How long after seeding Copepods should I be able to see them?

[~MD~Reefs~]

I seeded my Max E 170 with a 32oz of “FRESH LIVE COPEPOD BLEND includes Tigriopus, Apocyclops, Tisbe, Parvo, Acartia, and Psuedo copepods plus rotifers added”. I added them per sellers instructions. The seller is a vendor here and has good reviews so I think they’re good however upon receiving them I took pictures because honestly I couldn’t see too many of them. I’ve bought 6oz bottles from a different vendor and I could see a bunch so I thought 32oz would be a lot more. The bottle when it arrived had stuff at the bottom, were these dead copepods and that’s where they all went? I’ve been dosing live phyto as well per the sellers recommendations.

 

[lil sumpin]

you’ll see them everywhere in a few weeks, there may be weeks afterwards when the population will dip down some but they often bounce right back

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

you’ll see them everywhere in a few weeks, there may be weeks afterwards when the population will dip down some but they often bounce right back

Ok sounds good as I’m hoping to get a mandarin goby at some point but want to have the population established. Currently the tank only has 2 Ocellaris clownfish as the only fish

 

[lil sumpin]

Although I’m sure there’s some die off, the stuff at the bottom of the bottle you got the pods is likely waste. Mandarins are voracious pod consumers and will quickly decimate the population if you introduce the fish too soon after initially seeding your pods.

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

Although I’m sure there’s some die off, the stuff at the bottom of the bottle you got the pods is likely waste. Mandarins are voracious pod consumers and will quickly decimate the population if you introduce the fish too soon after initially seeding your pods.

How long should I wait to add a mandarin after I see a healthy population? I’m in no rush

 

[lil sumpin]

Not entirely sure as I’ve never kept one. I don’t think it would work out so well in my nano. Most dragonets I’ve seen in smaller systems don’t look too happy. From what I’ve gathered, you wanna be able to see pods colonized on all your rock work, sand bed, refugium pretty much wherever you look! It took about 2-3 months for pods to cover my 14gal cube.

 

[bradreef]

To see the smaller pods like tisbe. You need to shine a light up through the bottom and you should see them moving all over.

I can see little white specs in your bottle above which are pods

 

[BOYERZ]

Mandarins are expert level.

Pods and phyto In in a jar seem like snake oil to me.

If they will accept frozen you are golden, highly unlikely.

 

[bradreef]

Mandarins are expert level.

Pods and phyto In in a jar seem like snake oil to me.

If they will accept frozen you are golden, highly unlikely.

Pods and phyto are the real deal. But need to be added to and maintained. I grow a couple types of pods because I added a mandarin to a less than year old 75 gallon. The mandarin thickened up quickly and I add more pods from time to time. I feed phyto at night, I have a diy pod hotel behind some rock. If I check at night there is movement all over.

My frag tank doesn't have as active of pods eater and it's just over 6 months old. If I flip a plug there are pods on the underside of all of them.


I will agree that eaten frozen is an advantage for them .

 

[slingfox]

I have bought copepods from pretty much all the major vendors (including those that advertise on this message board) except RLUtah who I want to try out at some point. The best quality and density (by far) that I have seen is from Dinkins Aquatics.

For Mandarin Goby, I have seen folks recommend to wait one year for tank to mature. I used to have a massive pod population after only two months but then dinos came and killed off my entire clean up crew and copepods. I have since got 4 wrasse and don't see pods anymore even though I am sure they are there . I am going to do a sizable dose of copepods soon to see if I can increase the population. At worst, at least my wrasse will get to have fun hunting.

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

I have bought copepods from pretty much all the major vendors (including those that advertise on this message board) except RLUtah who I want to try out at some point. The best quality and density (by far) that I have seen is from Dinkins Aquatics.

Thank you for the recommendation! I’ll give it a couple more weeks to see if I see a population establish. If not, I’ll be placing an order with them!