Copepods...

[wasacracker]

What would be the best way to get copepods established in our 55 so we can get a Mandrin, we have tried to add to our live rock an create a refugum of a sort in along the back of the tank but it is not working, we don't want o keep dumping $ in for nothing. Realy don't have the space to do a seperate small tank for them alone.

 

[reeferstace]

A 55g tank is not large enough to support a pod population that would sustain a mandarin.

 

[Donkeykong]

Depending on the size of your fuge and amount of rock in your system a 55 can come up short in providing enough pods for a mandarin. Look into the ORA mandarins as they are adapted to frozen food, but still hit or miss from what I have read. There are several places that sell pods online, I was happy with my order from reefcleaners.org. Pods are beneficial for any system so even if you dont go with a mandarin, seeding your system is a good idea.

 

[reefomeez]

Do you have room for an HOB refugium? It won't be able to support a population large enough for a mandarin to exclusively eat pods but it would help.

Honestly, you want to train your mandarin (or buy a trained one) to eat prepared foods. Then the pod population can just be supplemental and not the only or main source of food. Mandarins can be kept in a tank your size....you just need to make sure its main source of food is what you give it and then the pods are just for grazing throughout the day. Also, make sure you buy some every now and again to replenish your system.

Good luck!

 

[Donkeykong]

Just reread your post, I thought you said you had a fuge, but it looks like you are trying to creat an in tank fuge? in order for it to work it would have to be closed off so fish and everything else cant get in and that will be hard to do and still get good flow so it doesnt get stagnate. Is a sump possible or even a HOB fuge? In a 55 gallon with no real fuge the only way I would try a mandarin is find one at a LFS that you can actually see eat prepared food, preferably going back several times and seeing it repeatedly. It is possible to train it to eat prepared food at home but can be hard especially in larger tanks since you cant force it to stay were you put the food at.

 

[Daniel Reef]

Does just buying pods and putting them in the tank every couple of months or so work? Just wondering if the OP really wants to have a mandarin and can afford supplementing every so often whether this is a viable alternative.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Any amount of copepods you can buy is roughly the amount a mandarin should be eating in a day.

 

[Paul B]

 

[ReeferBill]

You need to set up a large refugium with alot of liverock and sand and cheato ....30-40 gallons add pods and your off.....

 

[Salty88]

to raise a nice colony you def need a sump tank so your fish cant go to town on the copepods. and having plants in your refugium with live rock would be ideal. but you need a sump to seperate them entirely.

 

[rssjsb]

Does just buying pods and putting them in the tank every couple of months or so work? Just wondering if the OP really wants to have a mandarin and can afford supplementing every so often whether this is a viable alternative.

Without the right kind of pods and a refugium where they can reproduce without being eaten, the answer is no. Dragonets can easily eat a whole bottle of pods in a day (or less). Without a means to culture them, depending on adding pods from a bottle really isn't feasible.

 

[wasacracker]

Thanks so much for all the info, we don't have the room for a sump...so I guess a mandrin will be out for now untill we have more space. Thanks again