food for a scooter blenny

[john08007]

I recently purchased a scooter blenny. I don't have a Pod population because the tank has not been up for too long. I just purchased: Poseidon's Feast :: Live Marine Copepods - 3000+ Tisbe & Tigriopus Pods - 16oz from the algaebarn. I turned off my return pump, skimmer, put my circulation pump on feed mode and dumped about 75% of this into my display tank(with the lights off), I poured the remainder into my refuge where I have live rock.

My question, do you think this is enough to seed my tank for a copepod population to keep my blenny alive? I do see him swimming around and pecking off the rock, I'm assuming grabbing food.

 

[peasofme]

they eat thousands of pods a day. the key is to have a ball of chaeto the size of a basketball and pod rubble motels where they can breed.

 

[snorvich]

they eat thousands of pods a day. the key is to have a ball of chaeto the size of a basketball and pod rubble motels where they can breed.

This.

 

[john08007]

That's why I poured the rest of the bag into my refug where I have LR rubble, I thought that would be enough to seed it. I also thought the amount I poured into my display would live in the LR and multiply there also. So the ones growing in my refuge will be whisked away and shot up into my display periodically. I was suprised how small they are, they look like specks of dust floating in the bag.

 

[Halo_003]

Since you just set the tank up recently I'd give it a solid 6-8 months before trying, and even then if you have a smaller tank train it on to frozen. I have a red scooter that is doing very well in a 20 long. He hunts all over the rocks 24/7 and gets fed twice daily.

 

[Miz40B]

What other fish do you have? Since your tank is so young, your going to have to feed your pods also. Very sparingly you can use zooplankton/phytoplankton or grind up some flake food to a dust and feed at least 1x a week.
Oh and eating 1000's a day may be a bit of an exaggeration, more like 100's possibly

 

[rssjsb]

If you decide to keep the fish, you'll want to try and supplement his diet while the pod population grows in your refugium. See if you can get him to eat frozen mysis. I wouldn't recommend counting on frozen foods to sustain him long term, but it could help in the interim.

Also, Miz40B, it is thousands. Mandarins have been clocked eating a pod about every eight seconds. There are 43,200 seconds in a 12 hour period. 12 x 60 x 60 = 43,200. Divide that by 8, you're at 5,400 pods every 12 hours. I would expect something similar from scooters and other dragonets.

 

[john08007]

picked up some frozen brine shrimp tonight, saw him eating it so I'm gonna go that route, maybe try getting a 5 gal bucket and try raising some pods under my tank.

 

[rssjsb]

Brine is good to get a feeding response, but you'll want to switch to something more nutritious like mysis once he's taking food from the water column.

 

[snorvich]

Brine is good to get a feeding response, but you'll want to switch to something more nutritious like mysis once he's taking food from the water column.

Exactly. And remember with any grazer, they need to be fed more often that the normal once or twice a day feeding.