Copepods
 

Besides tiger pods, does anyone know of anywhere local or online that I can buy copepod colonies? I am looking to seed my tank.

check back with me in a couple of months-just started to breed them

I had tons of mysid shrimp running around till I picked up a wrasse, can't see anymore, if you have wrasses no point, just buy a piece of liverock and leave it in your sump you'll have tons before you know it....

+1 good old live rock, the more life the better, I used dry rock in the display tank then I put 2" of sand in the sump the live rock rubble, the live rock then chaeto lol, I have so many copepods 4 months later they are coming out of my hermit crabs shells nightly!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF-FDryrg0Y

you can check http://www.reefcrew.com/, but I don't have any experience with them.

I'll sell you one of my hermit crabs ;) their shells are loaded full of pods :lol:

What about breeding mysid shrimp? Anyone ever do that? Feel free to PM me so not to hijack the thread. Thank you.

Just added a malanurrus wrasse a few months back, think he"ll be an issue?

I wouldn't use the word 'issue', but any wrasse will decimate your pod population pretty quickly, as will many other fishes

Kenny suggested trying to populate your sump ...
This is a good idea as it will 'feed' your tank

Ok. I wanted to add a mandarin goby to my tank, and was hoping to establish a healthy copepod colony, so it would have an ample food supply. At this point is this a realistic option? Or am I s.o.l???

Melanurus = no pods, bristle stars and any other crustation, there are pods in my 75g but only under rock and in patches of algae....

I heard mandarin gobies also eat Formula 1 pellets... I have a scooter blenny which is also a picky eater... I hatch baby brine shrimps for him...he seems to be getting fat... might also work for mandarins too? else getting some cheatos from an establish tank should get some some pods in it...