PDA

View Full Version : Copepods...Amphipods...Whatthepods?

Sports Girl
03/30/2006, 04:02 PM
I just picked up a healthy-looking, plump mandarin dragonet @ my LFS and it will be residing in my established (almost two years old) 60 gallon reef with LR and live sand. I know they eat amphipods and copepods, but I don't even know what those actually are. I know they are tiny organisms, but what else? I don't have a sump or refugium, so is there any other way I can breed them or add more to the tank? I really want this little guy to make it, and I want to provide the best possible home for him. Thanks for all the info!
TitansFan
03/30/2006, 04:16 PM
He will be competing with your scooter blenny for food.
http://copepod.com/
Good-Luck!
Travis L. Stevens
03/30/2006, 04:22 PM
You can increase their population density by adding phytoplankton into your feeding regiment. You will most likely do fine with him. I do have concern with him living with a Scooter Blenny like it says under your current tank because they eat the same thing. I would definitely do one or the other, and not both in that small of a tank. Just curious, but how many pounds of live rock do you have? I have listed some example pictures below, but you can read more about them here. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/images/image022.jpg

Copepod
http://www.biosci.ohiou.edu/faculty/currie/ocean/gallery/calanoid-copepod.jpg

Amphipod
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Arthropoda/CrustaceanPIX/FWShrimp/amphipod%20pic%20wwm1.jpg

Isopod
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/images/image022.jpg
Sports Girl
03/30/2006, 04:39 PM
I have at least 50 lbs. of live rock. What brands of phytoplankton would you recommend? Also, if I add phytoplankton, will I still only be able to keep either the scooter or mandarin? I will find the scooter a home if I need to...but he's been in my tank for quite a while and I will miss him...
Sports Girl
03/30/2006, 08:41 PM
Anybody else with info...? I appreciate it...
Sk8r
03/30/2006, 09:43 PM
They breed, I'm told, where live rock touches the sand. You can buy live copepods by the bottle, online: check out the vendor list. Stack some small rocks and fill the interstices with sand in an area that's just not disturbed, and don't clean the algae on the bottom couple of inches of your glass. All these measures my help the copepod population. They may appear on the tank glass as little white specks that skip like fleas.