Alternative Food For Mandarins?

[95accord]

i have a scooter blenny in my 55gal who survived a tank crash (but a couple chromis died)
my tank is less than 1 year old and he's doing great. but i have tons of pods in my tank. Im almost tempted to add a mandarine goby.....but debating if it would deplete the pods too quickly or not.......i'll see with time....

 

[abereefur]

nutramar... frozen mysis... and a good pod population are what will keep a mandarin alive. you need to wait a while for your pod population to grow and stabilize though, if your scooter blennie died, then there was not enough food... in the end your mandarin will catach up with the pod pupolation and you will probably have to start adding pods, either bought or from your fuge.

 

[cl2ysta1]

tank raised mandarins are on the way
There is a guy in florida who successfully raised his first batch he tried. something like 180 babies

 

[tbittner]

I read about that. He has them eating frozen and dry food too. Well, some of them at least.

 

[Zaita]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12515051#post12515051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cl2ysta1
tank raised mandarins are on the way
There is a guy in florida who successfully raised his first batch he tried. something like 180 babies

Matt Witt He is a very well known author on marine breeding. Very talented breeder.

 

[Tennyson]

Thanks for the info every one. Anyway, I am thinking about replacing my carbon filter that doesn't do anything for my tank, and getting a small refugium. So I think it will help increase my pod population. So would I wait a couple months for the pods to increase with the refuigium, then would I be able to get a mandarin or a psychadelic goby?

Heres the refugium Im getting:
http://www.aquadirect.com/store/product.php?productid=17616&cat=0&page=2

 

[petoonia]

I would wait a minimum of 6 months to let the refuge really get established, the longer you wait the better. The sand sifting goby does eat pods out of the sand bed so that could also have an impact on the pod population. I would also consider adding more live rock to your display. A minimum of 75 pounds of rock is generally best to sustain a mandarin. I would also suggest creating small rubble piles in your display, maybe behind the rock work. This creates even more places for pods to hide, and reproduce. Even if you can get a mandarin that eats prepared food, you still need an ample amount of pods throughout the tank for the mandarin to survive.

Here is a link to the FAQ on the home page:

http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3