why wait for dragonet?

[thenewguy997]

My tank is only a few weeks old and i have copepods everywhere. On the glass, on the rocks, in my sump, in the,water column, on my LR.... So why do most saywait 6 months? i dobt see how its possible to have more pods my tank is literally crawling

*i do not plan to purchase any fish, this is only for infirmational purposes*

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Because mandarins are voracious eaters, snapping up pods every 15 seconds or so. They do not have stomachs so they have to continuously eat. All new tanks go through an initial bloom of pods that eventually subsides to an amount that the availability of food can sustain. Add fish into the equation and the pod population reduces once again. Large, well established tanks can sustain enough pods to keep a mandarin fat and healthy. New tanks, never.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

You are missing the whole point, Man. Anybody can dump thousands of pods into a tank, but you have to wait for them to become self sustaining. This means they have to have time to reproduce, establish colonies, reproduce again, and have a population that can survive producing new offspring daily. 40 to 50 eggs will hatch every other day from happy, established, breeding copepods. This takes more than a week or two to start...

 

[thenewguy997]

No no i didnt dump any pods in, theyre all from the live rock.

Like i said im not adding any fish for a while im just curious

How can i keep pod populations high?

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

It's simple.

How large is your tank, and how much LR do you have?

Most importantly, do you have a refugium? Reason I mention the refugium is because it gives the pods a place to live and reproduce without being eaten by fish. Some of them will migrate through the baffles, and get sucked up through the return pump, and into the DT. But, not all of them. Not enough to slow down the pod growth in the sump. They do well in chaeto, but it's not 100% necessary. That along with occasional supplemental adding will do just fine...

Another route is to make pod stations within your LR that fish can't get into filled with some type of floss. I don't particularly like this way because, it can be a nitrate factory...

I once experimented by adding some rubble to my return section of my tank, and putting the pods in there.

 

[thenewguy997]

I have,a 75 w 15 sump. It has no ref so what i did was put rubble in the huge return section hoping theyll go up the pump when they multiply.

I have 80lbs of totoka rock and few handfuls of rubble in the sump.

Im thinking of chaeto in the intake chamber.

My tank is still cycling but i seen all these pods and thats where this hypothetical came from. Im not planning on a dragonet until i have a healthy environment in fact i really want a cbb for my aiptasia lol

 

[MondoBongo]

i would advise waiting even longer than 6 months. a year would be better.

gives the aquarist time to stop making n00b mistakes and get their system down. it also gives time for the myriad of tiny creatures, both phyto and zooplankton, to get a foot hold and start reproducing.

dragonets can be tricky fish. it's best not to try them on hypotheticals. your best chance for success is using well established knowledge and procedures.

 

[E Rosewater]

A new tank will also go through some cycles when it comes to algae. Just because you have a ton of pods now does not mean in a few weeks the same will hold true. As nutrient levels settle so will your population of pods.

 

[thenewguy997]

Do you think a copper butterfly would eat too many pods to add a dragonet later on?

 

[SwampyBill]

First off, welcome to Reef Central! I'm sorry to say it, but copperband butterflyfish aren't a beginner fish either. If you already have aiptasia in a new tank, you might want to add some peppermint shrimp to your CUC (cleanup crew). Research the stickie on here about reef fish & their requirements, & keep asking questions here before making any impulsive purchases. Good luck!