Copepods

[Squishie89]

I am having trouble getting copepods to thrive in my temporary tank system in my basement which is keeping me from moving forward. I believe this is due to a lack of food. There is no fish or inverts in there (except 2 tiny snails that hitchhiked in). What should I be feeding the tank? It is a 90g system with live rock and sand. I have been feeding some phytoplan mixed with ReefSnow (ran out, now using PhytoChrom. I have a bunch of Brightwell Aquatics liquids). Should I just be increasing the amount I am giving? The live rock is not really ....lively so not a lot to munch on, and algae is not growing due to a lack of NO3, PO4 and light (I also ghost feed pellets to keep the tank cycled and to try and feed things). Could use some guidance on this, thanks guys!

[wangspeed]

You sure they aren't just hiding? Mine don't come out if there is any light. Wrasse food. I really can only tell they exist by looking at the crap in my mesh sock, which usually includes pods.

[Squishie89]

You sure they aren't just hiding? Mine don't come out if there is any light. Wrasse food. I really can only tell they exist by looking at the crap in my mesh sock, which usually includes pods.

Well these are copepods, not amphipods. Amphipods are bigger, range from 2-6mm long and are indeed hiders and prefer the cover of darkness, copepods are smaller, around 1mm and don't care as much about light AFAIK. It could be there are in the rock, but in my display I see them all over the glass. But that could be because of the film algae that grows on glass, but I am not sure. I just know I am not seeing what I am used to seeing or seeing enough that I feel the pod eating fish can survive in there.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Squishie89

[dave w]

You have it right about the copepods.  The kind you want are benthic harpacticoids and you should be able to see them on the walls.  But you should be able to see them much more at night than during the day.  What type of pod eating fish are you looking at, mandarins/dragonets?  

 

You can go to a store and buy a bottle of tigriopus or tisbe.  Or you can get a rock that has been sitting in a friend's sump for a long time.   At least the tigriopus are on the large side.  As long as you don't have any fish the population should build up in a few weeks, if you have that long to wait.   You can also order several types of pods mail order from seahorsesource.com.  They are usually a good supplier.

[Squishie89]

1 mandarin and 1 pipefish, all they eat is pods.

 

I bought about 3 or 4 different kinds of pods, I think tisbe is their favorite. No predators in the temp tank that I know of other than @#%# hydroids again. Pods were added on Dec 4th.

 

I was thinking of putting a light on the tank so maybe micro algae will grow which they should like.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Squishie89

[dave w]

So a month ago you put pods in a seasoned tank that has no fish in it?  In that case I'm pretty sure you'll have a good population in there and I don't know why you can't see them.  micro algae would be good but you probably already have some in there.  if any of your pods have a swimming (pelagic) phase your circulation pump will have a tendency to break off their antennae, but this should only hold the population in check, not eliminate them.  

 

You might do something like take a small rock out and swish it in a cup of vinegar or something, then look at what falls off it with a magnifying glass or jewelers eye loop.  a microscope if you have one, or a macro lens on your camera if you have that.  i'd guess that the pods are in there but they just can't be found easily.

 

Other than that, I'm at a loss.  Maybe they all run and hide whenever they see you coming near the tank!

[John Ford]

I bought about 3 or 4 different kinds of pods, I think tisbe is their favorite. No predators in the temp tank that I know of other than @#%# hydroids again. Pods were added on Dec 4th.

Im sorry the hydroids made it over to the temp tank. On top of everything else try and think about how your going to move everything back to your main without bringing them back. I was hoping you would have gone slower moving everything to your temp tank, All this will be for nothing if they make it back.

[Squishie89]

Im sorry the hydroids made it over to the temp tank. On top of everything else try and think about how your going to move everything back to your main without bringing them back. I was hoping you would have gone slower moving everything to your temp tank, All this will be for nothing if they make it back.

I am redoing the display sterile. Every thing will be either dead or bleached. Fish and inverts will probably go through a few different buckets of water to try and make sure they don't bring any thing over. I did the temp tank with live rock to get it going quicker and I knew there was a chance the hydroids would happen again.