Adding pods during cycle???

Does a tank need to be fully cycled to add pods? Just curious I have a tank cycling now and just wondering when they can start to be added. There is some fully cured LR in the tank from my other tank so I was thinking that there would probably be pods in those rocks but I wanted to make sure they would survive through a cycle if I added more

 

I would wait till the end of the cycle.

 

I've noticed pods in my tank from day one. The population has survived for about 3 weeks now... no sign of reduction in numbers. If you're buying pods you might as well wait till you're sure nothing will come to immediate harm. If you have a free source I can't see what harm adding a few would do.

IME, 'pods are among the most diverse and hardy creatures on Earth. Many can survive in waters polluted with heavy metals and nuclear agents, water that is seemingly completely devoid of oxygen, ice cold water, near boiling water, fresh/salt, even damp dirt... I was blown away 10-12 years ago when I lived in Hawaii, we'd find all these little shrimp in the dirt. At first I thought they might be some kind of insect larvae, but after some research came up with a variety of pods known to be terrestrial that live in saturated soils, and go dormant for 6-12 mo when they dry out.

I would think they're an essential part to a good natural cycle, as they're both a source of and feed on decaying matter. In fact I would say good luck to getting rid of pods entirely, I don't think it can be done. Especially with live rock in the equation. you might reduce the number of visible specimens to a minimum, but most water is teeming with millions of invisible/microscopic life unless it's been through some heavy filtering.

-Doug