View Full Version : Copepods
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
01-02-2006, 7:17 PM
Anyone had them in there aquarium? I got lucky on mine. I was just coming back from a trip to Oklahoma. With a baby Panther Grouper and a fancy damsel( Okay so there is no such thing but I could never figure out what it was, the lady was just tryin to get rid of it.) I come home and throw them into my newly established 55. Then the next couple of days I start to see more and more of these little bastards. I start to think there parasites, and I fear for my grouper. SO I went out and bought about $300 worth of aquarium books, and find out nothing. So I found a crap load of them living on top of the carbon chamber in my magnum 350 canister, so I scooped them up into a bag and went to the nearest fish retailer. The guy told me they were Copepods and that they were harmless, Infact they help keep algea growth in check, and they are the main food supplie of some kinds of gobies. :nutkick: That was a big kick in the nuts for me. 6 months later the Panther Grouper is about 6 inches long and devours the damsel. So moral of that story don't keep Panther Groupers with damsels. Does any bod else have em? Please tell.
ogre929
01-02-2006, 7:29 PM
hahaha. I've had copepods in all my reef tanks. they grow like weeds are are good for feather dusters and other filter feeders and for madarin gobies. And there are such things as fancy damsels, though i've only seen one species and it may be a highbred, but it's a basic striped damsel only instead of white, it's yellow and the belly is yellow too. and it's pretty cool.
MrfisH
01-02-2006, 7:46 PM
you do know how big that panther grouper will get right? Just couldnt tell if that comment about keeping them w/ damsels was sarcasm.
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
01-02-2006, 7:50 PM
you do know how big that panther grouper will get right? Just couldnt tell if that comment about keeping them w/ damsels was sarcasm.
I realize the size he'll get, and he is living out of the 55 all by himself. When he gets to big Ill just buy him a bigger tank and put some scorpianfish in it. ( Im thinkin of a 300.) but first I need to come up with some mucho deloras. and no I wasnt being sarcastic. I woke up one morning and he had a giant bulge in his tummy.
yellowoman
02-05-2006, 1:15 PM
Yes I have copepods,buy the hundreds.
If you have live rock you probably have at least some copepods.
wolfeman
02-06-2006, 9:59 PM
What do they look like? Can someone post a pic of one?
piranha45
02-06-2006, 10:01 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copepod
wolfeman
02-06-2006, 10:15 PM
Thanks P45
Atarax
03-25-2006, 2:41 AM
I also found them in the filters of my wet/dry and was worried they were pests :grinno: i also found another interesting fellow called a amphipod, they look kinda like a clawless lobster/flea-thing...or something. i know my mandarin dragonet tears them a new a-hole if they dare come into open water though. :headbang2 :headbang2
CichlidKid
04-29-2006, 10:43 PM
ok, so how can we get rid of them?
frontosa_man
06-03-2006, 10:25 PM
you dont want to get rid of them.
TankBuster
06-03-2006, 10:39 PM
They are a good tell tale sign that you have good healthy live rock also if you have just aquired the live rock.
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
06-04-2006, 4:25 PM
I know a good way to kill im off. It is called coppersafe and it is a inverts worst nightmare.
Why get rid of them, if nothing else they eat the algae that cause green slime.
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
06-04-2006, 5:15 PM
I was being sarcastic which is hard to sense on a fish forum.
evil_monkey
06-09-2006, 7:51 PM
they are good for sure, I have a refugium just to "grow" them for my scooter blennie.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/new-32.jpg
evil_monkey
06-09-2006, 7:57 PM
might aswell post a few more :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/new-70.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/-70.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/new-61.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/new-34.jpg
Don't look now but you got stuff growing on your rocks.
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
06-09-2006, 10:39 PM
Post a pic of the fish in the middle of the first picture you posted I could not get a good veiw of it.
evil_monkey
06-10-2006, 6:19 PM
thats my little clown fish, I'll have to try and get a good shot. he is the Michael Johnson of clown, the boy is fast.
evil_monkey
06-10-2006, 6:22 PM
this is an older shot of the tank, but an ok shot of the clown.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/armbar4u/new-3.jpg
Justin_James
06-10-2006, 7:17 PM
Well getting back to the main story... I suggest you dont count on local fish stores for your main info on your marine fish. They are most of the time wrong! They just want to sound like they know what they are talking about and give any old answer they can pull out of their butt. (this isn't true about every store!). A grouper will eat a damsel! thats common sense. If you didn't know that then you really have to do some internet research before buying anymore fish. I susspect you attain your info from petstores, am I right? Common mistake made too often and cause alot of expensive fish deaths. Do your own research and you'll never go wrong. ;)
Good luck, and expect to be jumping up to that 300 gallon very soon. ;)