Copepods in a Reef

[RLiu818]

I have a 10 gallon nano and i was wondering what are the benefits of having alot of copepods in the tank.

Currently i have my royal gramma and percula clown in the quarentine tank and I noticed that my copepod population in the show tank is rising dramatically, since the royal gramma is a copepod eater.

I remember reading that not keeping a copepod eating fish in the tank is beneficial to the reefs. I am just curious about this and hope to learn more, so i can decide if i want to put my royal gramma back in or not. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

There are many many types of pods that we find in our tanks, and they can occupy different niches in our tank. Copepods are usually the very smallest pods you can see. Pods are great scavengers, so they are nice to have since they help process extra uneaten food. Some of them are algal grazers as well. Some types will mill around the sandbed and help keep it from compacting. When they spawn they will provide food for your corals. They are also great natural food for your fish.

 

[Desolas]

They are a great scavenger. They can easily get underneath rocks, in nooks and stir up or consume detritus. Helps keep the sand bed cleaner, and also provides a natural food source for the fish and corals. When they breed they can add plankton to the water which may be consumed by some of your filter feeders or corals. I have seen my large zoanthus consume copepods on several occassions that have blundered into the polyps.

Also for the fish you keep they are a good suppliment. But in a 10g tank, a single fish can have deleterious effects on a pod population.

 

[brandon4291]

I agree completely with all the above said. I would recommend feeding your copepods every day with pellet foods to help them maintain populations. If your fish devour them slowly, just buy some 9 dollar re-seeding kits online. Copepods do almost all the reduction of coral slime in my unfiltered, unskimmed systems. They help greatly to further reduce detritus and uneaten food that may accumulate in the nooks and crannies of the LR/sand pockets.

Brandon

 

[RLiu818]

thanks guys. this place is so helpful. not like nano-reef.com where a guy named Dave is a stupid ass who thinks he owns the site.