Zooplankton

[GillMeister]

My previous reef system seemingly had a diverse and self sustaining population of copepods and amphipods. Maybe I got lucky because it wasn't intentional.

I'm wondering if I can get this established in my new tank. I have plenty of rock and sand for refuge but the difference this time is the source of my rock. My last setup had pretty filthy luve rock with a lot of 'stuff with them and my sand was donated from another established tank. My new one was started from dry sand and rock.

Has anyone had luck getting a sustainable supply of Zooplankton started in their DT and if so, how?

 

[Alchameth]

I've always just added 1-2 cups of 'stew' from my LFS every 4-6 weeks into my fuge for the first 4-6 months. Usually end up with a nice mix of little critters crawling around in the tank. Getting ready to setup a jar to do phyto cultures hoping to boost them on my new tank enough to sustain a mandarin goby.

 

[ichthyogeek]

You'd be surprised by how many hitchhikers come in from random additions. I got a pretty nice pod population after grabbing chaeto from my LFS, which introduced a few nice things like amphipods and isopods, but also came in with some...interesting... species like hydroids.

For a more controlled way of adding in benthic microinverts, you might want to look into indopacific sea farms. AlgaeBarn does sell copepods, but they don't sell the bristleworms, spaghetti worms, and other assorted microfauna that can also be useful in your tank. You can also buy live sand from places like live-plants.com (gulf coast ecosystems), which should contain a healthy dose of the microfauna you'll want.

As for zooplankton....I'm not really sure. I'm only aware of a few benthic adult copepod species that have pelagic young.

 

[GillMeister]

You'd be surprised by how many hitchhikers come in from random additions. I got a pretty nice pod population after grabbing chaeto from my LFS, which introduced a few nice things like amphipods and isopods, but also came in with some...interesting... species like hydroids.

For a more controlled way of adding in benthic microinverts, you might want to look into indopacific sea farms. AlgaeBarn does sell copepods, but they don't sell the bristleworms, spaghetti worms, and other assorted microfauna that can also be useful in your tank. You can also buy live sand from places like live-plants.com (gulf coast ecosystems), which should contain a healthy dose of the microfauna you'll want.

As for zooplankton....I'm not really sure. I'm only aware of a few benthic adult copepod species that have pelagic young.

Thank you for the sources! These are new to me so I'll take a good look at what they offer. I added some Tisbe a few weeks ago but I have no way of knowing if they're thriving or dead. If I can get some critters you can actually see I'll feel like I've had some success.

 

[DaFeesh]

I don't know much about refugiums or the like but I know a thick sandbed and a lot of rock would be very good. Zooplankton breeds in there so that no animals can get to em.

 

[GillMeister]

I don't know much about refugiums or the like but I know a thick sandbed and a lot of rock would be very good. Zooplankton breeds in there so that no animals can get to em.

You mean like this?

 

[DaFeesh]

You mean like this?

Yeah that's pretty good. The pumice-looking rock on the left will definitely be great for zooplankton.

 

[GillMeister]

Yeah that's pretty good. The pumice-looking rock on the left will definitely be great for zooplankton.

That's about 25% of the tank in the image. In total it should be about 240 lbs of rock plus 90 lbs of sand. Lots of places to hide. I have a gobie that disappeared in there 3 weeks ago and if he's dead I'd like to know something cleaned up the mess for me.

 

[DaFeesh]

That's about 25% of the tank in the image. In total it should be about 240 lbs of rock plus 90 lbs of sand. Lots of places to hide. I have a gobie that disappeared in there 3 weeks ago and if he's dead I'd like to know something cleaned up the mess for me.

Yeah 240 pounds of rock should definitely be enough to keep the copepods alive. If you want to keep a mandarin a good refugium is important though.