Maintaing Copepods With Wrasse

[BigEZ77]

Hi All,

I'll be making some fish stocking changes soon. Changing the YT Damsel for a Starcki, adding a Mandarin (not sure which one yet), removing the 6line and possibly adding a smaller and more peaceful Pink Streaked Wrasse.

Is it a bad idea to put the other wrasse in if I want to keep up a copepod population for the Mandarin? If so, should I be worried about all the bad critters that a wrasse eats? If so again, are there other fish that do similar pest control but are easier on a copepod population?

Thanks,

 

[BigEZ77]

If so again, are there other fish that do similar pest control but are easier on a copepod population?

Or perhaps the mandarin does this work itself?

 

[Sk8r]

With a 45 gallon you are right at the borderline of ability to keep one small mandarin fed---IF you have 20-30 gallons of fuge producing pods like mad. Any competition will likely starve him to death within a few months.

 

[hkgar]

It is doubtful that you can keep up the necessary pod population for the Mandarin in a 45G tank, even without the competition for the pods from the wrasse. Sorry, but IMO forget the Mandarin

 

[davocean]

Totally agree w/ sk8r, borderline, a large fuge may get you past for a small mandy, but if you do I'd have 0 pod competitors.

 

[BigEZ77]

I heard that a lot of spotted Mandarins go for frozen food, is this true?

 

[hkgar]

When I set up my first tank in 2002 I dreamed of the day I could have a Mandarin. Fourteen years later and a 180 I still don't have a Mandarin. I just have come to believe that they are much better off roaming the wild and feasting on all the pods they can find.

True, there have been reports of them eating things other than pods, but, i believe, that is a rare happening. These are living creatures with very special dietary needs, if you cannot meet those needs, leave them to the wild. Don't starve one to death because it just might eat frozen or something else you heard about. There diet is live food. More than likely the odds are it won't eat anything other than pods.

 

[BigEZ77]

Hypothetically, if my LFS has a spotted mandarin that is eating prepared foods, is this a good option? Or, will this just lead to it eventually perishing regardless? i.e. I've heard that it needs to constantly eat, not just at regular feedings like other fish. PS. LA recommends a minimum tank size of 30 gallons.

 

[hkgar]

Mandarinfish eating habits represent another similarity to birds, meaning they usually study their food before they eat. They are fussy, careful, slow eaters and therefore are not a strong contender in finding food. They feed mainly on small worms, protozoans and small crustaceans such as isopods, mysids and amphipods.

From: http://www.dive-the-world.com/creatures-mandarinfish.php

One of the difficulties with "prepared" foods and mandarins is their slow eating. After everybody else aggressively goes aftr the introduced food there is nothing left for them.

So my answer to your question would be no. that is not a good option.

 

[BigEZ77]

Allright, I give up

 

[Sk8r]

I have successfully kept a very small female mandy in a 50 with a 20 gallon fuge absolutely stuffed with cheato and crawling with pods. But the fuge is a must.

 

[BigEZ77]

Thx Sk8r, unfortunately I don't have room for a fuge that size. I could do 5G max.

 

[snorvich]

With a 45 gallon you are right at the borderline of ability to keep one small mandarin fed---IF you have 20-30 gallons of fuge producing pods like mad. Any competition will likely starve him to death within a few months.

What she said. In any case a copepod eating competitor will not work even in a larger tank.

 

[snorvich]

I heard that a lot of spotted Mandarins go for frozen food, is this true?

Mandarins will eat frozen mysis but are horrible competitors for food with tank mates. However, since they eat constantly and you can not feed them constantly, even with no tank mates frozen will not be sufficient.

 

[tazdvl]

Mandy your a fine girl, what a good flake food eater you are! -- ref to song from the 70's sub brandy for mandy.....I digress its been a long day. Just wanted to share that I witnessed my Green Mandy eating flake food today. But as posters earlier said the way Mandy's, scooter blennies, are built they need to be eating all day long no tummies I guess. Just repeating what I've been told about their digestive tract. I'm currently working out a phyto-plankton and copepod ranch using 5 gal homer bucket for pods and 2 2 liter soda bottles for phyto. Just starting the ranch but hope it keeps popping out phyto/pods for years to come. And kinda fun watching the green 2 liter bottles bubbling away feel like I'm in a cheap Sci-Fi movie, not sure if wife feels the same though.

 

[skiingfast]

a 20 gallon fuge absolutely stuffed with cheato and crawling with pods. But the fuge is a must.

In a case like this did the pods spread onto the DT rock? Or did you have to manually move them to the DT to feed the Mandarin?

 

[Maritimer]

I've got a 65gallon with two 'fuges; one in the sump and one HOB. 'Pods move pretty freely between all three, though I'm sure some get beat up by impellers on the way.

In the DT, there are a pair of ruby-red scooters and a target mandarin, all of whom seem to be doing well - the scooters make spawning rises on a pretty much nightly basis.

~Bruce

 

[mgreenough]

I heard that a lot of spotted Mandarins go for frozen food, is this true?

My spotted mandarin eats anything i feed the tank with, frozen, pellets, flake and reef paste (it swims halfway up the glass to be first in line for that).

 

[Sk8r]

Re the question how to get pods to the DT: they go through the pump just fine, still alive. I have an Iwaki external pump, pushing 2300 + gallons an hour, a real Cuisinart of a machine, and I've seen AMPHIPODS come shooting out of the DT nozzle, swimming like mad. Pods will also breed in the DT, and while a mandy could eat them all in a few days, the fact that more are constantly arriving keeps the mandy fed.

 

[BigEZ77]

I'm currently working out a phyto-plankton and copepod ranch using 5 gal homer bucket for pods and 2 2 liter soda bottles for phyto.

Would like to read up about this and how to make one. Do you have a link where you found this information?