How to get copepods to colonize?

[Reef By Steele]

It's nighttime here so the shrimp is hiding really well! Some are preggos again. Idk if the babies are surviving or not but I do notice tiny shrimps.

The white specks on the GHA is pods! Lots of pods! I brought phyto from algae barn and it was weak and smelly! Buy from steele! He gave me the most pods out of everyone! The shrimp is actually the feeder shrimps lol but none of my fishos is going after them.


So they are mine now. Ohana means no one gets left behind.

That is awesome. Thanks for the shout out. @Ocean_Queenie and I are so happy when a customer gives us this type of comment. Love the shrimp.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

It's nighttime here so the shrimp is hiding really well! Some are preggos again. Idk if the babies are surviving or not but I do notice tiny shrimps.

The white specks on the GHA is pods! Lots of pods! I brought phyto from algae barn and it was weak and smelly! Buy from steele! He gave me the most pods out of everyone! The shrimp is actually the feeder shrimps lol but none of my fishos is going after them.


So they are mine now. Ohana means no one gets left behind.

We noticed that you mentioned you've purchased from AlgaeBarn before and were not satisfied with our product. We are genuinely interested in understanding more about your experience. Our goal is to ensure that every interaction with AlgaeBarn exceeds your expectations, and your feedback is incredibly valuable in helping us achieve that. If you would be willing to share your contact information with us, this will allow us to look up your previous orders in our system and ensure that we provide you with the best possible assistance moving forward.

 

[Rjukan]

How do I get an established copepod colony in my aquarium.
When we got back into the hobby after a 10 year break, mandarin dragonets were one of our must have fish. We found a lot of information that we didn’t have during our early years in the hobby, and copepods and their importance was one of the first new revelations that we discovered. After purchasing copepods several times, we started culturing our own. This is how www.reefbysteele.com came to be. At that point we didn’t know that copepods could and would reproduce, becoming a stable food source for the other reef inhabitants.

Copepods are quite resilient and hardy. That being said there are best practices to get a solid population of copepods in your tank. There are also mistakes to avoid.

First and foremost is to begin by purchasing healthy pods from a reputable source. There are many companies you can choose from. Hopefully if you have questions they will respond to your requests and provide solid information. Seek a company that guarantees live arrival and service after the sale.

Next, ensure your tank is properly prepared. Although copepods are tough, too much ammonia can definitely eliminate them or at least seriously lessen their populations. This being said, they can be one of the first life forms that can be safely added to your tank, once your tank is cycled. Due to copepods natural environment, surviving in tidal pools, ship hulls as well as open water has allowed them to become tolerant of changing water parameters. Tigriopus are routinely found thriving in tidal pools which experience changing temperatures and salinity. Acartia pods are thought to originate in tropical waters, but are now found in waters all over the planet including arctic waters, this redistribution is largely attributed to transport in ships ballast waters. Some pods spend their lives floating and swimming in open waters, while others like the Tisbe spend their life benthic (crawling in the sand bed and rocks of the reef) and others such as the Apocyclops changes as they progress through their life stages. With the exception of very specialized aquariums, standard water parameters, temperatures, flow and lighting should accommodate most pods we encounter in the market currently.

Choosing the right copepod for your system is also important. Although any copepod colony is a plus for your tank, certain pods are better depending on the needs of the other tank inhabitants. Mandarins can spend their entire day picking benthic Tisbes and Apocyclops from the rock, while sand sifting gobies draw them out of the sifting sands. Dragon wrasses, anthias, pipefish and seahorses hunt their pods out of the water column, collecting Psuedo, Acartia, Tigriopus and Apocyclops as they endlessly cruise the tank or sway effortlessly from their perch attached to strands of macro algae with their coiled tail. Their mixed life stages makes the Apocyclops my number one pick.

