Copepods

[oliviasmith]

Hello,

I have a relatively new tank, September was the inital setup date, so with all being well only a little red turf algae outbreak from a snail, it's been quite successful (touch wood).

I just wondered, if something is going wrong that I'm not seeing? I have dosed 2 x 500ml bags of copepods over the last couple of months, only I haven't seen any in my sand bed or on my rocks when the lights are out? I have one sand sifting goby who pulls the sand out from around the rocks but surely he's not eating everything? Or is he? I had Fluval EVO with no sand sifters and after the space of a year (no dosing) that sand bed was like New York City for Copepods, whilst this is a larger tank (much larger) I still expect to see some form of life after 4 months. Or am I expecting to much?

 

[lapin]

Do you have film algae?
Do you have any algae for them to eat
Do you feed them something like Phytofeast?
They do love a dirty tank, is why a fuge is a good place for them

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Are you feeding them phytoplankton ? They need to be fed in order for them to live and propagate.

 

[oliviasmith]

Do you have film algae?
Do you have any algae for them to eat
Do you feed them something like Phytofeast?
They do love a dirty tank, is why a fuge is a good place for them

I have a few bottles of different types of zoo planktons etc, I dose that every week, theres bit of algaes on the rocks lots of poop round the back of the rock work I can't get too, quite a hefty feed everyday and sometimes I leave my shrimps skin in there for stuff to eat. This is obviously all controlled with 10% water changes weekly. I have chaeto algae in my sump, thats kinda iffy at the moment tho got lots of algae in there, so I have put two of my snails in there

 

[oliviasmith]

Are you feeding them phytoplankton ? They need to be fed in order for them to live and propagate.

Yes, I have a few bottles of different types of zoo planktons etc

 

[lapin]

I would expect you to have some. Sounds like your 500 ml bags might have not been viable.

 

[AdamB]

The tisbe copepods are hard to see . What type of copepods did you purchase ?
Def feed phyto..

 

[ThePurple12]

Slightly old thread I guess, but sand sifting gobies will definitely eat copepods. Those are part of what they sift the sand for.

You should see more pods eventually, but I'd recommend adding spirulina powder or phytoplankton for fast (for a saltwater tank, at least) results.

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Yep, phytoplankton, not zooplankton.