copepods

[jweed9379]

So i was checking my tank last night for copepods...i turned all the lights off in the house so it was completely dark for about 20-30 mins. I then got my flashlight and inspecting the tank, i believe i ha e them but im not sure...the tank has been running for about 2 years now so from what research i have done i should have them, so my question is...do they look like little shrimp like ant kind of creatures that are in the rocks? Its kind of hard to get a really good look at them because as soon as the light hits they disappear into the rocks

 

[fly5150]

I can usually see them if I take a razor blade across the inside of the glass, they will pile up when you stop.

 

[jweed9379]

Ok, i wander what i was seeing then...

 

[Jimbo662]

Fly, you may be seeing something else. Like jweed said as soon as you flash light on them in the rocks they duck for cover.

 

[jweed9379]

So what i saw was copepods then? I mean they arent really big but they are deffinately visible

 

[jweed9379]

I believe it was amphipods...they were about the size of mysis shrimp

 

[shred5]

You added live rock you will have copepods.. Not seeing high concentrations of them could be a good thing, it can mean your tank is clean.. They live on detritus and algae.

It also could mean though you have a high level of predators that eat them...

 

[jweed9379]

I want to make sure they are in there because im soon gonna be adding a green and a red mandarin

 

[juggalogentry]

when i first started my tank i used all live rock and within a month i seen the pods crawling all over the glass during the daytime, huge numbers of them, the second i added my two clowns, they all vanished. Mostly eaten (the clowns would scrape up and down the glass, it was hilarious to watch, all day) The rest beat to a hasty retreat in the rocks and sand, now i only see them creep up the sand line every once in a while.

 

[juggalogentry]

I want to make sure they are in there because im soon gonna be adding a green and a red mandarin

do u have a fuge? if so you should look into just trying to grow your own population in a predator free zone, then adding them to the tank every so often, if you think your pod pop is low now, wait till you add the dragonettes

 

[jweed9379]

I honestly dont know if its high or low...i had 8 damsels in the tank with my two clowns but i rehomed them all yesterday and all i have now is my condy, my 2 clowns, an emerald crab, an arrowhead, and some hermits and snails. As i said the tank has been running for about 2 years now and im ready to add the mandarins so i just want to make sure they have food lol i know i can buy the supplement for the tank and i want to set up a fuge but this is my first reef tank all ive done previously were predatory tanks so im really not sure what to do as far as setting up a fuge

 

[rajkovich207]

Technically anywhere in your tank (sump included) that fish or other pod predators don't have access to can be considered a "fuge" generally speaking and myself included, the reefing community considers a separated tank housing macro algae, sand and possibly rocks only as a fuge. All you have to do is set up a place in your sump or a separate tank, plumb it in to your tank and put any algae (great filtration) and anything else you like that the various pods can hide in (I. E. Cope pods tiger pods amphipods ex) and keep fish out of it. I even have a few corals in mine that I was given and didn't trust in my dt

 

[jweed9379]

I want to set one up but i need to set up a sump first

 

[Milmikee]

Something you can do to help see in your tank at night is use a red light or use like a red ballon over a regular flashlight. The pods won't run in the red light.

 

[Reef Junky150]

I have so many in my sump light on or off you see them all over the place. Dt is hard to see them