Copepods

WhySoSeriousDory

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So I got a bottle of copepods to go with my mandarin and want to know how everyone seeded their tanks unless they just waited for them to get there.

I’ve heard put Baster in sand and between rocks with filter and pump off for a little while.

do I use the whole bottle ?

any info will be appreciated
 

Y8ZC

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How big is your tank? I seeded my tank when I first got it with a whole bottle that was probably about 12oz. I have a 12g tank and I started 3 different cultures to keep my Mandarin feed. I started a phytoplankton culture to feed my copepod culture, and while that was building for the first month I had baby brine shrimp hatching in a different culture that I gut loaded with some phyto and fed to my mandarin. Once I got my copepods rolling I stopped the brine shrimp and and some copepods everytime I split the culture, about once a month. And my mandarin is super happy. If you have a larger tank you might be able to have a stable population of copepods in the tank for your mandarin to eat and you won’t have to keep adding in more. But the brine shrimp help because they’ll provide enough nutrients until your pod population is established.
 

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Mr. Mojo Rising

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yes just dump the bottle in tonight when the lights are off, turn off your machines to give the pods a chance to hide in the rocks before you turn your machines on again. "Seeding" a tank, as you questioned, takes a couple of months to get the pod population thriving in your system. Unfortunately your mandarin will finish off that bottle this weekend.

You can try putting some of the bottle into a different container to get them to breed and multiply on their own, its pretty easy, but you will need to do a little research about it.
 
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WhySoSeriousDory

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How big is your tank? I seeded my tank when I first got it with a whole bottle that was probably about 12oz. I have a 12g tank and I started 3 different cultures to keep my Mandarin feed. I started a phytoplankton culture to feed my copepod culture, and while that was building for the first month I had baby brine shrimp hatching in a different culture that I gut loaded with some phyto and fed to my mandarin. Once I got my copepods rolling I stopped the brine shrimp and and some copepods everytime I split the culture, about once a month. And my mandarin is super happy. If you have a larger tank you might be able to have a stable population of copepods in the tank for your mandarin to eat and you won’t have to keep adding in more. But the brine shrimp help because they’ll provide enough nutrients until your pod population is established.
40 gal. Also fed bloodworms to my watchman earlier and I think he ate a couple
 

Y8ZC

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40 gal. Also fed bloodworms to my watchman earlier and I think he ate a couple
Awesome! You could try culturing, or do the seeding over multiple months and feed live baby brine shrimp and bloodworms while you’re waiting.
 
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WhySoSeriousDory

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Update!!
So I fed my watchman earlier and I turned the filter and pump off. Let the food settle and the mandarin was curious. Turned the filter and pumps back on after everything settled and the mandarin started eating the little pieces waving in the rocks. Hopefully you this is a step in the right direction :D
 
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