Copepods? Why no Copepods?

[jpc763]

Hi,
I have a 55g DT with a 15g fuge. The fuge has some live rock rubble and some fine sand. I bought some chaeto off these boards which was shipped to me USPS priority mail a few weeks ago. I put it in the fuge as soon as I got it. I was thinking that by now I would get some copepods starting to show up. It has a flourscent tank light over it. Now the Chaeto is bigger, but I got no pods (that I can see)!
Is that normal? How do I get them? Do I need to buy them and pour them in to the fuge?

 

[rick2203]

you might want to put more live rock ,most of the pods live in the live rock, its a good way to seed your sump, i dont think rubble is enough, i could be wrong tho.

 

[dr gonzo]

maby iftheres none but i cant believetheres none in the cheato

 

[alyssia]

You may want to buy some and put them in the fuge to "jump start" your pod population.

 

[sign guy]

get some more LR and ghoast feed your sump once a week with frozen squid

 

[sepulatian]

How long has this system been going? What kind of rock do you have?

 

[jpc763]

Tank has been going for 2 months. Chaeto has been in there for 3-4 weeks. Rock is live rock from the usual place. I ordered 50lbs to go with 25 "dead" live rock I got. I put the rubble from the live rock box into the fuge.

 

[miaheatlvr]

Buy some online and jump star your population,, thats what I did,,, now I have so many,THOUSANDS, some 1/8" long,, that Im almost tempted to get a mandarin,, lol There prevelant in the fuge and in the display..

 

[renogaw]

a lot of times you cannot see copepods, they are generally too small.
also, pods don't generally survive shipping with chaeto because it uses up the oxygen during shipping if not next day. most of the time eggs will survive if the shipper puts some rubble rock in there.
if you want a lot of pods, got to a LFS and ask to get some of the crud that is on the bottom of their live rock curing tanks or buy tigger pods or buy pods from this site with a nice little order