Chaeto and pods

ahiggins · Mar 12, 2017

hey all!
Looking at adding chaeto to my 40 breeder via a diy hang in tank box. My question is, how big of a box/how much chaeto would I need to add to keep a decent pod population going? I have a 40 breeder with about 15-20# live rock and all my frags. Midas blenny, diaper anthia, and yellow canary wrasse. I have a ton right now but the addition of the wrasse is what I'm worried about...he's a fatty lol

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 12, 2017

A gallon bag of chato.

For the Wrasse I'd kinda think you want to have amphipods because of the size of them and the the fish. Tisbe copepods and the common isopods are sooo small. As much as I hate a mess, a pile of rubble or super porous rock might be a better though than the chato.
This is your super powered frag tank yea? Pods are like cockroaches, so they just need a place to hide out, so unless you looking to nutrient reduction with the macros Id say it might be more of a pain than its worth. So a tupperware full of rubble and frag plugs might work better. And you can clean it . You can seed it it too with the sponge full of pods you can buy.

Im sorry I couldnt find the picture of the chato tree I made out of a ball of chato, dead birdsnest and fishing line to feed the Mandarin and the pipe fish. Its a pretty goofy pic.Chato grew to be bigger than a grapefruit and I had to trim it.

ahiggins · Mar 12, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
A gallon bag of chato.

For the Wrasse I'd kinda think you want to have amphipods because of the size of them and the the fish. Tisbe copepods and the common isopods are sooo small. As much as I hate a mess, a pile of rubble or super porous rock might be a better though than the chato.
This is your super powered frag tank yea? Pods are like cockroaches, so they just need a place to hide out, so unless you looking to nutrient reduction with the macros Id say it might be more of a pain than its worth. So a tupperware full of rubble and frag plugs might work better. And you can clean it . You can seed it it too with the sponge full of pods you can buy.

Im sorry I couldnt find the picture of the chato tree I made out of a ball of chato, dead birdsnest and fishing line to feed the Mandarin and the pipe fish. Its a pretty goofy pic.Chato grew to be bigger than a grapefruit and I had to trim it.

I feel like using chaeto to get nutrients out would take a ton of chaeto but I already have rubble in there

so maybe amphipods are the best bet. Are there better species than others. Like tisbe vs tigre for copepods?

ahiggins · Mar 12, 2017

Holy crap...50count for $42 what the heck? First site I came across

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 12, 2017

ahiggins said:
Holy crap...50count for $42 what the heck? First site I came across

This is the only thing I buy from these guys and I wait for the free shipping deals.
https://aquariumdepot.com/live-food
I dont know the scientific name for our preferred amphipods. We'd have to ask Renee, or read, and do my own homework instead of riding her coat trails...

ahiggins · Mar 12, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
This is the only thing I buy from these guys and I wait for the free shipping deals.
https://aquariumdepot.com/live-food
I dont know the scientific name for our preferred amphipods. We'd have to ask Renee, or read, and do my own homework instead of riding her coat trails...

Hahahaha I would rather not waste time researching the ones I don't want lol I'll get a species and then do my research

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 12, 2017

ahiggins said:
Hahahaha I would rather not waste time researching the ones I don't want lol I'll get a species and then do my research

Hah, right. So the ones in the Pic in the link. Those are the yummy for wrassy ones.
My Gramma grabs em outta the water and you can her them crunch while she chews. The Mandy only goes after those if they're small.

ahiggins · Mar 12, 2017

And they're not $40 for 40ct bahaha

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 12, 2017

ahiggins said:
And they're not $40 for 40ct bahaha

Those for sure come with two types of copepods and one type of amphipod and one type of isopod.

Hyde2406 · Mar 12, 2017

Www.FloridaPets.com
way better price and way better product

Hyde2406 · Mar 12, 2017

They sent me a very nice population that has reproduced greatly in my refugium

randy4083 · Mar 13, 2017

Go onto algae barn site there pretty cheap and you get alot of pods for your money

ahiggins · Mar 13, 2017

randy4083 said:
Go onto algae barn site there pretty cheap and you get alot of pods for your money

They don't sell amphipods which I think is the way I'm going to go

ahiggins · Mar 13, 2017

Hyde2406 said:
They sent me a very nice population that has reproduced greatly in my refugium

Thanks, I'll check them out

randy4083 · Mar 13, 2017

I thought that they did and I thought that they had a mixed bag with them in

randy4083 · Mar 13, 2017

Nope they don't sorry I thought that they did sell them

randy4083 · Mar 13, 2017

Google amphipods

Tori · Mar 13, 2017

I've ordered from both Aquarium Depot and http://getyourpods.com/ in the past. Both have come with really decent sized amphipods. I have a 20 gallon all in one tank and ended up switching out the Chaeto and just adding a bag of Seachem pond matrix that I seeded with pods. It seemed to do a good job of keeping the population growing. I eventually added a Santa Monica Filtration drop algae scrubber that I did not seed with pods but it's teaming with them now. Like Salty said, they just need a place to reproduce where they won't be eaten but can still make it into the tank.