Copepods do I have them?

[ahuaia]

Hay guys I've been thinking of adding copepods to my tank to help with the overall health of my tank. just as some extra food from my fish and coral. Anyways I've heard you can get them naturally but as of yet can't seem to figure out if I already have any. how could I tell if I have them already or not? if I don't have any I'm thinking of buying some but I want to make sure I don't already have them also where do you guys buy yours and what type do you get I'm looking at

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[wrott]

Look at night w/ flashlight--if you see 3-4 then you have a hundred.
Have you ever added "live" rock as opposed to dry rock or added macro-algae, if so then you should have pods.
I've added 2-3 bottles of:
https://www.live-plants.com/copepodscultured.htm

Most people will suggest some website like "pods r us.com", i've not done that.

 

[ahuaia]

I only did dry rock but I've added coral and fish and snails I'm not sure what it would come on so I'm not sure if I even could have them and I tried looking at night and saw none so I'm unsure if I even have any but I'll look in to that sight Tha k for your imput.

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[homer1475]

Only one place for me to buy pods, Algaebarn.

If you ever buy frags, or added any type of coral/rock from an established tank, you more then likely have some pods.

If your looking into keeping obligate feeders, then I would buy some pods and bolster the population. If your just worried you have none, then I would not fret, they will come in naturally and I would not buy them.

 

[mcgyvr]

If you have been adding corals/frags and not doing extensive dipping treatments to them then yes.. you likely have pods already in your system..
Many are VERY small and not easily visible to the human eye..

 

[ahuaia]

Thanks guys your imput is always so helpful I didn't treat my frags heavily but I bought them from my lfs so I'm not sure if that would count as an established tank since I'm not sure if they do anything to there frags that would some how get rid of the population would an lfs treat there frags?

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[ca1ore]

Copepods almost always find their way into a reef tank, just like algae. Supplementing them is largely pointless IMO. Maybe not as much of a waste of money as live sand, but close. As long as you are feeding the tank adequately they'll multiply.

 

[RCS82]

If you have a local reefer giving away chaeto then grab some as it will likely be loaded with pods. Even if you aren't planning on running a fuge you can ditch the chaeto in a few days and you will have a great start with pods.

 

[ahuaia]

Ok guys thanks for the Imput guys I'll save my money for something else

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[Wes8888]

how could I tell if I have them already or not

Quite a few types of pods like to cling on to the tank glass wall. Look for white dot on your glass with forward dodging motion. Those are the most common one.

I have quite a few types of pods in mine. You can check out their motions:



Obvisouly the pod density would not be that intense in the display tank. Usually just a few at a time. This is what they do in mine at night.

 

[ktownhero]

There's generally no reason to manually add them unless you have something like a mandarin and want to boost the population early. Even then it's probably not necessary in a mature tank. I think the best argument for manual supplementation is ensuring that you have variety, so buy one of the bags that has 3+ species. I have everything from ampiphods large enough to be creepy to copepods that are barely visible on the rocks.

Like someone else said, go to your tank in the middle of the night with a flashlight. A red flashlight is even better as it won't disturb them, but you should be able to see them with a normal one too.