Best pods for feeding mandarin

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

I seeded my tank with your mixed pack of pods a few months ago and even with my mandarin and a few other fish feeding on them, the population of some seem to be holding fine. It seems that I never see the Tigriopus pods.

My question is which type of pods is best for feeding the Mandarin. I feel there is value in restocking the pods periodically and am curious if I should stick with adding the 3 pod mix or if I should go species specific.

Thanks!

norfolkgarden · Mar 13, 2018

Great question! Following. [emoji3]

NB Reefer · Mar 13, 2018

@AlgaeBarn may know best but I believe all copepods can live together. If amphipods are introduced to the system they become big enough to eat the copepods and wipe out their reproduction. I agree that there is value in periodically restocking pods.

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

NB Reefer said:
@AlgaeBarn may know best but I believe all copepods can live together. If amphipods are introduced to the system they become big enough to eat the copepods and wipe out their reproduction. I agree that there is value in periodically restocking pods.

I have quite a large number of amphipods and they don't seem to be hurting my copepod population but is interesting. I had never thought of it being possible the copepods would become prey for the amphipods.

More to think about.

NB Reefer · Mar 13, 2018

I need to find out where I learned that from. It was somewhere on here while researching dragonets. I have not personally experienced it but the info still k when I was looking into it. It could end up being purely anecdotal.

NB Reefer · Mar 13, 2018

Brew12 said:
I have quite a large number of amphipods and they don't seem to be hurting my copepod population but is interesting. I had never thought of it being possible the copepods would become prey for the amphipods.

More to think about.

How does one visibly discern between amphipods and copepods?

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 13, 2018

Tisbe.
There are a few others that come in as hitchhikers. But a Mandy will eat amphipods too. Fun to hear them crunch I think.
All bugs eat other bugs so they’ll duke it out and populations will ebb and flow as they. Wage tank war.
I sprinkle spirulina flakes on my chato from time to time to force a bloom.

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

NB Reefer said:
How does one visibly discern between amphipods and copepods?

Amphipods are longer and much larger. Copepods look more like small dots on the glass where you can barely make out the antenna/legs with the naked eye. At least, with my eyes.

saltyfilmfolks said:
Tisbe.
There are a few others that come in as hitchhikers. But a Mandy will eat amphipods too. Fun to hear them crunch I think.
All bugs eat other bugs so they’ll duke it out and populations will ebb and flow as they. Wage tank war.
I sprinkle spirulina flakes on my chato from time to time to force a bloom.

I have noticed mine eats the smaller amphipods, especially when it is just the moonlights on.

Thanks in large part to you, I run my tank much dirtier than I would have imagined could be healthy. Its never done better. 2" of mud in the sump. Constantly dumping in phyto. Overfeeding everything. Needless to say, that does great things for my pod population. Eventually I want to add a second Mandy to join my first one.

And thanks for the Tisbe advice. That was how I was leaning since I felt those are the ones normally on my glass. Figured that means they are also the ones easiest for the Mandarin to get to.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 13, 2018

Brew12 said:
Amphipods are longer and much larger. Copepods look more like small dots on the glass where you can barely make out the antenna/legs with the naked eye. At least, with my eyes.

I have noticed mine eats the smaller amphipods, especially when it is just the moonlights on.

Thanks in large part to you, I run my tank much dirtier than I would have imagined could be healthy. Its never done better. 2" of mud in the sump. Constantly dumping in phyto. Overfeeding everything. Needless to say, that does great things for my pod population. Eventually I want to add a second Mandy to join my first one.

And thanks for the Tisbe advice. That was how I was leaning since I felt those are the ones normally on my glass. Figured that means they are also the ones easiest for the Mandarin to get to.

Haha. Nice. I was wondering how the mud was testing you. Get any live foramefera yet?

Fwiw, mine eats every thing. ISO cope and amphi, sand skaters, tube worms , spaghetti worms , flat worms. Probably a few more things i didn’t know i had.

Much more a carnivore than folks suspect.

Ps alge barn rocks!

SashimiTurtle · Mar 13, 2018

Following, interested to see what algae barn says too. Just got their 5280 this past weekend and have been dosing their phyto daily also.

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Haha. Nice. I was wondering how the mud was testing you. Get any live foramefera yet?

Fwiw, mine eats every thing. ISO cope and amphi, sand skaters, tube worms , spaghetti worms , flat worms. Probably a few more things i didn’t know i had.
Much more a carnivore than folks suspect.

Ps alge barn rocks!

Haven't seen those yet. Lots of other interesting things though, including ulva algae. Couldn't believe when that started growing out of my mud.

SashimiTurtle · Mar 13, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Haha. Nice. I was wondering how the mud was testing you. Get any live foramefera yet?

Fwiw, mine eats every thing. ISO cope and amphi, sand skaters, tube worms , spaghetti worms , flat worms. Probably a few more things i didn’t know i had.
Much more a carnivore than folks suspect.

Ps alge barn rocks!

Brew12 said:
Haven't seen those yet. Lots of other interesting things though, including ulva algae. Couldn't believe when that started growing out of my mud.

I just added mud to my refuge Friday night on @Brew12's recommendation. I haven't seen anything yet, but right before work tonight I added the extra chaeto I had to that compartment and put my Eshopps Curve LED on it, on the same timer as my chaeto reactor. I did notice an odd looking "tunnel" in the mud, up against the front acrylic wall. Maybe a trapped air pocket, or I have something living down there I haven't seen yet. I will say that the tank looks amazingly clear since adding the mud. Still a little film algae on the glass every day, but the water is crystal.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 13, 2018

Brew12 said:
Haven't seen those yet. Lots of other interesting things though, including ulva algae. Couldn't believe when that started growing out of my mud.

Ulva. Really? Hmmm.