Pods...

[Joe Fish]

What exactly are amphipods, copepods, and all the other pods? Are they living things? How do you get them? Is this what gobies eat?

 

[Mushroomman]

1. They look like little bugs or fleas, mini aquatic crustaceans.

2. Yes they are alive.

3. They come off your live rock. They live in it, multiply in it.

4. Most fish will eat them.

 

[ram man]

pods are little creatures that come in on your live rock, they are benificial and if you have alot, that means your tank is doing good. im pretty sure most fish will eat them right when they see them. i have a clown goby and he hunts pods down all day. he even goes after the larger amphipods.

 

[Joe Fish]

So they will just come from LR. About how long does it take for them to come out? I want to make sure I have plenty of natural food before I get a gobie. Can you get them anywhere?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

in a couple of months they'll be everywhere

 

[fishandchips]

shine a small torch on your rock/sandbed a couple of hours after all the lights on your tank has gone out and you will see them crawling about*thumbsups

 

[Joe Fish]

do I have to feed those thingers?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

they'll feed on decaying stuff and left overs

 

[Joe Fish]

If I don't start seeing them in a few months can they be added manually?

 

[fish outa wata]

Here you go Joe.
http://www.oceanpods.com/

 

[Lorna]

Joe I think what you said in another post was that you want a watchman gobie and a firefish both will eat prepared food, unlike a mandarin gobie which in truth is not a true gobie but a dragonet and are difficult to wean onto prepared foods and these are the ones that are really dependant on a pod population.

 

[Joe Fish]

Could someone post a picture of what a populated refugium would look like with pods? I know what they look like when they are magnified, but how about from a distance?

 

[zoalover34]

they look like little fleas from a distance u can't really get a pic of them with out zooming b/c they are very small..

 

[Joe Fish]

I just want to know what they might look like from a distance. Maybe like specs floating around? When I get real close I can't see anything that would show they are a copepod. So i'm hoping to get a pic for what a bunch would look like from a distance.

 

[zoalover34]

you won't see them "floating" they will be crawling on the glass and in the sandbed.. my tank has only been up for almost 2 months and i see them all over at night.. not hard to miss

 

[Joe Fish]

I must not have any then. I was hoping I would by now.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

 

[Joe Fish]

Thanks for the pic, I sure don't anything like that in my tank. I'm going to order a bottle of them if I don't see them soon.

 

[aresgod]

it is a waste of money to order the bottle, absolute junk. if you have live rock, YOU HAVE PODS! They just take time to build up their populations, and the impact the bottle would have is zero, just be patient.

 

[James From Cali]

Oh thats what thoswe things are. I thought they were fleas. My friend is trying to get rid of those but now I can tell him not too. He has a Firefish and a Watchman Goby.