I Found All My Pods! Now What?

Kal · Sep 17, 2018

Hi All,

I have been obsessed with sustaining a thriving pod population so that I can get a Mandarin Goby. To that end I have tried many methods of providing a safe haven without the capability of adding a refugium, and I have added miiiillllllionsssss of pods from various retailers with very little success. Until today.

When I first set up my tank the overflow was very loud so someone suggested I stuff some filter floss in the overflow. This worked and I never thought about it again. Well yesterday during a water change I decided to wipe down the inside of my overflow and was surprised to feel something in there. I pulled it out, and holy crap there was the filter floss with every pod on the planet fully grown and thriving in it. Very exciting! Unfortunately, the pods live in the space that goes into my sump, not out of it. And they are not moving to the DT at any kind of pace that would sustain a Mandarin.

How do I get them out of this floss and into a better place to feed the DT? I can't just shake out the floss into the tank as it is decently full of brown stuff (i assume waste food and poop). Even if I could, what I know of the adult pods I have purchased before, they would not just let go. That would be a battle. Do I utilize my QT tank and try to shake them out there? What then? I could add a rock and hope they seek refuge in the rock, but again, they are deep in this floss, no way they just let go.

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 17, 2018

Rinse it in the tank. Don’t sweat it.

Seeing them in the fuge and the floss is an indication of the population in the DT.
They just hide in the DT cuz of the lights and predators.
Think about it. How did they get in the overflow. From the DT

Have some rocks that you can take from the sump to the DT and vice versa. Just trade them out. I like to do it at water changes just to make it a habit. Keeps the bugs up. I’ve been doing it for years now.