Tank Transfer - Mandarins

[Cyzax]

I will be upgrading my 220g to a 560g in the near future and am struggling to find the best way to get my mated pair of Mandarins over to the new 560g that will have very little pods.

I've contemplated leaving the 220g running for 6 months or so with just them in it (and the fish I can't catch because there will still be rocks in the tank), but I need the majority of the rocks in the sump of the 560g for filtration.

If I did remove all, or at least most, of the rock from the 220g then there would surely be pods in the 560g, but not sure if there will be enough that make it up to the display and populate before they starve. I've got one eating frozen, but even he isn't eating it reliably enough.

My long-winded question is if I should be able to move 70%(~150lbs) of the rock to the sump and have enough pods go to the display for them in a timely fashion? Or if I remove 70% of the rock and leave them 30% of the rock to feed off of, if that would be enough surface area for them for a few months?

Getting my livestock safely over to the new tank is a top priority for me, so I might just be overthinking it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Jayreefer]

Believe me that your pods will rebound faster than you think. My 240 has live rock that I have had for 10+ years now and when I moved it from my 150 to the 240 the pods where out and about with in a couple of weeks.

If the Mandarin's are fat and happy they will do just fine for a couple weeks as the pods come back. Also you can get some pods from a LFS to seed if you are worried, but that much live rock it will have plenty.

I had live mysis swimming around in the rocks the first week I moved tanks.

 

[Soluent1]

If you put your rocks from the 220 into the new sump, then put your Manderins in there also. That is, until you feel comfortable with the pods in the display tank.

 

[DgenR8]

You can always buy pods to populate the new tank faster.

 

[broomtail]

put some chaeto in your sump. this will hold plenty of copepods after a couple of weeks to populate anything.

 

[Mael]

agree with Dgen8, mandarins and other pod eating species do nothing but eat, so you need a huge population to supply them, until your new one is fully mature I would dose one of the pod concoctions available, whether its junkie juice, reef stew or ordering from algagen or algaebarn or something. makes sure there is always something in there for them.