Pod population

[Empty Bottles]

I've had my tank running for a few years with no pod predators. There are pods in my aquarium but not as much as I'd like. I was thinking of adding pods, but am not 100% sure that it will increase the amounts of pods I can sustain. I feel like if there was the ability to effortlessly sustain more I'd have more already. Would it be a waste of money if I bought some from an online retailer?

My aquarium was neglected for a couple of years due to a new kid and finishing up some classes for my degree. The past few months I've been working on getting the aiptasia under control and general maintenance. I recently added a foxface and the number of tiny feather dusters has severely decreased. I didn't know they'd eat those, but It makes sense. I'm thinking that aiptasia and feather dusters could have been eating the pods and keeping numbers low. If I am reducing the amount of filter feeders would that increase pod population?


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[Dsekula]

I've had my tank running for a few years with no pod predators. There are pods in my aquarium but not as much as I'd like. I was thinking of adding pods, but am not 100% sure that it will increase the amounts of pods I can sustain. I feel like if there was the ability to effortlessly sustain more I'd have more already. Would it be a waste of money if I bought some from an online retailer?

My aquarium was neglected for a couple of years due to a new kid and finishing up some classes for my degree. The past few months I've been working on getting the aiptasia under control and general maintenance. I recently added a foxface and the number of tiny feather dusters has severely decreased. I didn't know they'd eat those, but It makes sense. I'm thinking that aiptasia and feather dusters could have been eating the pods and keeping numbers low. If I am reducing the amount of filter feeders would that increase pod population?


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In my experience what most limits pod population is food. Second is predators that decimate the population, or flip flop if you add an animal that hunts every single one out like a mandy or wrasse. while filter feeders may have some impact it hasn't been noticable to me personally.

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[Frogmanx82]

If you are looking for pod diversity you could add some to a refugium, but I doubt it will increase the population in the tank much. Lots of fish are pod hunters, not just mandarins and wrasses.

 

[Pdisner]

I've had my tank running for a few years with no pod predators. There are pods in my aquarium but not as much as I'd like. I was thinking of adding pods, but am not 100% sure that it will increase the amounts of pods I can sustain. I feel like if there was the ability to effortlessly sustain more I'd have more already. Would it be a waste of money if I bought some from an online retailer?

My aquarium was neglected for a couple of years due to a new kid and finishing up some classes for my degree. The past few months I've been working on getting the aiptasia under control and general maintenance. I recently added a foxface and the number of tiny feather dusters has severely decreased. I didn't know they'd eat those, but It makes sense. I'm thinking that aiptasia and feather dusters could have been eating the pods and keeping numbers low. If I am reducing the amount of filter feeders would that increase pod population?


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Hi, I breed copepods along with other critters. I would be happy to help you get your copepod population back up. Once you know the tricks of the trade you won't ever have a copepod shortage again. I have pics and video, but haven't put them up on YouTube yet, which is coming, but I do have a FB page with all kinds of related stuff for you to peruse thru. I try to find articles and studies on copepods and the other marine creatures I breed. I've recently mastered peppermint shrimp and currently have a whole herd of them.
Let me know how I can be of assistance you can PM me or my FB page is @paulspods


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[lapin]

In my experience what most limits pod population is food.

+1 on food. If you run filter socks that will strain them out also. Feed them phyto every day for a week or 2. When you turn on the lights in the early morning you should see them all over the glass. This will cause a spike in nitrate so a water change will need to be done. Good luck... cause pods are a great food.

 

[Pdisner]

+1 on food. If you run filter socks that will strain them out also. Feed them phyto every day for a week or 2. When you turn on the lights in the early morning you should see them all over the glass. This will cause a spike in nitrate so a water change will need to be done. Good luck... cause pods are a great food.

I respectfully disagree with that plan. Doing that, as you put it, will absolutely pollute your display and cause all kinds of different problems to arise-as you would imagine would happen by dumping a mass-load of nutrients all at once.
If it is important for you to be able to have copepods on hand, start a culture of them, seperate from your main display. It doesn't need I be anything elaborate. Nothing more than a container, jug or aquarium, an air pump and food. That's it. There are other optional things you will want to use along the way. Any food safe container is ok.
Now you're able to control their environment. They are more portable, you can see how much food they are eating by watching how fast the water clears. Most species of Phyto are ok to use. I prefer using one single food as a staple, then I varry the rest of their diet using foods I know they eat. They aren't picky eater and go for things that you may not have thought of! When feeding you'll want to tint the water green or brown with the food that you're giving, so that you can barely make out the bottom of tank. When starting out, err on the side of too little food given. You can always add more, but really hard to recover a tank that has been fouled by over feeding. Use a little finesse and observe on a daily basis. You'll get the hang in no time. I use a concentrated Phyto mix that has several of the most commonly used species. I also grow 4-5 species of live Phyto and use to dilute/mix the concentrate before feeding. Again, you only want to tint the water green.this product is called RG Complete from Reed Mariculture (www.APbreed.com). They are a sponsor and their products have revolutionized how we raise fish through their larval stages. Great company. Chad Clayton is their boss and a copepod expert. He's given me a few tips thats made a huge difference. But to get started those are the basics. A light is optional and your air pump should deliver NO MORE THAN 2 bubbles/second
Rotifers are similar to culture, using the same type of equipment....a bucket. Lol. I have a Facebook Page that I post a lot of good info from forum posts, studies, aquaculture journals and the like. There are videos of the work that I've been doing with T. Californicus (Tigger) copepods, rotifers, peppermint shrimp zoea and fish larvae. It's new so there is slot planned for the page.
Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments and/or if you need a good source to get your pods to start with , their food, other related items and of course, good solid evidenced based advice.


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[Frogmanx82]

So what fish are in the tank? I have very few pods running around my tank because the flame angel and clowns eat them. My refugium and overflow box are loaded with them.

 

[Empty Bottles]

In your opinion what is the best way to keep the population high in the display tank that currently doesn't have a fuge? I've got a 40 breeder in the attic I'm going to turn into a sump/fuge soon, but until then what should I do?


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[Frogmanx82]

Fish and pods don't mix. I think it would be tough to have tons of pods running around with predators in the tank.

 

[Baxterdawg1974]

Agree with the others that you may not see alot until you have the fuge set up or run a separate culture to grow them. You will be really happy when you get the 40 set up as a fuge and easy to build with all the posts on here.