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Copepods

Copepods make up the crustacean arthropod subclass Copepoda. It is one of the most ecologically important groups of animals on the planet. This isn’t just because they are the most abundant animal species, nor just because they collectively make up the most biomass (which they do!). Rather, it is because most all freshwater and marine food chains ultimately lead back to them; this is because they are primary consumers, heavily grazing algae both from open waters and seafloors. In so doing, copepods transfer nutrients and biomass created by primary producers to predators higher up in the food chain. Just as these activities are so essential to the wellbeing of natural marine ecosystems, they are important in one’s saltwater aquarium.

 

Copepods benefit marine aquaria of all kinds in all sorts of ways. Most species, for example, make a great foundation for the clean-up crew. Their capacity for controlling detritus and nuisance algae is certainly impressive. As they grow and multiply, they become a highly nutritious live food source for an astoundingly broad range of aquarium animals. For example, as benthic types grow to adults, they are picked off of the bottom by small fishes such as green mandarins, six-line wrasses, etc. Larger planktonic types get picked off by zooplanktivores such as anthias. Tiny copepod larvae, which are almost universally free-living in the water column, serve as an excellent food source for many types of corals.

 

In this section, you will learn which type of copepod best suits your needs, how to add “pods” to your tank and how to keep a resident pod population flourishing indefinitely.

77 Posts

An Overview of the Firefishes

Marine aquarists are blessed with a gigantic selection of beautiful fish species to keep. Among these, only some are peaceful,
Read More about An Overview of the Firefishes

What Do I Need for a Saltwater Fish Tank?

Whether scouting for your first aquarium, or “graduating” from a freshwater aquarium, there is something about a saltwater aquarium
Read More about What Do I Need for a Saltwater Fish Tank?

Why Larval Pods are Better for Seeding (Even If You Can’t See Them)

Copepods (pods) are essentially required for any reef aquarium. They perform three important ecological tasks: (1) Graze on benthic
Read More about Why Larval Pods are Better for Seeding (Even If You Can’t See Them)

Keeping a Coldwater Marine Aquarium

Marine aquarists have always had access to temperate species. In fact, in the days before improved packaging/shipping procedures
Read More about Keeping a Coldwater Marine Aquarium

When to Choose Poseidon’s Feast

Back in “the day,” to acquire a seed culture of copepods, aquarists would typically have to resort to scooping a couple cups of gravel
Read More about When to Choose Poseidon’s Feast

Corals in a Box of Water: Creating a Natural Reef Tank

We’ve come a long, long way in advancing natural marine aquarium keeping. Those of us who started out in the 80’s with barren
Read More about Corals in a Box of Water: Creating a Natural Reef Tank

Copepods under high magnification

Gutloading Live Microcrustaceans

In the sense that very, very few animals specialize to eat only one thing, all animals are omnivores, and prefer live foods. For
Read More about Gutloading Live Microcrustaceans

Why EcoPods are the Best Live Copepod Product Ever

Earth is a planet of pods. Wherever there is water, there are amphipods, isopods, branchiopods, and so on. Pods are an integral part of
Read More about Why EcoPods are the Best Live Copepod Product Ever

a yellow banded pipefish

A Look at the Banded Pipefish

So many marine aquarium fishes can be exciting to watch; some are big and belligerent, some are beefy and bullish, some are lightning
Read More about A Look at the Banded Pipefish

The Whole Package: Integrating AlgaeBarn’s Kits & Combos

AlgaeBarn is hardly the only aquarium hobby-centered business to produce phytoplankton and macroalgae. But we like to think that we’re
Read More about The Whole Package: Integrating AlgaeBarn’s Kits & Combos

Pod vs Sock: Do Mechanical Filters Kill Copepods?

Considering that aquarium keeping is a mere nerdy pastime, it can be surprising that there are so many contentious issues amongst
Read More about Pod vs Sock: Do Mechanical Filters Kill Copepods?

Close Up of Copepods

4 Tips for Seeding Live Copepods

We get it… Copepods aren’t always cheap. Especially if you use a clean, high-quality, high-density, expertly packaged product with as
Read More about 4 Tips for Seeding Live Copepods

A vial of phytoplankton

Phytoplankton Species and their individual Strengths

When purchasing live foods for your tank, many people simply take the shop employee’s advice when handed a jar of unidentified copepods
Read More about Phytoplankton Species and their individual Strengths

Copepods Under Microscope

How to Acclimate Your Pods

Particularly for animals that live in water, acclimating from one environment to another--even if quite similar physically and
Read More about How to Acclimate Your Pods

copepods and various planktons

Oithona: A Keystone Aquarium Copepod Species

In terms of both numbers and biomass, the copepods (Subclass Copepoda) dominate the zooplankton oceanwide. These minute crustaceans are
Read More about Oithona: A Keystone Aquarium Copepod Species

Copepoda: The Ocean’s Cornucopia

In 1905, an engineering mishap caused the Colorado River to flood a shallow basin over the San Andreas Fault in California. With
Read More about Copepoda: The Ocean’s Cornucopia

Gorgonians in the Marine Aquarium

It should go without saying that the hermatypic, stony, reef-building corals will dominate most reef aquaria. Thankfully, so long as
Read More about Gorgonians in the Marine Aquarium

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
Read More about Eliminating Detritus in the Refugium

Copepods

Imagine for a second how food energy from grass, a primary producer, is transferred to a bluebird. The bluebirds don’t eat grass.
Read More about Copepods

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
Read More about Tig Pods: A Food for Many

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