Copepods in a 24 gal nano tank?

[hippybryguy]

So I just added a green mandarin to my 24 gal nano tank. I know I'm gonna have to supplement copepods for awhile till the mandarin will start to eat prepared food. I'm gonna add a refugium tank in the near future to enhance my systems production of pods also. The question is how often should I supplement the tank with the cultures? Is it possible to over do it since the mandarin will thin the population? Should I add a variety? Tisbe pods is what I have read as the most common recommendation. All assistance or knowledge is appreciated.

 

[Greatwhitetang]

Should have done this all first, most bottled cultures take a while to seed and will not provide ample food until very well established (which is hard to do with them being fed on) most set up a separate copepod only tank separate from main system for pod propagation, low lighting low flow and sponges or shower loofah s work great for pods just need to feed them phytoplankton. Tisbee are the best!! Higher nutritional value and smaller and easier to eat for mandarins and small wrasse

 

[hotelbravo]

unless you bought quite a few bottles of lets say 12k+ pods in each bottle. you will never be able to keep up with the mandarins speed at mowing down thousands of copepods. they average 8,640 copepods per day to survive.. thats one every 5 seconds. they only eat during day time.
copepods require months to breed and populate a tank so that a mandarin can sustain himself on them
frozen or meaty foods are great if you can get the mandarin to eat them but they are not good for sustaining the mandarin. even if you can get your mandarin to eat frozen or meaty foods the main diet should consist of copepods.
you will likely never reach the appropriate amount of copepods in your 24 gallon nano. you would need a huge refugium attached to your system to maintain a population.
take the mandarin back and do more research on their need imo

 

[MizTanks]

Copepods in a 24 gal nano tank?

unless you bought quite a few bottles of lets say 12k+ pods in each bottle. You will never be able to keep up with the mandarins speed at mowing down thousands of copepods. They average 8,640 copepods per day to survive.. Thats one every 5 seconds. They only eat during day time.
Copepods require months to breed and populate a tank so that a mandarin can sustain himself on them
frozen or meaty foods are great if you can get the mandarin to eat them but they are not good for sustaining the mandarin. Even if you can get your mandarin to eat frozen or meaty foods the main diet should consist of copepods.
You will likely never reach the appropriate amount of copepods in your 24 gallon nano. You would need a huge refugium attached to your system to maintain a population.
Take the mandarin back and do more research on their need imo

A++ Totally agree. Free Willy!!

 

[hotelbravo]

Any update? Did you remove the mandarin or are you still going to try to keep it?

 

[hippybryguy]

At this point the mandarin seems to be doing well. I started a pod culture separate of my tank system now and have been adding pods at least once a week to help boost the population. Gonna try and keep him in there but if he starts looking rough I will definitely find a new home for him.

 

[hotelbravo]

Good luck you will need it

 

[FinzAquatics]

Good luck you will need it

Useless statement... How about offering constructive feedback?

He's already had the mandarin for a month. Seems to be making his best efforts by adding copepods regularly. Is his situation ideal? Probably not, but his efforts are there.

I say, keep at it! Keep adding those pods and offer frozen regularly. Get him eating frozen and you should be good!

 

[hotelbravo]

Useless statement... How about offering constructive feedback?

I tried offering constructive feedback.

unless you bought quite a few bottles of lets say 12k+ pods in each bottle. you will never be able to keep up with the mandarins speed at mowing down thousands of copepods. they average 8,640 copepods per day to survive.. thats one every 5 seconds. they only eat during day time.
copepods require months to breed and populate a tank so that a mandarin can sustain himself on them
frozen or meaty foods are great if you can get the mandarin to eat them but they are not good for sustaining the mandarin. even if you can get your mandarin to eat frozen or meaty foods the main diet should consist of copepods.
you will likely never reach the appropriate amount of copepods in your 24 gallon nano. you would need a huge refugium attached to your system to maintain a population.
take the mandarin back and do more research on their need imo

 

[MizTanks]

Useless statement... How about offering constructive feedback?

He's already had the mandarin for a month. Seems to be making his best efforts by adding copepods regularly. Is his situation ideal? Probably not, but his efforts are there.

I say, keep at it! Keep adding those pods and offer frozen regularly. Get him eating frozen and you should be good!

Worst advice ever! Your suggesting a slow death for this fish....shameful [emoji22]

 

[FinzAquatics]

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/nano-mandarin-full-article.htm

It is possible to have a mandarin in a nano. The success rate is poor yes, but it's been done before... The TFH article above was written by someone who was able to keep a mandarin successfully in a nano. This person had a 10 gallon

They used 'fish roe' as part of the diet after attempting to stock the tank with pods which proved to be difficult..

This is just one example, if you search around you find similar success keeping mandarins in a nano. Obviously this is not the norm and they should be kept in larger aquariums, but like most "rules" in this hobby they can be broken from time to time.

 

[Sbooton2160]

Don't listen to some of the "oh you can't do it" nonsense. I've had a 28 cube for a little over a year now. Very first fish? Mandarin. Still alive and hunting to this day. I did exactly what you did, bought the mandarin and about 3k pods to start with. I added a fuge as well that is now plumbed to the tank. What makes this even better is I have had a ruby red scooter(also a pod eater, along with other things) who has been in there about 8 month. Just because some people can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done, smh. Unless you have experience with what the person is asking, I'd recommend not commenting something negative..

 

[hotelbravo]

. Unless you have experience with what the person is asking, I'd recommend not commenting something negative..

i first tried with a mandarin in my 30 gallon. added 6k pods to my tank and let them reproduce over 3 months then added the mandarin. the mandarin did not have enough food source. i do have experience from this. just because you seem to be one of the few and somehow lucky to get something that is highly advised against to work in your favor does not mean it is smart to tell others its a good idea to try

 

[MizTanks]

Copepods in a 24 gal nano tank?

Don't listen to some of the "oh you can't do it" nonsense. I've had a 28 cube for a little over a year now. Very first fish? Mandarin. Still alive and hunting to this day. I did exactly what you did, bought the mandarin and about 3k pods to start with. I added a fuge as well that is now plumbed to the tank. What makes this even better is I have had a ruby red scooter(also a pod eater, along with other things) who has been in there about 8 month. Just because some people can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done, smh. Unless you have experience with what the person is asking, I'd recommend not commenting something negative..

Sorry but the failures outweigh the success 100-1. But you keep supporting and come back with your Mandy's still alive and thriving in your 28g 8yrs from now and I'll personally apologize. No way is keeping any fish let alone a Dragonet alive for 8 months considered a success.