Zoo-Shot - Live Zooplankton

Zoo-Shot Live Zooplankton

Your corals are open but not thriving. Your SPS aren't extending the way they should. The tank looks maintained but it doesn't look alive. You're feeding regularly but something in the water column is still missing.

The problem is that most reef feeding routines focus on what you can see. What drives a truly healthy reef is what you can't see: the constant movement of live zooplankton through the water column, triggering feeding responses in corals, nourishing filter feeders, and sustaining the microfauna community that underpins everything.

Zoo-Shot delivers a concentrated 50ml pouch of live Tigriopus californicus copepods and Brachionus plicatilis rotifers, covering a particle size range of 90 to 400 microns. It's the same zooplankton blend as our full-size pouches, in a single ready-to-use pouch. Shake, open, pour directly into your tank or refugium.

The moment Zoo-Shot hits the water, your corals respond. Polyps extend toward moving prey. Filter feeders become visibly more active. The tank shifts from static to alive in a way that no frozen or prepared food can replicate.

Reefphyto has been culturing live marine foods from our specialist facility in Wales since 2008. Every Zoo-Shot is produced fresh and dispatched on the day it's prepared. Darren is available personally if you need advice on dosing frequency or how Zoo-Shot fits alongside your existing feeding routine.

If you want to target-feed your corals with live zooplankton without any preparation or equipment, a Zoo-Shot is the right decision.

Zoo-Shot Live Zooplankton UK: Ready-to-Use Copepods and Rotifers for Reef Tanks

The Zoo-Shot is Reefphyto's compact, ready-to-use live zooplankton pouch, a simple no-preparation format for reef keepers who want to add live copepods and rotifers to their tank regularly without the commitment of managing a full culture volume. Each 50ml pouch contains a concentrated blend of live Tigriopus californicus copepods and Brachionus plicatilis rotifers, freshly cultured at our specialist facility in Wales, covering the complete particle size range that reef corals, filter feeders, and the wider microfauna community depend on. Shake, open, pour. That is the entire process.

The Problem the Zoo-Shot Solves

Most reef keepers understand that their corals need feeding. What is less well understood is that the type of food and the movement of prey in the water column matters as much as the nutritional content. Corals are not passive filter feeders absorbing dissolved nutrients. They are active predators with feeding polyps adapted to detect, capture, and consume small, moving prey.

When the water column contains only frozen, dried, or prepared foods, corals may absorb some nutritional value from particles that drift past their polyps. But the active feeding response, polyps extending fully, sweeping tentacles deploying, the coral visibly engaging with its environment, is triggered by the movement of live prey. Without that movement stimulus, a coral fed exclusively on prepared foods is being partially fed at best, and the difference shows in polyp extension, growth rate, and colour intensity over time.

The Zoo-Shot is designed to put live zooplankton into the water column quickly, conveniently, and regularly. It is not a refugium-stocking product. It is a weekly or twice-weekly live feeding tool for the reef keeper who wants to see their corals actually hunting.

What Is in a Zoo-Shot Pouch

Tigriopus californicus: Live Copepods

Tigriopus californicus is a harpacticoid copepod naturally found in supralittoral tide pools and one of the most robust and nutritionally complete copepod species available for reef aquarium use. At 1 to 3mm, they are highly visible and active in the water column, triggering feeding responses in LPS corals, NPS corals, and planktivorous fish that smaller particles do not produce at the same intensity. Rich in EPA, DHA, and astaxanthin, they carry the fatty acid and pigment profile that contributes directly to coral coloration and fish health.

Brachionus plicatilis: Live Rotifers

Brachionus plicatilis rotifers at 90 to 200 microns provide the smaller end of the particle size range in the Zoo-Shot blend, making live prey accessible to SPS coral polyps, soft corals, fan corals, feather duster worms, bivalves, and the full range of filter feeders that cannot capture larger copepods. Their slow, rotating swimming motion is produced by a corona of cilia that creates exactly the prey movement that small coral polyps detect and respond to.

Together the two species cover a particle size range of 90 to 400 microns, ensuring that every feeding-capable animal in your reef has access to appropriately sized live prey from a single addition.

Which Reef Animals Respond to Zoo-Shot

SPS Corals

Small polyp stony corals including Acropora, Montipora, Pocillopora, and Stylophora all respond to live zooplankton in the water column. Their polyps are small and adapted to capture prey at the rotifer and small copepod size range. Regular Zoo-Shot additions provide the live particle movement that triggers active feeding behaviour, contributing to the improved calcification rate, polyp extension, and colour intensity that serious SPS keepers associate with a strong live food programme.

LPS Corals

Large polyp stony corals including Euphyllia, Acanthophyllia, Lobophyllia, and Cynarina are visibly responsive to live prey in the water column. Their larger, more muscular feeding tentacles are designed to capture prey at the copepod size range, and the active swimming of Tigriopus californicus copepods triggers a sweeping feeding response that prepared foods rarely produce. Regular Zoo-Shot additions to an LPS-dominant tank produce visible differences in feeding engagement and tissue condition over weeks.

NPS and Soft Corals

Non-photosynthetic corals including Dendrophyllia, Tubastrea, and Carnation corals are entirely dependent on live zooplankton for nutrition. For keepers of NPS corals, live zooplankton is not supplementary, it is the primary food source. The Zoo-Shot provides a practical, affordable way to add live prey to the water column regularly without the volume commitment of a full culture order on every feeding occasion.

