Half of reef keeping is feeding animals; the other half is feeding the tank itself. Live copepods seed the rock and refugium with a permanent workforce — micro-crustaceans that eat film algae and detritus and become the live prey that mandarins, wrasses and many finicky fish refuse to live without. Phytoplankton feeds the pods and every filter-feeder in the building. Macroalgae like chaeto turn excess nutrients into harvestable plant matter instead of nuisance algae on your rock.
The order matters: macroalgae and pods first, phyto as the fuel, fish that depend on pods only after the population establishes — a mandarin added to a two-month-old tank starves in slow motion, and no bottle poured the day before fixes that.
Care at a glance
| Refugium seeding | 1–2 pod cultures + chaeto, lit on a reverse cycle |
|---|---|
| Mandarin support | Established pod population first, then the fish |
| Phyto dosing | Small and regular beats large and rare |
| Macroalgae light | Any full-spectrum grow light on 10–12h reverse cycle |
| Re-seeding | After medication, big cleanings or a crash |
| Difficulty | Easy — it is farming, not chemistry |
Pods and macroalgae ride in the same insulated box as corals — same $15 packing fee, same overnight ride — so a box build is the natural time to seed or re-seed. Pair the biology with a clean-up crew doing the mechanical work and the tank starts running itself.
Live foods and macroalgae in stock now
12 in stock right now
AlgaGenPods™ Tisbe Copepods (8 oz)$17.49View this coral →
Mermaid's Shaving Brush (Penicillus capitatus) – Live Rooted Macroalgae$19.99Only 1 availableView this coral →
Chaetomorpha (Chaeto) Macroalgae – Fresh Collected & Quarantined Price range: $19.99 through $49.99View this coral →
AlgaGenPods™ Apocyclops Copepods (8 oz)$23.49View this coral →
Red Dragon's Breath Algae (Halymenia durvillei) – Cultured$24.99View this coral →
Agardhiella Macro Algae – 1 Cup$24.99View this coral →
Zoo-Plasm™ PODS Copepod Paste (250 ml)$25.49View this item →
AlgaGenPods™ Tisbe Copepods (16 oz)$32.49View this coral →
Zoo-Plasm™ PODS Copepod Paste (500 ml)$40.99View this item →
AlgaGenPods™ Apocyclops Copepods (16 oz)$42.99View this coral →
Zoo-Plasm™ PODS Copepod Paste (1000 ml)$76.49View this item →
Zoo-Plasm™ PODS Copepod Paste (1 Gallon)$147.99View this item →One thing to know before you order: shipping and packing are charged by the box, not by the coral. A box holds several corals for the same $15 packing fee and the same overnight ride, Florida orders under 6 lb ship overnight for a flat $30, and livestock orders over $399 ship free. If this page puts one coral on your list, it is worth seeing what else belongs in the box — start with corals under $100 or the newest WYSIWYG pieces.
Our stony corals are either aquacultured at the shop in Key West under Florida Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072 or conditioned in our Key West systems before they ship, and the photo on a WYSIWYG listing is the exact animal that ships. Corals ship UPS Overnight every Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are ever in Key West, come see the raceways.