Why Should I Add Copepods to My Reef Tank?

Copepods are tiny crustaceans that form the foundation of a healthy reef ecosystem. Adding them to your tank provides multiple benefits for fish, corals, and overall water quality.

Benefits of Copepods

• Natural food source - Essential for mandarin dragonets, wrasses, and other pod-eating fish that won't accept frozen food
• Coral nutrition - Copepods provide protein-rich food that corals capture at night
• Detritus cleanup - Pods eat fish waste, uneaten food, and organic debris
• Algae control - Many species graze on microalgae and film algae
• Stable ecosystem - A thriving pod population indicates good water quality

Types of Copepods

• Tisbe - Hardy, fast reproducing, great starter species
• Tigriopus - Larger, excellent for mandarins and wrasses
• Apocyclops - Small, perfect for coral feeding and fry food

How to Add Copepods

1. Turn off lights and flow (pods are light-sensitive)
2. Add copepods directly to your refugium or sump
3. If no refugium, add to the display tank at night
4. Wait 30 minutes before turning equipment back on

Maintaining a Pod Population

• Keep a refugium with chaeto to give pods a safe breeding area
• Don't overstock pod-eating fish—they can deplete populations
• Dose live phytoplankton to feed your pod colony
• Re-seed occasionally if you have heavy pod predation

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