Your Reef Fish Evolved to Eat Live Copepods. Are You Still Feeding Them Flakes?
Professionally cultured live copepods, dispatched fresh from our facility in Wales. The single biggest upgrade you can make to your reef's nutrition.
The Problem Isn't Your Water. It's What's in the Food.
Your parameters are perfect. Your equipment is dialled in. But your mandarin is wasting. Your wrasse has lost its colour. Your pipefish won't feed.
You're doing everything right and still watching fish decline. That's not a failure of care. It's a nutritional gap that dried flakes and frozen cubes were never designed to fill.
Marine fish evolved over millions of years eating live zooplankton - copepods, phytoplankton, rotifers. These aren't supplements. They're the diet. And without them, even the most carefully maintained reef falls short.
Live Copepods - The Prey Your Reef Fish Evolved to Hunt
Our copepods are Tigriopus californicus, a hardy harpacticoid species that thrives in reef aquarium conditions. They're cultured under controlled aquaculture conditions in our specialist facility in Wales and dispatched live to your door.
Unlike frozen or freeze-dried alternatives, live copepods arrive active, feeding, and ready to colonise your refugium. They carry a complete nutritional profile including EPA, DHA, astaxanthin, and natural carotenoids that drive colour, vitality, and long-term health in your fish.
Available in four sizes to suit your tank and your goals.
Built for the Fish That Need It Most
Mandarin and Pipefish Keepers
Obligate live feeders that won't accept anything that isn't alive and moving. In the wild, they hunt copepods continuously, consuming hundreds per hour. Without a reliable copepod population, these fish starve slowly no matter how clean your water is.
Refugium Builders
A healthy copepod introduction is the foundation of any productive refugium. An established population becomes self-sustaining over time, providing your tank with a constant supply of natural live prey without daily intervention.
Fish Breeders
Larvae and juvenile fish need appropriately sized, nutritionally complete live prey to survive and grow. Live copepods are an essential part of any marine breeding programme, working alongside rotifers as a complete larval feeding system.
Every Reef Keeper
For any reef keeper who wants healthier, more vibrant fish, copepods bridge the gap between what captive fish are usually fed and what they actually evolved to eat. The difference is visible within weeks.
Three Steps to a Tank That Finally Thrives
Choose Your Size
Pick the pouch that fits your tank and your goal. 100ml for a first introduction, up to 1000ml for full refugium stocking. Not sure? Message Darren and he'll recommend the right fit for your setup.
We Culture and Dispatch Live
Your copepods are prepared fresh in our Welsh facility and packed in oxygenated packaging to maintain maximum viability in transit. They arrive alive, active, and ready to go.
Introduce and Watch
Float the sealed pouch for 10 to 15 minutes to match temperature. Introduce to your refugium or dose directly into your display. Natural feeding behaviour is often visible within hours.
Reef Keepers Who Made the Switch
"A big shout out to Reefphyto because they're doing a really good job with these pods. Look how many copepods you get in this bag - there's thousands. Amazing place to buy pods in the UK."
"Great products and my fish and corals love them. Once again another quality delivery from Reefphyto."
"Darren was great and kept me informed throughout. We'd previously started a culture and it had been productive and easily set up with the instructions provided."
Complete Your Live Food System
Pod-Shot
Need a quick top-up rather than a full culture? Pod-Shot is concentrated live copepods in a ready-to-pour pouch. No prep, no equipment. Just open and add.
View Pod-ShotCopepod Culture Kit
Want to grow your own? The Copepod Culture Kit includes everything you need to start culturing Tigriopus californicus at home.
View Culture KitPodHide Bundle
Copepods disappearing overnight? Fish and corals hunt them relentlessly. PodHide gives your population somewhere to shelter, breed, and build numbers.
View PodHide BundleNot Ready to Order? Download the Free Copepod Guide.
Darren's guide to choosing, introducing, and maintaining live copepods in your reef. Covers refugium setup, stocking rates, species compatibility, and long-term population management.
The Cost of the Wrong Nutrition Isn't Obvious - Until It's Too Late
Slow decline. Reluctant feeding. Unexplained loss. These aren't failures of water chemistry. They're the quiet consequence of a nutritional gap that dried food was never designed to fill.
Your reef deserves better. And now it can have it.
"I've been culturing copepods for over 18 years. The difference they make to finicky feeders like mandarins isn't subtle - it's dramatic. If you've been struggling to keep a difficult fish alive, this is very likely the missing piece. And if you're not sure where to start, message me. I answer every one personally."
Darren - Founder, Reefphyto Ltd