Copepods?

[lickyricky]

I have a biocube 29 with no refugium....would it be beneficial to add copepods to the main tank? would they be able to survive in the main tank? I have 4 corals, 10 snails, 4 hermits, and 2 Green Chromis in the main tank.

 

[chort55]

You will get them naturally from adding corals and if u put a small ball of chaeto in the back chamber with a small light you will get them too... but you don't really have anything that needs them to stay alive so I wouldnt worry about adding them personally.

 

[lickyricky]

You will get them naturally from adding corals and if u put a small ball of chaeto in the back chamber with a small light you will get them too... but you don't really have anything that needs them to stay alive so I wouldnt worry about adding them personally.

Thank you for that...the lady at my LFS store said I needed them...oh well

 

[chort55]

Thank you for that...the lady at my LFS store said I needed them...oh well

You will get them, you probably even have them if you bought live rock.... you may not see them now because u probably have smaller numbers but I bet they are there

 

[impur]

Yah if you got live rock you have copepods. I have the same tank and only added a single 5lbs piece of live rock. I have TONS of copepods. Don't clean your glass for a week and then look really close you'll see hundreds of tiny tiny dots cruising around on the glass. About the size of a pin head and white/clearish in color. Those are copepods

 

[chort55]

Yah if you got live rock you have copepods. I have the same tank and only added a single 5lbs piece of live rock. I have TONS of copepods. Don't clean your glass for a week and then look really close you'll see hundreds of tiny tiny dots cruising around on the glass. About the size of a pin head and white/clearish in color. Those are copepods

yeah they call it live rock for a reason huh? lol

 

[lickyricky]

Yah if you got live rock you have copepods. I have the same tank and only added a single 5lbs piece of live rock. I have TONS of copepods. Don't clean your glass for a week and then look really close you'll see hundreds of tiny tiny dots cruising around on the glass. About the size of a pin head and white/clearish in color. Those are copepods

well i drag the nanomag across the glass once a day...maybe I should stop that...haha

 

[impur]

yeah they call it live rock for a reason huh? lol

Yah funny how that works lol

 

[Steelerfan747]

well i drag the nanomag across the glass once a day...maybe I should stop that...haha

Don't stop it for too long otherwise you won't be able to see then or anything else

 

[Steelerfan747]

Thank you for that...the lady at my LFS store said I needed them...oh well

Everyone needs to make a living in todays economy lol

 

[Pkunk35]

Thank you for that...the lady at my LFS store said I needed them...oh well

+1 on the fact that you will eventually get pods no matter what.

That said I think adding a population of breeding pods from an established system is different than adding some live rock with some hitchiker pods. The difference lies in population numbers and speed of reproduction. You have no idea how many pods can inhabit a predator-less system when a breeding population is introduced, it's a bit staggering.

Pods are one of the most beneficial inhabitants for your system, and the more numbers of them you have the better. I don't think your LFS was trying to steer your wrong...I would argue that she is more right than wrong (altho it is kinda wrong to say you "need" them...i'm guessing there was something lost in translation there)

I'm biased tho. Sometimes I love the critters better than the fish/coral...

So IMHO, I think pods are literally the best thing you can buy for your tank right now.