Copeopod problem

[Nøjo]

I've noticed after adding some hermits and shrimp that my copeopod population has greatly diminishded. There used to be a ton at night and now there is only a few little critters moving around. I have just added a mandarin goby and am worried that he may not have enough to pick on. So I'm wondering what can be done to boost your copeopod population. I know that you can only get them with live rock, but other than that my knowledge of them is nil (other than their importance as a food source). Does anyone have any ideas about keeping their population abundant for a tank?

Thanks in advance...

 

[TCTFish]

Almost everything eats copepods, so to keep them in population, a refugium is generally what's used. It wouldn't hurt to also try to 'train' the mandarin to take in other food. Sometimes it's possible, so give it a go. Maybe offer some live brine a few times a month. If anything, everything else in the tank will enjoy the treat, but watch to see if the mandarin takes to it. If so, then one day try frozen brine mixed in with live brine and see if he picks at any of the thawed out ones. Then lessen the amount of live brine to the amount of frozen brine. This transition isn't always successful. That's up to the fish. Good luck.

 

[zuzecawi]

The sudden drop in your pod pop is probably due to the mandarin eating them. Pods also need food... they eat what drops to the bottom. If you have a really good skimmer/filter/overflow and not much hits the bottom in your tank, you can try giving them sinking pellets. I feed the ones in my refugium pellets and I've had a MUCH bigger rate of success than when I just let food wash through.

 

[GinaD]

I actually breed copepods in my filter (unintentionally, but fortunately). Every time I change the filter, I throw most of them in the tank and some back in the filter to continue breeding.
There are many places on the web you can buy them to seed your tank or refugium.
Here's one I buy from:

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/order/index2.asp

Next time you change the filter, check the foam (if you have that kind) and I'll bet you have a few in there. They live off the brown 'stuff' that's filtered out of the tank.

 

[tecwzrd]

Breading or even maintaining pods in the main can be difficult. It would be better to do it in a refugium without predators. USA Aquarium sells hob refugium for as little as $25

You can buy pods from the following sites also:
http://www.ipsf.com/
http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/swinverts.html
http://www.reefnutrition.com/

 

[Guest]

i dont know weather to call it a problem or not....i introduced a copepod and amphipod starter kit in my refuge 2 months ago. i have no fish..just corals. i was waiting untill the pod population grew to put fish in the tank... now i just realized that my tank is full of pods. my tank looks cloudy because of them and i kinda want to get rid of them now...what type of fish will usually consume pods. i have a 55 gallon. i was thinking about a school of blue green chromis possibly 5. will they eat the tiny barely visible pods? your input will be great.

 

[hackteck]

pretty much any fish will eat pods, some alot more then others like the mandarin

 

[Nøjo]

There was some great links in there, and should get me on my way to cultivating a healthy pod population. Thank you all for your input.