Copepod Schedule

[Rabe]

Are there any reefers out there that have a pair of mandarins in a 120 gallon display? Before I get a pair, I want to make sure I have a good population of pods and and a good idea of how often I may need to replenish.

I introduced some copepods from algae barn a couple months ago, into the display tank. I find copepods in my filter socks every week when I clean. Also, when the lights start going out at night, I can sometimes see them scurrying along the rock work.

I really don't want depend on my sump / refugium as a place to grow them.

So my question is this, any other 120 displays out there with a schedule of how often you replenish?

 

[Lasse]

Today - you can find mandarins that´s eat frozen food and hence, not so depended of living food as before.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[jtl]

The captive raised mandarins that supposedly eat foods other than copepods from what I have read are a hit and miss. Some say they do no better than wild caught but cost 4X as much. Others say while they may each other foods, copepods are the mainstay diet of a mandarin so they need them anyway. I love mandarins and recently had one die even though I had pods and it seemed to be doing fine. Then one day.......not so good.

 

[Eggpaul]

I added a captive raised Mandarin to my 150 gallon tank after being in QT for over a month. it was about 1.5 inches. The next morning somebody had bit off its tail, and then in the evening the snails were trying to eat him! We were so sad. So I went and bought a large wild mandarin for $17 and guess what? Yesterday she was eating krill and blood worms. I feel lucky.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I have a pair in a 90g tank. The tank does have a 75g sump, with most of that sump being a fuge. My pair spawn and have grown nice and fat. I also have a ton of rock, so that probably helps as well. A bit ago I drilled my JBJ45 and added it into this system, and more recently I added my 220g aggressive tank to this system to aid in getting nitrates down in it and up in this one. They are still doing good.

With that being said, the mandarins started in this tank when it was about a year old and only had a diy 40b sump (still mostly fuge lol.). I was prepped to feed them via a DIY brine shrimp feeder, but the size of the fuge and amount of rock kept them well fed. They were in here with no supplemental feeding for almost 2 years before the sump change and the addition of other tanks to the system.

Biggest thing to make sure of, watch their shape, they lose weight quick if they are not getting enough food. You also can boost pod re-population by dosing some phyto. You also mentioned you can see pods at night, check that you still can regularly and you should be good. If not once they are in there for a while, it may be good to stock it up. Also, to keep the pods going strong, every now and again, get a bottle/bag of pods and put them in there. This aids in making sure that there is not to much inbreeding with the pods.

Here is the happy couple hunting pods that made the mistake of going up the back wall lol.