AlgaeBarn 5280 Pods :: Live Copepods :: Three Pod Species Tisbe + Tigriopus + Apocyclops :: Clean Your Tank & Mandarin & Finicky Fish Food (5,280+ Pods)

Great product!

Upon initial inspection, I only spotted a few adults... like 5 or 6 few. Upon closer inspection, I was able to make out a large number of napulli. I put them in two 1.5 gal containers, and fed them OceanMagik while I waited for them to reach sexual maturity before exposing them to predators. In two days, it will be 3 weeks since I started culturing them. I've already harvesteded one of the containers of pods, split the other in half, and they're ready to be harvested again. While it's not ideal to raise three types together, keeping them well-fed has helped reduce cannibalism. Sorry about the poor video quality... it doesn't show what the eyes can see. The other container is identical...

Good size easy to use

I bought these directly from Algae Barn and via Amazon in the past with no issues. However, due to the extreme heat and humidity here in The South in late July, one cold pack wasn’t enough. The cold pack was hot and the copepods were DOA. I decided to just take the loss, but a few days later I messaged Algae Barn on Facebook Messenger just to let them know they may want to include more cold packs when shipping to the South in the summer. Don’t get me wrong, their jars are always VERY WELL PACKED, they just need an extra cold pack or 2. The next morning, Algae Barn messaged me that they appreciated the feedback and wish I would have let them know ASAP. Even though I didn’t request a replacement, they sent a free replacement that day. They apologized and even gave me 15% off my next order. You can’t beat that! I got the package today. The pods were a perfect temp- with 2 cold packs. The closest to the jar was warm but half the second pack was still icy. I messaged them to let them know everything was perfect and received a quick response. Great job, Algae Barn! I had resigned myself to getting my pods from an LFS during the hot months, but not anymore. I’m am Algae Barn customer for life

Very fast shipping. Pods look great. Very well packaged

Arrived faster than expected and filled to the brim with critters!

Useless.

I typically by my ‘pods from the LFS (local fish store) near my home. After looking on Amazon, and visiting the AlgaeBarn website, I decided to give them a try (always good to have alternate ‘pod sources). I thought the price point a bit high, but for >5,000 ‘pods, why not? (BTW their website offers the same deal just priced differently. Amazon is ~$35 + $10 shipping verses $45 and “free shipping” at AlgaeBarn). Pros – ‘pods and the 16 oz Oceanmagik Phytoplankton I purchased arrived early, in a professionally wrapped, undamaged package with an icing/cooling packet in the box. High scores for that. The bulk of the ‘pods themselves looked alive and active. There were some dead, but that was anticipated. Cons – and why I’m probably not going to repurchase in the future – the numbers of ‘pods in the 16 oz plastic “mason jar”, were way less that the anticipated 5280 touted in the marketing information. Even after using glasses and a magnifying glass. My LFS has smaller containers and show a much larger number of ‘pods in their containers for less. I appreciate that’ pods can be hard for a naked eye to see, but with glasses (readers) and a magnifying glass – I just don’t see there being enough product to warrant $45 in the future. Maybe my expectations were too high.