Holy copepods

[mb167204]

Just got some of these (DT's) from aquatic tech on sunday and these things are on every rock in my tank. They are all over the glass. I counted like 10 per square inch. There are no fish in my tank and there wont be untill the 24th. Just wondering if too many could be a bad thing.
Also in the future i want to get a mandrin. How long should i wait till the copepods form an army.

 

[chuggy]

sounds like theve formed a small army allready

 

[mb167204]

Seriously. I thought it was going to take a while but these things are every where. (glass, substrate, rocks. ) How often do these things multiply?

 

[imcosmokramer]

as soon as you put fish in there they will be gone
right now they have no predators so you can see them. They will be gone from the glass as soon as you put any fish that will eat them. You will start seeing them at night more, after the lights go off.

 

[mb167204]

when u say gone do u mean they will hide in the rocks

 

[o0xerog0o]

Yeah they'll become a nocturnal creature once you get a fish like a mandarin that uses them as their primary food source. They will hide in the rocks once they notice a predator.

 

[mb167204]

how long should I wait to get a mandrin. Do they mainly rely on the Copepods as their food

 

[o0xerog0o]

How old is your tank now? As long as you have a large copepod colony, which it sounds like you do, you should be ok to add the mandarin. The pods will continue to reproduce in the tank, especially if you give them some cheato to hide in in the sump. And yes, pods are the main food source for the mandarins.

 

[o0xerog0o]

Here's a link to the mandarin primer in the reef fishes section. Lots of good info there

 

[DTagrin]

I am the owner of DT's Plankton Farm and I have to suggest that you should never get a fish that does not eat frozen or other prepared foods. It is difficult for any aquarium to support a population of copepods that will feed fish that are totally dependent on copepods.
I am producing these cultures because that are a good supplemental food for corals and small fish. I also had to find a copepod culture that would reproduce in reef tanks. We culture these copepods at 80 - 82F. There was a time, before many of the collectors started shipping "live" rock by boat, when you got your copepods from your live rock. That was when live rock was live. Now before folks start responding in an angry way, there is still some good live rock coming in, just not that much of it any more.
Dennis Tagrin