Zooplankton Multipack: Live Copepods, Rotifers and Phytoplankton

You have been buying live food one bottle at a time. Copepods this week, rotifers the next, phytoplankton when you remember. But your reef does not feed in rotation. Every level of the food web needs to be active at the same time, and the gaps between your orders are showing in the tank.

The problem is that each component of a live food system depends on the others to function. Phytoplankton sustains copepods and rotifers. Rotifers feed fish larvae and smaller filter feeders. Copepods feed fish, corals, and the wider microfauna community. When one is missing, the chain weakens. Corals that were extending begin to retract. Fish that were colouring up plateau. The tank looks maintained rather than alive.

The Zooplankton Multipack combines live Tigriopus californicus copepods, Brachionus plicatilis rotifers, and Reefphyto's five-species phytoplankton blend in a single order at a better price than buying each separately. Every multipack includes 100ml of live copepods plus your chosen volume of rotifers and phytoplankton, covering particle sizes from 1 to 400 microns and feeding every level of your reef's food web in one delivery.

Dose all three regularly and the difference becomes visible within weeks. Corals extend further and develop richer colour. Filter feeders open and become visibly more active. The tank develops the biological depth that looks and feels like a functioning piece of ocean rather than a carefully maintained display.

Reefphyto has been culturing live marine foods from our specialist facility in Wales since 2008. Every batch in your multipack is prepared fresh and dispatched on the day of production. Darren is available personally if you need guidance on dosing volumes, frequency, or how to build the right routine for your tank size and livestock.

If you want copepods, rotifers, and phytoplankton delivered together in one order to build a complete live food system, the Zooplankton Multipack is the right decision.

Why a Complete Live Food System Outperforms Individual Products

Most reef keepers who use live food start with one product. Usually copepods, sometimes phytoplankton. They see a result and add a second product later. What they rarely realise until they are running all three consistently is how much the products depend on each other to deliver their full effect.

Phytoplankton is not just coral food. It is the food source that sustains the rotifers and copepods you add to the tank. Without a regular phytoplankton presence, a copepod population that you have worked to establish in your refugium has a diminished food source and will grow more slowly, reproduce less consistently, and provide less ongoing nutritional output to the animals above it. Rotifers added without a phytoplankton base to sustain them are a one-time addition rather than part of a living system.

Rotifers are not just for breeders. At 90 to 360 microns they occupy a particle size range that copepods do not cover, feeding coral polyps, filter feeders, and the microfauna community that larger prey cannot reach. In a tank where only copepods are dosed, an entire range of reef inhabitants is still being underfed.

Copepods are not just for mandarins. The active swimming behaviour of Tigriopus californicus in the water column triggers feeding responses in corals and fish that the smaller particle sizes of rotifers and phytoplankton do not produce at the same intensity. A tank dosed with phytoplankton and rotifers but not copepods is missing the live prey movement that brings the most visible feeding responses from the fish and LPS corals that reef keepers most want to see thriving.

The Zooplankton Multipack delivers all three together because that is how a reef food web actually works.

What Is Included in the Zooplankton Multipack

Live Copepods: Tigriopus californicus

Tigriopus californicus is a harpacticoid copepod naturally found in supralittoral tide pools and widely regarded as one of the most robust and nutritionally dense copepod species available for reef aquarium use. Adults measure 1 to 3mm and are highly visible and active in the water column, triggering natural hunting behaviour in mandarin dragonets, scooter blennies, seahorses, wrasses, anthias, and a wide range of reef fish. Rich in EPA, DHA, and astaxanthin, they contribute directly to fish coloration, immune function, and long-term condition.

Every multipack includes 100ml of live Tigriopus californicus copepods regardless of the size option selected. This volume provides a meaningful introduction to the refugium or display tank and begins the process of establishing a live copepod presence in the system.

Live Rotifers: Brachionus plicatilis

Brachionus plicatilis rotifers at 90 to 360 microns fill the smaller end of the particle size range with slow-moving, nutritionally dense live prey accessible to coral polyps, filter feeders, and any fish larvae or juvenile animals present in the system. Reefphyto's rotifers are cultured on live phytoplankton rather than yeast, ensuring they carry the genuine omega-3 fatty acid profile of wild rotifers rather than a nutritionally diminished culture-fed substitute.

