StringerBell wrote:

About how many copepods do you think you got with the 4 oz. bottle?

Dunno yet - I placed the order a couple days ago. I expect delivery Wednesday.

Did you add the whole bottle to the tank to promote a population? or are you
adding some everyday to feed your "couple"?

I intend to dump the bottle in the tank. I can't imagine that the pods will stay
alive more than a few days in that bottle with no food.

I am dying for a Mandarin. I have Thousands of pods in my tank---but I hear
they can be depleted quickly. I also have a bit of an alga and plant
overgrowth---but now I`m thinking if I keep the tank just a little "dirty"
than the pods have plenty of places to propogate.

I've read that one should wait at least 8 months before adding a Mandarin, but
I'd bet that something like this bottle of pods can establish a population
earlier than that. I also read that a small pile of live rock debris (small
pieces) can give copepods a refuge. The article stated that one can stick a
piece of shrimp or something in the pile every week or so to feed them.

BTW - if you're seeing lots of pods, they're probably isopods, not copepods. A
big copepod isn't even as long as a pencil lead is wide (1 to 2 mm). I've read
that they like to eat diatoms, which are pinpoint size white critters that tend
to form a haze on the inside walls of a tank. I have tons of those, and there's
other stuff swimming in the tank that's the right size to be copepods. Who knows
what's in the sand.

Both my Mandarins are picking at the rock, sand, and algae, and they aren't
visibly losing weight, so I have my hopes up.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.