as pods and I had amphipods and copepods grow from that bag.

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I hate to be so speculative but how do we know these pods they sell will actually reproduce in small tanks? How do we know a red or black bug didn’t tag along? I had read somewhere that there are hundreds of species. The best thing I would think is siphon some out of a felllow hobbiest tank. Also try to find a hobbiest that can siphon out mysid those guys are really cool. I need some!

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Ended up going with royal reefs. Ordered 2 packs of '1000' pods plus 10 astrea snails and blue legged hermits for my nuvo wrasse tankfor roughly $80 (inc shipping). Received the order today (they forgot to include the snails and hermits, so I'm following up), and the amphipods were similar to what I used to order from aquarium depot back in the day. Multiple sizes and very few doa despite 2 day shipping. Water quality was not great, as expected, but much better than the ad orders. Did a quick rinse with tank water and added the filter floss with pods to the tank after feeding and my wrasses are now in heaven, particularly the melanarus and leopard, whose bellies are larger than I'd though possible. The Mccosker and tricolor seem to be enjoying themselves as well (added all 4 together and have had 0 aggression issues so far, but have been monitoring closely). I have a lot of porous rock, so plenty of the pods made a quick and safe getaway, and hopefully will survive for a decent amount of time in literal hostile waters. Aside from the missing items (assuming that gets resolved), I'd order from royal again.

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Coming in late to this, but I've ordered the amphipods from aquarium depot before and even got some zoas from them.  The zoas weren't anything special, but did great in my old tank.  

 

I don't know if the pods reproduce in the tank, but I sure would see lots in the filter sock and when I blew off the rocks for the next few months.  Heh.

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