Live copepods are essential micro-crustaceans that provide natural nutrition for fish like mandarin dragonfish, improve coral health, and establish a thriving micro-ecosystem in your reef tank. They reproduce naturally and create a self-sustaining food source.

Choose based on your tank's needs: Tisbe copepods are benthic (bottom-dwelling) and perfect for mandarin dragonfish and other sand-sifters. Apocyclops are planktonic (water column) and ideal for coral feeding and juvenile fish. Tigriopus are larger, hardy pods great for training picky eaters.

We guarantee the live arrival of all copepod and phytoplankton cultures when delivered on the carrier’s first delivery attempt. If your culture arrives compromised, please contact us promptly with photos so we can review the shipment and provide a replacement or store credit in accordance with our Live Arrival Guarantee.

All live cultures ship Monday–Wednesday and are packaged to help protect them during normal transit conditions. Insulated foam packaging is also available at checkout for additional temperature protection.

Please note that carrier delays, service disruptions, missed or delayed delivery attempts, prolonged exposure after delivery, and extreme hot or cold weather conditions are outside of our control and are not covered by the Live Arrival Guarantee. We strongly recommend monitoring tracking information and bringing live shipments indoors as soon as they are delivered.

We ship live copepods and phytoplankton Monday through Wednesday only to ensure they arrive during the week when you're available to acclimate them. Orders placed Thursday-Sunday ship the following Monday.

Gently acclimate by floating the sealed bag in your tank for 15-20 minutes to match temperature. Then slowly add small amounts of tank water to the bag over 30 minutes. Finally, pour the copepods into your tank near rockwork or refugium. They'll establish naturally within days.