New Reef Tank, Advice for Copepods in Refugium

C

Cakebaker13

New member
Hey everyone, So I'm new to the hobby. I have had my tank up and cycled and ready. I have a 29 gal tank with 20 lbs of reef sand and ~29lbs of rock. I have a Reef Octopus BH-1000 HOB skimmer, Fluval 306 Canister Filter, and a CPR Aquafuge2 Small Refugium.
Current tank inhabitants include 2 Ocellaris clownfish, 1 LTA, and 1 Mandarin Dragonet.
My girlfriend keeps getting worried that our latest addition, the mandarin, might have eaten all the existing copepods, in addition to two supplemental additions of copepods made within the past week.
Is it possible for the mandarin to have eaten all the added copepods within a matter of days? The refugium has about 1 in of live rock/shell/dead coral rubble in it and about a softball portion of cheatomorpha.
At this current point, what is the best way to obtain a sizeable population of copepods? I have been debating on adding a third batch of copepods to the refugium and turning off the pump for about 10 days to make sure they get settled. I have been feeding the tank a little phyto daily for the copepods to have some food.
If I cannot turn off the refugium, I was thinking about adding a sponge or cloth in the outflow to further block the exit of copepods from the refugium. Any experiences or advice in this would be greatly appreciated.
 
A Mandarin will probably eat a bottle or more of pods in a day. You are going to clean your LFS out of them pretty quickly. Might want to order a large quantity online of a few different kinds. I've read that you can help the pods multiply by filling a mesh bag with rock rubble and sticking it in the corner of the tank. You should also provide plenty of food for the pods. If they starve, their numbers will not increase.
 
So, Could I order one of the 16oz over 1000 copepods form ebay, then put it in my refugium and turn the pump to the refugium off for about 10 days to give them a chance to settle in?
I do really like the idea of having a rubble area in the display for them to hide in as well, thanks!
 
You will probably need several of those. A Mandarin can eat upwards of 3,000 pods per day. I wouldn't shut off the flow to your fuge. Some will escape in the water flow but most should stay down there. Provide them some macro algae to hide in/eat.

Check here for pods and such:
http://www.algagen.com/?page_id=907
 
no offense but..
You should take the mandarin back to the store then slap yourself for not doing your homework first :lol:

They should ONLY go into larger/well established systems.. Yours is neither large nor established..

I know.. pretty neat fish.. But its out of your league..
 
mcgyvr said:
They should ONLY go into larger/well established systems.. Yours is neither large nor established..

I know.. pretty neat fish.. But its out of your league..
Click to expand...

this.

a new 29 gallon tank with a new keeper is no place for a dragonet of any type. that's a recipe for disaster.
 
Take it from me. I lost a dragonet and I had a very similar situation. 29G Biocube, small ball of chaeto in the sump, plenty of LR and sand. I just couldn't keep up with the dragonet's eating habits.

IME, you should either get a larger tank or give the mandarin to someone who can take care of it. Unless you feel like spending loads of money on pods or eventually set up a tank to grow them on your own. OR train the mandarin to eat prepared foods (i've seen this done).
 
So do established refugiums provide enough pods for a dragonet to eat? Im setting up tank and wanted to get one after my refugium was up and running with pods.
 
They do. The main concern is how big is the refugium/how many pods does it produce? Pods also live in the display but they generally don't thrive there. As previously stated in this thread mandarins can eat upwards to a few thousand pods a day. If you can get a hold of a dragonet that eats pellets or frozen food awesome. However that's a rare occurrence.
 
you can find threads online on how to train them. Regardless it takes a lot of work to train them and some aren't successful.

From what I've seen the best way to keep one successfully in such a small tank is to just purchase one that is already trained and have a dedicated feeding station for it where only it can eat (IE a bottle only it can swim into to eat its pellets). They eat a lot of food.
 
vikinglord13 said:
you can find threads online on how to train them. Regardless it takes a lot of work to train them and some aren't successful.

From what I've seen the best way to keep one successfully in such a small tank is to just purchase one that is already trained and have a dedicated feeding station for it where only it can eat (IE a bottle only it can swim into to eat its pellets). They eat a lot of food.
Click to expand...

Thanks. So apparently the mandarin I got is a young one. He seems to have taken to eating frozen fish eggs and frozen cyclops without any training at all.
 
Wow, I am jealous...my first tank (30 gal with fuge) was about 1.5yo when I thought I could care for a Mandarin as it's my favorite fish...however within a month I found it was not going to be successful for me. Keep a close eye that he doesn't start to decline anyway...they need a huge amount of protein. And good luck

The peeps on here know what they are talking about...that fish is not good for a small tank.
 
Never assume in this hobby. Watch the size of the fish. Make sure he looks "fat and happy".

With the size of tank you have I don't think you'll see many pods on the walls (even in the fuge) and such and the mandarin will significantly reduce the population.
 
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