Do I need additional copepods? - Feeding Mandarin Goby

[starshrike]

I was wondering if I needed to supplement what copepod population could be left in the tank after it was moved, and re-set up. Some of the live rock was not kept submerged for a few hours, and the chaeto was out of water for a few as well. Sand was moved/shifted.

60 gal tank with 40 gal refugium/dsb sump. There is live rock in the sump, have about 4 good sized pieces in the DT at the moment).

I have no idea what I should be looking for as far as I cannot SEE the small copepods, but I do see the goby active and moving from crevice to crevice finding food. She is brightly colored still - how do I tell if she is eating enough?

Mainly trying to keep things stable in the tank at the moment!

Thanks!

Details about how I ended up with the tank.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=18669932

 

[snorvich]

Supplement the refugium with copepods for a month or so and you should be fine in the long run. By the way, they are a dragonet not a goby.

 

[Retired Reefer]

One simple thing you can is build a brine shrimp hatchery(2 large plastic coke bottles with the bottom cut out flipped upside down with a air line in each) Start a batch every 2nd or 3rd day. Excellent food for them it will get you by while waiting for your pod population to build.

 

[starshrike]

I realized my mistake, it was the common name told to me and unfortunately stuck in my head.

How much and how often should I add? I added a 2000-4000 ct today (half to refugium, half to tank) with lights/pump off. The only copepods I could find locally was RN Trigger Pods.

 

[zukharla]

Will Mandarins eat Cyclopeeze? I've heard good things about that feed. May be something to consider if they would?

 

[cside]

mine would not accept anything other than the pods. Some mandarins eat brine, as well as others will accept cyclop eeze but some accept nothing other than pods. every individual is different. That being said, I cultured my own pods and added few hundred every day to my dt as i do not have a fuge and was only able to keep the mandarin alive for 3 months

 

[starshrike]

I tried to target feed the mandarin the RN TiggerPods, and she was never interested - but resumed hunting moments later.

I was looking at RN artipods (are they too big?) or buying live cultures of copepods online and culturing @ home... not sure if the baking pan, glass jar, bucket or small tank (5 or less gallons) would be most effective.

One ebay seller (fabnlan) has a copepod culture package - any experience with this? There is also pure cultures from oceanpods.com

With a fuge (with live rock, chaeto), how often and how much (for how long) do you think I should supplement? I was looking for other threads, they never really gave frequency... Some said forever, some said once a week, every other day etc.

 

[zukharla]

I just put some Cyclopeeze into my DT out of curiousity and my Mandarin really perked up when he saw them and started picking at them so may be worth a try? We've never bothered before because the tank is crawling with pods and he's fat but my little experiment worked.

 

[HanoverFist]

AlgaGen just released a bunch of new copepod species specifically for saltwater.

http://www.marinedepot.com/AlgaGen_...Coral_Food-AlgaGen_LLC-GV00005-FIFDLI-vi.html