another mandarin thread

[TAYGEL]

I've done a ton of research, looked at a lot of forums and threads about mandarins. Some say yeah its possible but most say NO NO NO. Not sure if starting a thread of my own will change the general consensus of DONT DO IT, THEY'LL STARV TO DEATH. I, of course, don't even want to get started down that road if its not possible.

A Little back round first
Biocube for 2 years...going strong and haven't had to many issues(other than a power outage:sad I have 1 clown and some soft corals (Green start polyps, Zoas, Blue anthelia, Duncan, Frogspawn. All is doing great.

I'm upgrading to a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon refugium. The fuge will have chaeto and live rock.

Now, to the main question.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO KEEP ENOUGH PODS FOR A MANDARIN?

 

[Zero Nitrates]

You can always supplement pods by purchasing them at a LFS or online.

 

[Igarc009]

Here's what I did, I purchase pods off of ebay every two months and I feed Ova every three days, my mandarin gained weight pretty fast this way

 

[Viperdoug]

I have had onein my tank for over a year and he is doing great. I read that if you have an established tank with pods growing that they will reproduce on their own and that you cannot supplement enough anyway. I considered adding one to make a pair but don't want to push my luck out of the nine fish in my tank he is one of my favorites. He has a ton of personality and does not shy away for human attention towards the tank.

 

[tuna_bullet]

I have three pairs in my system they are all doing great my current system has been up and running 1 year, I have a breading pair right now.....I am hoping to gather the eggs when she lays and put them in the fuge...........

 

[TAYGEL]

WOuld my 20 gallon refugium be big enough to support enough pods?..... or would i have to dose it up?

 

[AlexG]

I think it is possible but I would make sure that the refuge is crawling and they are visible in the main tank before getting one. Worst case if its weight goes down you can take them back to the store. I know mine looked like he was vaccum sealed he was so thin when i got him now he is very healthy accept for the fact that he has tried to kill all the possible mates I have gotten him. I still have hope to find him a mate one day.

 

[oceangirl2009]

Add pods on a regular basis and you should be fine. I've had a male for 6+ months, I add pods every couple of months just to be sure and he seems to be fat and healthy.

 

[TAYGEL]

Do you have a fuge? Good to hear the success stories, in a lot of threads you read about all the horror stories. Merry Christmas!!

 

[aceer15]

I have a 40 breeder with a 30 gallon sump and a 7 gallon fuge baffle. My mandarin is doin awesome....I'd recommend training him to eat mysis/brine when you get one. I have plenty of pods for him that he munches on all day but it doesn't hurt to supplement him with frozen

 

[x8turbo4x]

I had male and female in a 40b and mine would swim around eating small pellet food I threw in each day. Would put pods in refugium maybe once every 3 months

 

[RacinRevo0818]

I would look into culturing your own pods!!! Piece of cake!!
Either buy phyto and a bottle of pods or start your own phyto culture. Basically a gallon Rubbermaid storage container ( I have the clear ones with a white lid) hard airline, smallest little air pump and even then you can turn it down to just a few bubbles a min.
I would start with your pods and basically double the water they are in making sure to match salinity ideally around 1.020. Add just enough phytoplankton to tint the water. Then the really simple part WAIT!! In about 2 weeks you should see an explosion of pods growing. Then simply pour about 10 to 16 oz thru a coffee filter or a 53 um sieve. At this point you could either release them into your tank or take the extra step and gut load them with selcon or vita chem.
once you have a healthy copepod culture you should be able to harvest weekly amounts for next to nothing.
Side note always keep a small back up bottle just incase your culture crashes. Doesn't need air or anything just keep the lid off. Then basically replace backup culture with new culture every 2 weeks or so and feed bottled culture to tank!!
Also dosing small amounts of phyto into reef tank will encourage the growth of pods in tank. Just don't over due it. I would start with like a capful a day if it's not a concentrated
Phyto mix. If you need anymore help pm me and I will help you as best as I can. I was able to keep a mandarin in a 10g very fat and happy. Temporally of course!

 

[TAYGEL]

I would look into culturing your own pods!!! Piece of cake!!
Either buy phyto and a bottle of pods or start your own phyto culture. Basically a gallon Rubbermaid storage container ( I have the clear ones with a white lid) hard airline, smallest little air pump and even then you can turn it down to just a few bubbles a min.
I would start with your pods and basically double the water they are in making sure to match salinity ideally around 1.020. Add just enough phytoplankton to tint the water. Then the really simple part WAIT!! In about 2 weeks you should see an explosion of pods growing. Then simply pour about 10 to 16 oz thru a coffee filter or a 53 um sieve. At this point you could either release them into your tank or take the extra step and gut load them with selcon or vita chem.
once you have a healthy copepod culture you should be able to harvest weekly amounts for next to nothing.
Side note always keep a small back up bottle just incase your culture crashes. Doesn't need air or anything just keep the lid off. Then basically replace backup culture with new culture every 2 weeks or so and feed bottled culture to tank!!
Also dosing small amounts of phyto into reef tank will encourage the growth of pods in tank. Just don't over due it. I would start with like a capful a day if it's not a concentrated
Phyto mix. If you need anymore help pm me and I will help you as best as I can. I was able to keep a mandarin in a 10g very fat and happy. Temporally of course!

Just like maintaining a sourdough starter! Wow...way off topic but I've been keeping a sourdough starter for years, twice a month i split it in half(use it or discard it) and feed it with water and flour to keep it happy.

Sounds like the same thing, sort of! Thats some great info thank you.

 

[Joni]

Reef2go always have good deals on copepods and amphipods that you can actually see, I have 2 mandarins, one in my sump and one in my dt for a year now and its been about 6 months since I bought pods because theres probably millions of them in my tank and sump. I keep chaeto in my sump which is good for the pods to multiply.

 

[rjh]

we have 2 mandarines a male and a female both eat prepared foods we have had them for 2 yrs

 

[NanaReefer]

No!

 

[TimRB]

We first got our Green Mandrin about 7 months ago. He was pretty frail after about 1 month couldn't get him to eat. We purchase 250 copods off the net and picked up to bottles of Tiger pods dumped them in the 55 gallon aquarium (except for about 1/2 of one bottle we put into a 5 gallon bucket. We aerated the 5 gallon bucket with a light on on it. then dumped them in the aquarium in a month. Our Mandrin is fat and happy now. We have over 50 pounds of live rock in the tank. He is constantly on the prowl looking for food and is still chubby we have not adding any copods since then.

 

[944speeder]

Dragonets and mandarins have adapted over time to feed in the wild at a rate of one copepod or other crustacean small enough to fit in their mouth, every 3-5 seconds, this is a large amount of good considering they feed all day long, but with efficient food they can survive and thrive in any aquarium size wether it rely on you feeding it multiple times a day or on the population of the Copepods in the tank.