Copepod questions

[foxface88]

My wife and have been wanting to get a mandarin dragonet since we started this hobby about 6 months ago but when we researched them we found you need an established tank because there main food source is copepods. how do you know if your tank has copepods.

 

[jstdv8]

If you don't see at least a few at any given time on the glass or on teh rocks when you look really close you probably don't have them. I bought a jar of DT's copepods from my LFS and just pour it in and fed DT's phytoplankton once a week and after a few weeks they started to show up by the thousands on the glass. You should have an established population of 6 months or more without copepod eating fish in the tank to make sure you have enough in the tank tat the mandarin won't wipe out the population. Also a nice pile of rubble rock or something where they can breed without getting eaten is a good idea. A sump is a better idea.

 

[ibanez]

You can see them at night with a flashlight. I think your tank may still be a little young for a mandy. Unless you have a really large tank with lots of live rock and have seeded the tank with pods a long time ago.

 

[foxface88]

Im not really sure what a copepod looks like heh. I dont have a sump. I have a 40 gal. with about 55 lbs of like rock. My live stock is pair of ocellaris clowns, coral beauty, and a fire shrimp. An assortment of corals and a couple 2" BTA's.

 

[ibanez]

Little white specks on your glass, most of which you couldn't make out the shape with your

[hr]
eye, but some can be pretty large, I have some in my tank 1/4 inch long. some look similar to fleas, if you have ever seen a picture of a flea. If you search copepod picture, or isopod picture, or amphipod you will see pictures of them.

 

[bizzmoneyb]

yea they look like very tiny white bugs. just buy a bag on this site, dump it in and wait awhile for them to establish and multiply.