Seeding Tank With Copepods

[Sirduckington]

I've heard about the advantages that copepods bring to an aquarium but I don't have a refugium. My tank has 40 lbs or pukani live rock which is extremely porous and has a lot of holes in it so I was wondering, could copepods have a safe haven in my tank?

 

[Oscar47f]

They most certainly can... you don't need a refugium to have copepods lol as long as there no real predators like a mandarin or something they should multiply nicely...

 

[Sirduckington]

If there were a mandarin though, couldn't they still reproduce inside of the rock where the mandarin can't get to? Also how does one seed copepods to a tank?

 

[Salty1962]

You can setup a pile of rocks in your tank protected by a strawberry container so larger fish can't get to them. Worked well for me and my pipefish. When you get your pods in, place them in your tank at night and with the flow turned down so they can get to a surface to attach to. I would feed your tank phytoplankton at least 1x a week and more if you want them to reproduce quickly. Make sure your tank is well established for them to survive. JME

 

[Jason mack]

I fed my mandarin every other day with one bag of live baby copepods.. I also don't have a refugium .. I now have a thriving copepod population ..

 

[Oscar47f]

You can setup a pile of rocks in your tank protected by a strawberry container so larger fish can't get to them. Worked well for me and my pipefish. When you get your pods in, place them in your tank at night and with the flow turned down so they can get to a surface to attach to. I would feed your tank phytoplankton at least 1x a week and more if you want them to reproduce quickly. Make sure your tank is well established for them to survive. JME

I agree lol, and yes they can reproduce in the rock but the mandarin can literally decimate a new pod culture before they get a chance to reach a sustainable population they eat all day so yeah like stated above you can close of some rocks and dose them at night when the lights are off and feed phyto... as for Jason he was dosing pods constantly so that there was a higher chance for some to escape the mandarin and just better odds in general which is also another way to get a good population going lol good info above... personally did it before adding any real pod eating fish

 

[Salty1962]

I agree lol, and yes they can reproduce in the rock but the mandarin can literally decimate a new pod culture before they get a chance to reach a sustainable population they eat all day so yeah like stated above you can close of some rocks and dose them at night when the lights are off and feed phyto... as for Jason he was dosing pods constantly so that there was a higher chance for some to escape the mandarin and just better odds in general which is also another way to get a good population going lol good info above... personally did it before adding any real pod eating fish

I would recommend establishing a pod population through which every method you want before adding any pod eating livestock I waited 2-3 mths. before adding my pipefish.