How and when we introduce the copepods can play a major role in how well they survive the transition, which plays a role in successfully developing a colony as well. We strongly recommend adding the copepods to the aquarium with return pumps off, and flow pumps at least reduced. Also adding the copepods at least one hour after lights out, will lessen the impact of a feeding frenzy when adding them into a stocked reef. Due to their ability to withstand changes in water parameters, matching salinity is not as important as it is with the introduction of new fish. Bringing your copepods to room temperature is advised, floating the container to match tank temperatures is even better if possible. In a system with a refugium adding 1/4-3/4 of the contents of your order can allow the copepods to breed and multiply without being preyed upon, and they should find their way throughout the system naturally. Without a refugium, if allowed to seek shelter in the sand and rocks as described above, they can and should still be able to reproduce within your system.

Finally providing your copepods with nutritious food is another important step in reaching our colonization goals. Although nuisance algae, detritus and macro algae can provide a stable food source, there is no guarantee that what they eat will provide for their top health and survival, nor that it will ensure that the pods themselves will provide the best nutritional profile when they themselves are consumed. One solid way to assist in both their health and reproduction is by dosing live phytoplankton. A constant source and supply of phytoplankton provides the copepods with the amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins they need to be at their peak health and nutritional value.

Even if you diligently pursue and execute each of these steps, you may still fail to establish a strong colony, at least on the first try. In these cases, adding additional copepods every two weeks to a month will greatly increase your odds. This can be especially helpful in tanks stocked with the above mentioned pod hunters. Due to the small size of many of the copepods, it can be difficult to determine the populations of copepods within our systems. Generally they are easiest to detect in areas where the glass is not the cleanest, as they will congregate in areas like the back glass where we don’t clear the film algae as often. Viewing these areas at night with a concentrate light beam is beneficial.

At www.reefbysteele.com we culture and ship copepods raised on phytoplankton rich in all the nutrients needed by your tank inhabitants. With 3 or 6 species copepod blends you are sure to find a product with the right species to settle nicely into your reef. And now is the perfect time, as you can take advantage of our current offer of double the pods where we add our Harpa pods to our standard blends adding another species to expand and strengthen the opportunity of successful colonization of your copepods.

You got a new customer!

I like how interactive you are with your clients, and the information you present sounds very compelling. Plus the mom and pop shop dynamic is endearing to me.. So, I bought a combo pack of phyto, pods, and amphipods. My tank can really use a boost!

 

[Reef By Steele]

You got a new customer!

I like how interactive you are with your clients, and the information you present sounds very compelling. Plus the mom and pop shop dynamic is endearing to me.. So, I bought a combo pack of phyto, pods, and amphipods. My tank can really use a boost!

Thank you so much. We truly appreciate it.

 

[Reef By Steele]

You got a new customer!

I like how interactive you are with your clients, and the information you present sounds very compelling. Plus the mom and pop shop dynamic is endearing to me.. So, I bought a combo pack of phyto, pods, and amphipods. My tank can really use a boost!

Sorry I was tied up when I first got this notification. Really excited to have you on as a customer. I looked up your order, and just wanted to make sure that you knew we would not be shipping until Monday as we do not want your order sitting in a warehouse or trailer somewhere over the weekend. You should receive it on Thursday of next week.
Thanks

 

[Rjukan]

Ofc it's 90° now when I got the shipment. But all is fine, @Reef By Steele comes through with quality packaging materials and 3 cooling packs.


Both the copepods and the amphipods are active and look great, even though the water was noticeably warm to the touch, despite the cooling packs. But it's a great sign they were able to be shipped in this heat, and still arrived live and healthy.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Thanks for the shout out. We strive to provide the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices. We just received our first batch of styrofoam shipping boxes which can be purchased as an upgrade at checkout. Rather than raise our prices, we feel only those who want or need this upgrade should pay. We recommend them for areas at or above 95 on receiving day.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Sump refugium- right into it at night gently through a pvc pipe or big baster.

Tank- night time through a baster right into your rockwork and sand as well. Some people dump them in but i like to get them to safety right away.