In 1905, an engineering mishap caused the Colorado River to flood a shallow basin over the San Andreas Fault in California. With
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Benefits of Live Copepods
Challenges are good. For most of us, the considerable trials of keeping a tankful of healthy aquarium livestock keep us interested and engaged in the hobby. That being said, some of the regular problems encountered by aquarium hobbyists can be quite intimidating; arguably, the greatest challenges of keeping healthy marine aquarium systems are (1) meeting the nutritional demands of finicky/specialized eaters and (2) controlling detritus build-up and nuisance algae growth. Fortunately, both of these constantly pressing issues are effectively approached with the use of live copepods.
Extremely nutritional and capable of reaching extraordinarily high population densities, copepods are nature’s consummate food packets. They range from important to critical in pretty much all aquatic/marine ecosystems, transferring nutrients and food energy from algal/bacterial primary producers up the food chain to filter-feeding fishes and invertebrates. Their role as trophic intermediaries is entirely replicable in captive systems.
Two major groups of copepods, harpacticoids and cyclopoids, both work well for these purposes in aquaria. However, the former work best as scavengers and the latter work best as a zooplanktonic live food. Even within each of these groups, different individual species work best as specific types of cleaners, food items, etc. Thus, a well-balanced community of “pods” seems to be ideal. Maintaining a large, diverse community of copepods is possible with (1) the availability of safe space within a refugium and (2) the regular, generous feedings of wholesome phytoplankton.
In this section, you will learn which species are best additions to your pod community as well as how to maximally boost pod productivity by installing refugia and feeding phyto.
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Eliminating Detritus in the Refugium
Ever feel like no matter how much time you spend cleaning your tank, it can never really ever get clean? Detritus build-ups can be
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Copepods
Imagine for a second how food energy from grass, a primary producer, is transferred to a bluebird. The bluebirds don’t eat grass.
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Tig Pods: A Food for Many
The reef aquarium hobby continues to reach new heights. This is most evident by the extraordinarily beautiful systems we see on display
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A Copepod Cornucopia: How to Maintain a Continuous Live Food Source in Your Reef Aquarium
Some of us aquarists are satisfied just to find a pod or two in our systems—just to know that they’re still there! Then again, some of
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Amphipods and/or Copepods: Can They Peacefully Coexist?
Detritus and algal films compromise the aesthetic appearance and environmental quality of any saltwater aquarium. For sure, they
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The Refugium: A Home for Your Pods
It just isn’t enough to say that a refugium is “a tank on a tank” or “a sump with some macroalgae in it.” When used to their full
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From Detritus to Delicacy: Using Harpacticoid Copepods for Natural Nutrient Cycling
Pretty much nobody wants their marine aquarium to be covered with filth and green slime. Yet, mulm and benthic microalgae show up (at
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How to Seed Your Reef Tank
Seed (and Re-Seeding) Copepods in the Marine Aquarium
It’s understandable—totally natural, even—to want to see what we’re buying when
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Are There Copepods in Your Reef?
Are There Pods in Your Reef?
Copepods are an integral part of nearly all natural marine ecosystems, and it’s likely that a large,
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Pod Size Matters: Feeding and Seeding with Copepod Cultures of All Life Stages
No matter how or when you do it, adding live copepod cultures to a reef aquarium has numerous benefits and absolutely no drawbacks.
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Feeding the Mandarin Fish
For so many aquarists, the green mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) is a must-have species. Its endearing personality, exquisite
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Pods In Your Reef: Seeding a Marine Aquarium with Copepods
Benefits of Pods In Your Reef:
Microcrustaceans (or “pods”) in general, and copepods in particular, are an integral component of
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Mandarin Goby Fish Care | Using Copepods to keep a Mandarin Dragonet
Mandarin Fish Care 101:
Foods and feeding are the foremost concern for any aquarist wishing to keep a Green Mandarin Dragonet
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Feeding Your Hungry Pods
Marine aquarists are really attempting to accomplish several goals when introducing copepods to their systems. These undoubtedly
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Exoskeletons, Roughage and Digestive Health
Unlike marine animals, who use chitin, we humans, and most other terrestrial animals, benefit greatly from dietary fiber. Consisting of
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At the Top of the Bottom: Harpacticoid Copepods and Aquarium Substrates
There are quite a few options out there for marine aquarium substrate. From rubble to mud, aquarists have tried all of them. Many have
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The Hardy Copepod
The ocean is not always a hospitable place to be for an animal. This is especially so in the shallows, where unstable temperatures,
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A Closer Look at the Harpacticoid Copepod Tisbe Biminiensis
There are many different reasons to add copepods to one’s marine aquarium system. Each copepod species has its own set of attributes
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Keeping and Feeding the Mandarin Fishes
Mandarins are undoubtedly among the most popular of all marine aquarium fishes. Conspicuous for their small size, they have an
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