Copepods and Amphipods

[basmith]

Hi great site a lot of information to absorb.
My question is about pods first how do you no they are in the tank? I have a 75 gal mixed reef with about 100lbs of live rock and another 20 lbs of rock in my sump alone with Cheota algae. The tank is just over a year old seems to be doing well all parameters in line. Calcium 450 ALK 8.5 nitrate and phosphates 0 salinity 25.0.
I added tiger pods about 8 months ago and do see them in the sump.
The strange thing is I have only seen what I think were copepods in the tank twice in the last year and when I did see them at nite there were hundreds of them then next day and for months would not see them again.
So should I regularly add them? And if so what brand and which pods should be added. And can you have too many? Also what's the difference between amphipods and copephods ?
Tanks for any help!

[Cymonous]

What fish do you have in the tank? Depending on what you have, they could be eating your pods. The main way to tell if they are in your DT is to check at night or early morning.

[basmith]

I have a clown, foxeface,coral beauty,hippo tang, 2 pajama's, and a dragonet.
It's weird cause I don't see them and just when I think there are none it's like a hatch and hundreds show up swimming around the pajama's love them. The lfs told me what I was describing might be shrimp I do have 1 banded coral shrimp that has been in there for a year.

[mpfeiffer1]

I assume you have a Mandarin Dragonet that loves Copepods and Amphipods. If you have them in your sump, you should have them in your tank... However, the Mandarin could be devouring them at an amazing rate. If you want to know if you have copepods in your tank, take a flashlight and press it to the outside of the tank above the sand and look thru the tank. The light will show if you have baby pods on the glass as they will either move or jump off, either way is good. if they are on the glass, they are definately in your rocks. If you see them in your sump, you can usually take some of the cheato out and shake it into a bucket or bowl of saltwater... I then take any extra strands of cheato out and dump that water with pods into the tank to repopulate the pods. Some people set-up little pod hotels but hot having anything not natural in my tank. If you do not see too many pods, buy a bottle of them and turn everything off for 15 minutes after you put them in. Most people will use a syringe and squirt them onto their live rock. NOte any flow will keep them elevated and the fish will have a field-day.

[Hzuiel]

What kind of dragonet? They eat almost exclusively pods.

[Sugar Magnolia]

What kind of dragonet? They eat almost exclusively pods.

Yes, this.

[basmith]

It's a scooter blenny

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yes, they are mainly pod eaters. It never hurts to add more pods.

[basmith]

The blenny does appear to have put on some weight and maybe age is getting to my eye site lol

[Pez68]

Very early morning, before the sun comes up and the lights come on. I see thousands of pods at this time that I will never otherwise see.

My clown fish must eat hundreds and hundreds of them each day. As soon as there is the slightest bit of light they start hunting the glass. They do this for the first couple hours they are awake each day. One day I counted as one of my clown fish went around the glass. It was eating somewhere around 30-40 pods in just the minute I counted! And clown fish don't just eat pods, either. I can't even imagine the rate a pod-eating fish would consume them.

[JDMR2]

Pods are good. I add them every once in awhile. As long as you have an area where they have no predators and hiding places, like a sump, they'll be able to reproduce quickly.

[basmith]

Tanks for the reply's I did shut all the lights off in the tank and house gave it an hour and looked a little closer and saw small one's we're all over the glass so I'm sure the school's of bigger one's I have seen probably come out ewhen I'm sleeping.

[Sydoriakp]

my mandarin did a good joba at gobbling them all up in the dt and if your return is pump fed then a lot get chewed up and spit out so check your sump and make sure your mandarins belly doesn't look pinched or youll have to add pods or get rid of mandarin ... just make sure his belly is not pinched :) mines was and I don't have him anymore :(