Copepods ? Never find them in my tank.

[ilovemytank]

I am new to forums but not new to fish keeping and I have a question. I would love to have a spotted mandarinfish but I know they prefer live copepods. I have added them to my tank but never can find any trace of them anywhere again. I'm not going to put a fish in my tank to let it starve. I currently have a nice set up. 125 gallon tank, cherry stand and canopy. Its predrilled with a 40 gallon wet/dry. I also run two filstar xp3 canisters to over filter because I have heavy stock. I run a skimmer big enough for a 300 gallon tank. I do use bio balls and ceramic cylinders in the canisters for heavy biological filteration. I do monthly water changes and have in my wet/dry a custum made 12" by 12" " algea scrubber " that helps keep my phosphates and nitrates at 0. I have 185 lbs of live rock built with tunnels and the works. I don't have alot of corals but enough. I have approximately 25 fish and a few invertibrates of which all have been in at least a year. The quality of my water is excellent and I feed frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and very small plankton three times a day. How many copepods does it take to esatblish a life cycle or does anyone think I have too much to eat them to ever attempt it ?
Some fish include:
yellow tang, blue tang, 2 scooter blennies, a pair of percula clowns and a pair of black clowns, 3 anthias, a pair of zebra dart gobies, coral beaty, dwarf angel, flame dwarf angel,cleaner wrasse, cleaner gobie, golden wrasse, flasher wrasse, six line wrasse, fire fish, purple fire fish, flame hawkfish, and a couple of small sand sifting gobies that I'm not sure exactly what they are.

 

[sickboy]

I bet your scooter blennies eat most of the pods. I'm no expert, but that could be the reason you never see them.

 

[flricordia]

Originally Posted by sickboy
http:///forum/post/2750842
I bet your scooter blennies eat most of the pods. I'm no expert, but that could be the reason you never see them.
+1 along with the wrasses and probably a couple others like the dwarf angels.

 

[ilovemytank]

I know my scooters and the wrasse would eat them on site but they all dine well on the frozen food. I'm wondering if I put in about two or three thousand of them, Then maybe I can establish a supply.

 

[stdreb27]

I have a lot of pods, however, I don't see them until I get the flashlight out after the lights have been out for a few minutes.

 

[sickboy]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/2750957
I have a lot of pods, however, I don't see them until I get the flashlight out after the lights have been out for a few minutes.
yeah, I would try that...this is when I see the most as well.
Do you ever see amphipods either? I'm pretty sure mandarins will eat these down as well.

 

[sickboy]

Originally Posted by Ilovemytank
http:///forum/post/2750857
I know my scooters and the wrasse would eat them on site but they all dine well on the frozen food. I'm wondering if I put in about two or three thousand of them, Then maybe I can establish a supply.
This might work, you just have the wet/dry and canisters but not a refugium? I have heard you need a refugium to keep your pod populations up enough.

 

[salt210]

I always find them in the bottom of my overflows and the bottom of my wet/dry. never once seen them inside the tank

 

[ilovemytank]

I don't have a refugium. Is it because they eat algea or things that would be in the refugium ? I have the algea scrubber ( 12" x 12" ) screen fed with water and light growing algea in my open space in the wet/Dry. what if I added some live rock in the wet/dry along with this algea scrubber and put the supply down there ? would they survive being sucked up throught the two 1000 gph pumps and into the tank ? I never see any anthipods either. I'll try the fashlight tonight. Are they going to be openly swimming or searching on the rocks ?

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Ilovemytank
http:///forum/post/2751205
I don't have a refugium. Is it because they eat algea or things that would be in the refugium ? I have the algea scrubber ( 12" x 12" ) screen fed with water and light growing algea in my open space in the wet/Dry. what if I added some live rock in the wet/dry along with this algea scrubber and put the supply down there ? would they survive being sucked up throught the two 1000 gph pumps and into the tank ? I never see any anthipods either. I'll try the fashlight tonight. Are they going to be openly swimming or searching on the rocks ?
Probably in the rocks. The fuge offers a refuge so they can breed without getting eaten. They do eat algae. They like chaeto because it offers plenty of good hiding spaces. And yes, they'll survive getting sucked through pumps.

 

[jdl]

I have an army of copepods in my tank when the lights go out. I leave my refuge tank light on 24/7 because i get better chaeto growth. I have no idea if they are in my fuge, i never see them. But they sure are in my tank.

 

[ilovemytank]

I want to put tons of them in my WEt/Dry where they will have a food source but I have two 1000 gph pumps returning the water into my tank and I worried that they will all be sucked up and into the tank before they can establish themselves. You know because when you first buy them they are so small.