Soft corals including Sinularia, Sarcophyton, and Colt corals also benefit from regular live zooplankton additions, with improved polyp extension and more active feeding behaviour visible within weeks of establishing a consistent Zoo-Shot routine.

Filter Feeders and Invertebrates

Feather duster worms, Christmas tree worms, fan corals, bivalves, tunicates, sponges, and a wide range of other filter-feeding invertebrates all rely on small live particles moving through the water column for nutrition. The combined copepod and rotifer particle range in the Zoo-Shot covers the size spectrum that these animals feed most effectively on, and the live movement of the prey triggers active filtration behaviour that dead or frozen particles do not.

Microfauna and Reef Biodiversity

Beyond direct feeding, regular Zoo-Shot additions contribute to the living microfauna community of the tank. Copepods that are not immediately consumed begin grazing on microalgae and detritus, contributing to the ecological balance of the system. Over time, regular live zooplankton additions help build the kind of biological depth in a tank that distinguishes a truly thriving reef from one that is merely well-maintained.

How to Use Zoo-Shot in Your Reef Tank

Shake the pouch gently before opening to distribute the copepods and rotifers evenly. Turn off the protein skimmer and reduce mechanical filtration for 30 to 60 minutes before adding to allow the live organisms to disperse through the water column and reach corals and filter feeders before being removed. Add in the evening when coral polyp extension and feeding activity is naturally higher and fish are less actively hunting.

Pour directly into the display tank, ideally in an area with gentle flow that will carry the zooplankton across your coral colonies rather than concentrating it in one area. For tanks with a refugium, a small portion can be directed to the refugium to supplement the copepod population there.

Zoo-Shot is designed for use on the day of delivery. The live organisms are at peak activity and nutritional density on arrival, and this is when the feeding response from your corals will be most pronounced.

How Often Should You Use Zoo-Shot

For reef tanks where coral feeding and live zooplankton response is the primary goal, two to three Zoo-Shot additions per week produce the most consistent visible results. Once per week maintains a meaningful live food presence in the water column between larger Live Zooplankton additions. For tanks where the Zoo-Shot is the primary live food source rather than a supplement to larger culture volumes, three times per week provides reliable nutritional coverage across the coral and filter feeder community.

The Zoo-Shot is available on subscription, making a consistent weekly or twice-weekly live feeding routine straightforward to maintain without manual reordering.

Zoo-Shot vs Pod-Shot vs Roti-Shot: Which Is Right for You

The three Reef Shot products in the Reefphyto range serve different primary purposes and different tank inhabitants, though they can all be used together.

The Zoo-Shot contains both copepods and rotifers and is the broadest-spectrum option, best suited to reef tanks where coral feeding, filter feeder nutrition, and general live zooplankton presence across the full particle size range is the goal.

The Pod-Shot contains only Tigriopus californicus copepods and is the right choice when the primary goal is feeding specialist fish, mandarin dragonets, scooter blennies, seahorses, and wrasses, or when topping up a refugium copepod population between larger culture additions.

The Roti-Shot contains only Brachionus plicatilis rotifers and is the right choice for marine fish breeders who need a concentrated first-feed for larvae, or for reef keepers whose primary focus is feeding smaller corals and filter feeders at the rotifer particle size.

For many reef keepers, a combination of all three across the week provides the most complete live food coverage for every inhabitant in the tank.

Frequently Asked Questions About Zoo-Shot

Is Zoo-Shot the same as the full Live Zooplankton product?

Yes, the same species and blend. The Zoo-Shot is the full Live Zooplankton in a smaller, single-use pouch format optimised for convenience and regular use. The full Live Zooplankton pouches are better suited for refugium stocking and larger volume additions. The Zoo-Shot is better suited for consistent weekly or twice-weekly coral feeding without the logistics of managing a larger open pouch.

Can I use Zoo-Shot if I have fish as well as corals?

Yes. The copepod component of the Zoo-Shot will be consumed by planktivorous fish as well as corals, and this is entirely beneficial. In a mixed reef tank, the Zoo-Shot provides live nutrition across both the fish and coral communities simultaneously. For tanks with heavy copepod predation from mandarin dragonets or active wrasses, pairing the Zoo-Shot with a regular Pod-Shot addition ensures both the fish and the corals receive adequate live food.

How does Zoo-Shot help with coral colour?

The Tigriopus californicus copepods in Zoo-Shot contain astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment that contributes directly to the coloration of corals and fish that consume them regularly. Reef keepers who establish a consistent live zooplankton feeding routine consistently report visible improvements in coral colour intensity over four to six weeks, particularly in SPS species where pigmentation is strongly influenced by nutritional input alongside light.

Will Zoo-Shot affect my water parameters?

No. Live zooplankton additions at the Zoo-Shot volume have no meaningful impact on water chemistry in a healthy reef system. The organisms will be consumed rapidly by corals and filter feeders, and any that are not immediately consumed will graze on microalgae and detritus, contributing to the cleanliness of the tank rather than adding to the nutrient load.

Complete Your Live Feeding Routine

Zoo-Shot works best as part of a complete live food approach. For larger coral and refugium additions, our full Live Zooplankton provides the same blend at volumes suited to population establishment and larger tank doses. For specialist fish feeding alongside coral nutrition, pair Zoo-Shot with our Pod-Shot for a combined live food session that covers every inhabitant in the tank. For dedicated marine fish breeding, our Roti-Shot provides a concentrated first-feed rotifer addition. For the most complete live nutrition system covering copepods, rotifers, and phytoplankton together, our Zooplankton Multipack delivers all three in a single order at a better price than buying separately.