Amphipods & Copepods Questions

[GoTakeANap]

Hello everyone. Do you guys add Amphipods and Copepods to your tank? If so how often do you add them? Best way to house them? How do you add them to your tank? Lights on/off when adding them?

 

[Alex27]

I added them when I started a tank, after cycle. After that they always multiply on their own, as long as you provide a hide out so they are not eaten into extinction in the tank.

 

[ritter6788]

I don't add them. They will reproduce naturally if you have seeded live rock. I have a big ball of chaeto in my refugium and it's covered in pods.

 

[GoTakeANap]

I don't add them. They will reproduce naturally if you have seeded live rock. I have a big ball of chaeto in my refugium and it's covered in pods.

I dont have any chaeto in my tank. Could u send me a pic of ur setup? I guess they get fed into your tank by your return pump?

 

[jedimasterben]

If you do not continuously add new sources and species, eventually you'll end up with little to no diversity.

I have added macros collected straight from the ocean a few times, and after each, there is a subsequent explosion of copepods.

Also, the more you feed low-micron foods (say 100 micron or less), you'll be feeding the entire food chain, and you will notice an increase in copepod populations.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I like to add pods every 3-6 months and add a different type than I previously added. I do this to make sure my mandarin and seahorses have plenty of pod. I add copepods for the mandarin and amphipods for the seahorses.

 

[GratefulReef]

I have never added them myself, as my tank was a 3 year up and running reef with a good pod population already. I've now had the tank over a year and my pod population is better than ever! I agree adding them can definitley help maintain populations but personally I dont have a need to right now.

 

[ReeferBob]

Add the premade bottles from any of the stores. Usually you would add at dark so they have a chance to get down and hide. You could also add all or some to the sump if you have live rock and/or algae growing there. In the sump some of them will find there way to the DT and start a population there as well. I just dump the entire bottle in. If you have no real predators for them, they will do well. If you look at your tank at night you will see them swimming around. Make sure you feed them like phytoplankton or some food they can eat.

 

[wakeboardgeek]

I like to add pods every 3-6 months and add a different type than I previously added. I do this to make sure my mandarin and seahorses have plenty of pod. I add copepods for the mandarin and amphipods for the seahorses.

Where do you get various types?

 

[ReeferBob]

liveaquaria has them all

Live Foods for Feeding Aquarium Fish, Inverts & Corals: AlgaGen ReefPods

 

[GoTakeANap]

do pods come out of the water? i just looked in my sump and theres a bunch of grey looking things in the water and they are walking across the top of the water. pods maybe?

 

[seamonkey84]

I personaly recommend re-introducing new microfauna at least once a year to keep diversity in the tank (honestly a must if your keeping a DSB) . Like adding some rock rubble or true live sand (not the pre-bagged stuff) or diverse pod pack like from reef2go, not all one species, and including different worms would be best. Too bad IPSF demands such high prices for the great things that usually come with good liverock. Micro brittle stars, bristle and spahgetti worms are some of the best critters to keep detritus under control.

 

[NanaReefer]

Check out Reefs2Go. Just had a great sale of buy 1000 amphipods/copepods and get 1000 free. I have a Scooter Dragont and a Yellowtail Fang Blenny I like to keep happy so I add new pods often

 

[mikewilder]

I set up a 10 gallon tank (kept half full), so that I could fit an aquarium heater in. Then I added a light and airstone. I bought a bottle of phytofeast to seed the 10 with algae. I added a few crushed pellets to fertilize the algae. Once there was some algae growing, I added tiggerpods. They seem to congregate by the algae covered walls, and are reproducing. I just use a baster to suck up some and add to my display. So far it's a low maintenance thing, I sure wouldn't want to buy a bottle of pods more than once every 6 months.

 

[mikewilder]

I checked that reefs2go link Nanareefer, that's pretty great. You could seed your little farm just by buying their 250 pods for 9.99 shipped. That's half the price of the tiggerpods, though you may not get that species. I'll have to try that.

Check out Reefs2Go. Just had a great sale of buy 1000 amphipods/copepods and get 1000 free. I have a Scooter Dragont and a Yellowtail Fang Blenny I like to keep happy so I add new pods often

 

[mikewilder]

One last thing brokendeck, this month's issue of coral magazine (with zoanthids on the cover) has 2 really good articles on the biology and husbandry of copepods. Definitely worth reading if you want to grow pods.

 

[mikewilder]

Allright, this is really the last thing Brokendock The very simplest thing you can do is put chaetomorpha in your overflow box. That's enough of a refugium to get some amphipods growing. If you don't have an overflow box, but don't want to set up a refugium, you can also use a plastic soap holder like this to hold chaeto:

Customer Image Gallery for InterDesign Suction Soap Cradle, Clear

 

[Katrina71]

If you do not continuously add new sources and species, eventually you'll end up with little to no diversity.

I have added macros collected straight from the ocean a few times, and after each, there is a subsequent explosion of copepods.

Also, the more you feed low-micron foods (say 100 micron or less), you'll be feeding the entire food chain, and you will notice an increase in copepod populations.

What food do you recommend?

 

[jedimasterben]

What food do you recommend?

blast from the past haha

For the tiny stuff, Golden Pearls from Brine Shrimp Direct are amazing. come in a huge range of sizes, for filter feeders they have a 50 micron size, the 100 micron is slightly larger, and then they have a 300-500 micron size that is similar to brine shrimp nauplii that is a great food for all kinds of animals.

 

[Katrina71]

blast from the past haha

For the tiny stuff, Golden Pearls from Brine Shrimp Direct are amazing. come in a huge range of sizes, for filter feeders they have a 50 micron size, the 100 micron is slightly larger, and then they have a 300-500 micron size that is similar to brine shrimp nauplii that is a great food for all kinds of animals.

Any thoughts on Sera Micron?