The rotifer volume in your multipack matches the size option you select: 100ml, 250ml, 500ml, or 1000ml, giving you a proportionate rotifer addition alongside the copepod and phytoplankton components.

Five-Species Live Phytoplankton Blend

Reefphyto's phytoplankton blend contains five distinct microalgae species, each with a different nutritional profile and particle size. This diversity ensures that a wider range of filter feeders, corals, and zooplankton consumers in your tank find a suitable particle, and that the nutritional input from the phytoplankton component covers the breadth of omega-3 fatty acids, chlorophyll, and micronutrients that a single-species phytoplankton cannot provide alone.

The phytoplankton volume also matches your selected size option, providing a proportionate food source for the rotifers and copepods introduced alongside it and direct nutrition for the corals and filter feeders that will consume it immediately.

Not sure how much to dose for your tank size? Our live food dosing calculator works it out for you. Enter your total water volume, select your product, and get the exact daily dose in seconds. No guesswork, no searching through instructions.

Who Should Use the Zooplankton Multipack

Reef Keepers Ready to Move to a Complete Live Food System

If you have been using one or two live food products and are ready to commit to a complete live food feeding routine, the Zooplankton Multipack is the most practical and cost-effective way to make that transition. Rather than building your system incrementally over multiple separate orders, the multipack gives you everything you need in a single delivery and at a better price than buying each component individually.

Keepers of Demanding or Specialist Fish

Mandarin dragonets, seahorses, pipefish, leopard wrasses, and anthias all have nutritional demands that a partial live food approach cannot reliably meet. The multipack ensures that the copepod component feeding your specialist fish is supported by the phytoplankton and rotifer components sustaining the food web that those copepods depend on. This creates a more stable and self-reinforcing live food system rather than an isolated addition that degrades between orders.

SPS and LPS Coral Keepers

Serious coral keepers understand that light and water chemistry are only part of coral health. Live zooplankton in the water column, particularly the combination of rotifers and copepods at sizes that coral polyps can actually capture and consume, produces measurable improvements in growth rate, calcification, polyp extension, and colour intensity that a light and chemistry approach alone cannot achieve.

Keepers Looking for Better Value on Regular Orders

For reef keepers who are already buying copepods, rotifers, and phytoplankton separately on a regular basis, the multipack format delivers the same products at a reduced price per volume. Running a complete live food system does not have to cost more than a partial one.

How to Use the Zooplankton Multipack

Add all three components to your tank on the day of delivery. Phytoplankton can be added directly to the display tank, refugium, or sump. Rotifers and copepods should be added after turning off the protein skimmer and reducing mechanical filtration for 30 to 60 minutes to allow the live organisms to disperse and be consumed before being removed from the water column.

For best results, add in the evening when coral feeding activity is naturally higher and fish are less actively hunting in the water column, giving rotifers and phytoplankton more time to reach the corals and filter feeders that depend on them.

For systems with a refugium, direct a portion of the copepod and phytoplankton addition to the refugium to support population establishment and long-term food web sustainability. The remaining copepods, rotifers, and phytoplankton can be added to the display tank for immediate feeding.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Zooplankton Multipack

What volumes does each size option contain?

Every multipack option includes 100ml of live Tigriopus californicus copepods. The rotifers and phytoplankton are included in the volume corresponding to the size selected. The 100ml multipack includes 100ml of each. The 250ml multipack includes 250ml of rotifers and 250ml of phytoplankton alongside the 100ml of copepods, and so on for the 500ml and 1000ml options.

Can I use the multipack if I already have copepods in my refugium?

Yes. The multipack is suitable for tanks at any stage of their live food journey. For established systems, the multipack provides a regular top-up of all three components that sustains the existing copepod population, replenishes the rotifer input, and maintains phytoplankton density in the water column. For newer systems, it provides the foundational introduction across all three tiers of the food web simultaneously.

Is the multipack suitable for a nano reef tank?

Yes. The 100ml size option is well suited to nano and smaller reef tanks, providing an appropriately scaled introduction of all three live food components without overwhelming the water volume. For nano tanks with specialist feeders such as mandarin dragonets, regular multipack additions combined with a Pod-Shot top-up between deliveries provides the most reliable live food coverage.