Copepods
What is a Copepod?
Copepods are small aquatic crustaceans and one of the most numerous metazoan groups in aquatic communities. Copepods inhabit a huge range of salinities, from fresh water to hypersaline conditions, and they can be found virtually everywhere on earth. Copepods provide functionally important links in the aquatic food chain by feeding on the microscopic algal cells of the phytoplankton and, in turn, being eaten by juvenile fish and other planktivores.
General care and use of Copepods in a reef tank
Copepods are a valuable addition to any reef system, and you can never have too many in your tank! Copepods help combat many negative organisms that may be present in your reef system as well as the consumption of the detritus (most species) which in turn balances everything out. Fish and coral consume copepods as well as other ornamental fish such as dragonet and goby..
​
It is best to try and maintain a large healthy copepod population in any reef tank. Sand and porous rock help give them a place to hide and thrive as well. Sumps with rock are also a great place due to the fact that they have little to no predators which enables your pods to grow and thrive. Trying to create a low flow area just for them in any sump creates really great opportunities for them to populate their homes to produce more families! As the population grows larger, the copepods get sucked into the main tank (Open Waters) to be eaten and/or populate the main tank.
If you have a small tank without a sump then it is suggested to dose copepods weekly but how much you dose will depend on the fish inhabitants. For example, if you have a single goby in a 30-gallon nano tank, the reef system will easily consume the contents of a 16 oz bottle of copepods every 3-5 days depending on the density of your bottle.
​
​