Copepods in Shrimp Tank - Should I be concerned?

[Aqua67]

I’m well aware of the cautions against keeping amphipods in a shrimp tank, but what about copepods, cyclopods, and the like. Has anyone experienced an issue impacting shrimp population or health with an over abundance of those creatures in the aquarium?

I’ve considered letting a single schooling fish such as a neon or ember tetra have a snack on them, but thought it might not be too kind to acclimate a fish to do a job in a small tank and then acclimate the fish back to its own tank and schoolmates when the deed is done.

They have been living with the shrimp for over a year now and I haven’t noticed any problems that I could pin on them.

Thanks for reading this and sharing your experience and observations.

 

[Colin_T]

There shouldn't be any issues with copepods in shrimp tanks. In some copepods species the males can become parasitic on the gills of fish but shrimp can pick them out if it happens.

 

[Aqua67]

Thank you Collin_T, I guess I’ll have to think twice about tossing in a fish to whittle down the population then.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

We've had some interesting threads/discovered an interesting youtuber that you might be interested in recently! I'll find links and tag some mini-buggies loving folks below if you don't mind, for science!

@Seisage @MattW3344 @outofwater @noahm @Uberhoust

A new YT channel, focused on micro organisms

Pretty cool stuff, high quality

www.fishforums.net

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Forgot to add:

I’ve considered letting a single schooling fish such as a neon or ember tetra have a snack on them, but thought it might not be too kind to acclimate a fish to do a job in a small tank and then acclimate the fish back to its own tank and schoolmates when the deed is done.

If you don't want the copepods, I personally don't think it would be bad to add some embers or a few neons to do a clean up job before returning them to their own tank. I think it's cruel to buy a fish solely for that purpose, such as when people buy fish to cycle a tank and return them, or keep a single loach for the sole purpose of snail control, when they're a really smart, social fish that needs a large tank.

But moving fish among your own tanks isn't as bad as having to fully acclimate a new fish to an entirely new tank and set of water parameters. When I had multiple tanks set up for livebearers, I was using the same source water and doing the same maintenance between them all, so beyond giving the fish half an hour to temp acclimate, I thought nothing of transferring my own fish among my own tanks, and happily 'borrowed' some black mollies from my large main tank to clean some plants or clean up a small tank for a short while, before returning them to their main tank. I don't think that's a bad thing!

I'd say to use a few rather than a single, just to reduce the stress a bit, then return them to the main group, happily stuffed with free live food! Heck, you could probably separate out males and females, give each sex some time in the copepod tank, then reintroduce the males and females together. The live food plus short absence then reintroducing the males and females together might even be useful if you want to try spawning them! @GaryE what do you think? People do set up spawning tanks for all sorts of fish they keep after all, and you can't beat live food for conditioning fish up for breeding!

 

[noahm]

I had a ton of copepods in my 20g for the first month. They were pretty much free swimming everywhere. The honey gouramis and neons wiped them out entirely. I do have several isopods still, but my daughters guppy seems pretty keen on taking them out. I would leave them be unless you really dislike them. My philosophy is they are doing something beneficial that you will have to replicate once they are gone.

 

[Airwreck]

Curious what is the problem of keeping amphipods with shrimp? Amphipods only eat detritus and dead matter.

 

[MuddyWaters]

How do these little critters get into a tank? I don't think I've ever had them...I kind of feel like I'm missing out. Is it something you introduce or are they hitchhikers on plants or something?

 

[Airwreck]

This is how I understand them.

It's a key link in ocean food webs. The copepod eats diatoms and other phytoplankton — and is eaten, in turn, by larger drifters, larval fishes and filter-feeders.

Amphipods are often significant components of other aquatic systems where they contribute to nutrient recycling and provide high-quality food for a variety of animals, including crayfish, fish, amphibians, water birds, and semiaquatic mammals.

I guessing u have a fresh water tank. So these critters would be hitchhikers on plants.

Unless someone smarter then me can say otherwise, I really don't see them as being a problem.

 

[MaloK]

While pods are not really detrimental to shrimps.

You still have to consider them as direct competition to your shrimps. They feed on the same biofilm / detritus / algae and in large numbers can out-compete baby shrimps in early stage in a resource limited environment.

And additionally when you feed baby shrimps you also feed them. I have at least 3 different kinds at the moment in my shrimp tank. I don't know their specialty, but they are like nothing I can compare. They come by waves and are everywhere in the tank.

I'm thinking of a 18-24 school of celestial pearl danios that could keep this rebellion under control. But I want the shrimps to be established completely before. Live food for fish and more food for shrimps.

If I can feed the danios properly It could tilt the balance for the baby shrimps.

 

[Aqua67]

Curious what is the problem of keeping amphipods with shrimp? Amphipods only eat detritus and dead matter.

Oh no they don’t. I’m not talking about amphipods anyways I’m talking about the copepods. I’ve kept amphipods for over 30 years in fish tanks and all was well. Two years ago I began keeping shrimp and thought amphipods might make good tankmates as they’re basically just small shrimp - WRONG!! So I put some into my shrimp tank. Oh look, baby shrimp - yay. Hmmm, where are all the babies now? Hey, what is happening to my beautiful adult shrimp? Oh well, they must just be hiding. Gosh, where are all the shrimp? I guess I’ll have to buy some more. Wow, still no babies? Hmmm, those amphipods are sure doing well. Then I realized the amphipods were eating ALL OF MY FRESHLY MOLTED SHRIMP!! Don’t be fooled. Yes, amphipods are great in fish tanks where their numbers can be kept under control. They are NOT great in shrimp tanks where they have all the free protein, plus all of the stuff my shrimp want to eat, all as their own smorgabord. Don’t ever let anyone tell you amphipods are fine in a shrimp tank, they’ll just compete with shrimp for food. That is what I was told and I thought “no big deal, I’ll just feed extra”. They still have a taste for protein no matter how much biofilm, bacteria and detritus the amphipods have to eat. Trust me. Don’t do it. If you do, that is fine, just don’t say I didn’t warn you. I have been sucking out amphipods since November, sold two batches for $30, and currently have another batch of 41 amphipods ready for a new home. If you need them, just let me know. They’re already mating in the jar I’m keeping them in and one female can have 20,000 offspring in one year. It is no surprise that now I have an ABUNDANCE of baby shrimp in my tank and the colony has more than tripled since I began removing scuds from that one 5.5 gal shrimp tank.

 

[Aqua67]

I think I’m going to suck out all the copepods I can using my turkey baster and since I’m already planning to breed some neon tetras this summer I might as well let them feast on those copepods for conditioning. I like

How do these little critters get into a tank? I don't think I've ever had them...I kind of feel like I'm missing out. Is it something you introduce or are they hitchhikers on plants or something?

I’m pretty sure the copepods came in on plants I bought from a LFS. The amphipods I intentionally cultivate for my fish aquariums, keep several separate jars with amphipod colonies for feeding my fish, and stupidly thought they’d make good shrimp tankmates (they absolutely do not). The copepods don’t seem to be causing me any issues as of yet, but I’d rather feed them to my fish and perhaps start a separate jar for copepods only, and get them out of my shrimp tank. I’ve been tossing limpets in with my scuds in their jars. I’ve also got a jar of seed shrimp going.