add some live copepods

Add some live copepods

Welcome to Day 20 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Saltwater Aquarium Challenge.

Fish go cuckoo for copepods. Your task today is to purchase and add some live copepods to your tank.

Copepods are tiny invertebrates that are natural food for many fish species. Careful attention paid to growing copepods out as a food source for newborn saltwater fish is one of the things that has supported the dramatic breakthroughs in aquaculture these last few years because they are exactly the right type of food for your fish.

Adapted from an image By Otto Larink (Plankton Net) [CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
If you add them to your tank, your fish will go nuts for them.

In a healthy reef system, you can sustain a small population, as long as you have somewhere they can grow without being eaten, like a refugium or sump. Hopefully, you have some copepods growing naturally in your tank already, but give them a boost by purchasing some live copepods and adding them to your tank.

You can get live copepods from local hobbyists who grow them, online retailers and eBay. Some of the larger/better local fish stores will have them as well. Just know that the very popular Tigger pods are not quite suited for the tropical reef environment. They will be delicious food, but may not establish in your tank. You may have better success with other pods.


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