Deployment and Copepods

darren241 · Apr 25, 2020

Question for everyone.

I just found out I'm getting Deployed for 4 months with the USCG. Not a big deal......... except my tank is nearing the cycling period. My wife has little to no interest in tanks. She likes to look at them but no interest in "the behind the scenes" despite her degree in Marine biology (more on the Mammal side of things). Well I am not going to add live stock other than the small CUC in there now.

A buddy of mine (Jody) jk is going to stop bya couple times a week and just ensure its not crashing. And my LFS comes out once a month for water changes.

Anyway, I'm wanting to seed it with Copepods for a mandrain goby in the future. They will have zero predators for 4 months. Is that too long? And what should I do to go about starting the second process? The tank is 125g with 30g sump and I'm running three Chinese black boxes but only for 5 hours a day.

Any help would be great.

DungSl1nger · Apr 25, 2020

Nice reference to Jody. You should have a well stocked copepod tank when you get back. I am doing the same thing, stocking the DT with copepods with my new mandarin in an observation tank until she gets bigger. Right now mine is eating pellet, brine and copepods.

Crustaceon · Apr 25, 2020

I’d wait until it’s fully cycled before adding anything. I don’t see why you’d need water changes yet as it will slow down the cycling process. Instead, I’d ask the lfs to make sure the tank is cycled and get it ready for a cc including pods before getting on a maintenance schedule. Give it a month of leaving the tank alone and then have them add pods. The tank will also have to be fed a little bit every day or so afterwards as the pods will need stuff to eat in order to propagate. By the time you come back, you’ll have plenty of pods. Even still, I highly recommend enticing your dragonet to take frozen brine shrimp. They can eradicate a pod population even in a 125g, especially if the tank’s inhabitants aren’t fed enough or the pods don’t have enough hiding spots that the dragonet can’t get to.