To seed or not to seed copepods directly

[Chi113d0ut]

I’m new to salt water aquariums and would like to keep dragonets eventually, which leads me to my real question, is it possible to directly seed my aquarium and establish a stable colony of copepods? Or should I stick to making a refuge for them?

I currently have a 75gal FOWLR with a clown, lawnmower blenny, and a couple CUC snails and stars

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

Refugiums are not needed I don't run them on a couple of my systems . Just make sure you have ample rock work in your display

 

[LordofCinder]

They don't need a refuge, they will live in the millions of tiny holes and tunnels in the rock.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

No, you definitely don't need a refugium. Fuges are great for keeping a breeding population of pods safe from fish that actively hunt them, but in practice, plenty of pods will hide in the rocks and do their job.

So with a fuge, you might see the population boom faster, but it's definitely not necessary.

 

[vpierce3]

I’ve done both ways and both ways work. My first tank had pods in the live rock. I waited a year for the tank to mature and stabilize. Once I started seeing lots of pods on the sand and glass at night, I added the mandarin. He stayed fat for several years until I had to move and sell everything.
Now I have a larger tank that I seeded with them; half in my fuge and half in the rock. I gave it time to mature and added my mandarin. He’s super fat and happy. I’m getting ready to add a psychedelic mandarin as well.

 

[Tired]

A refugium is ideal, but not necessarily needed if you have enough rockwork.

One upside of a refugium is that you can put non-pod-eating, potentially destructive animals in it. A large crab or one of the smaller frogfish, for example. Animals not suitable for your reef, but harmless to the pods.

 

[Cyanohater]

if you want to what I've done is create a culture out of them so easy. rodi saltwater, pods, phytoplankton.

 

[exnisstech]

Not needed but I like a fuge. Its a great place for pods to reproduce without predation and also home for all kinds of other cool creatures. My fuge is almost as interesting as my DT for watching critters. I have so much life there I hate to harvest the chaeto and usually wait until its overflowing into the next chamber.