Ya, everyone says that..I don't see them. I bought photo feast from lfs.maybe not adding enough??? I have some white specs, lol but they don't move!!!!
So I have a 75g tank with a 20g sump that’s heavily geared around being a refugium for microfauna, so there’s a self sustaining population there just from the general operation of the tank.
I am and will be successful based on my research and progress with the fish thus far. I have had enormous pod population growth by doing my research. You came at me with a very condescending response and quite frankly, snobby. If your livestock is happy and has the proper food and care, then you are successful whether it is 3 months or 3 years.
I added pods when i put the fish in the tank. I maybe added more a couple of months later and then the third and last time I added pods was March.
As stated above, I sincerely wish you success with the fish but 3 months is not even on the scale of success but it's good you are researching and understand the importance of pods and phyto in the tank.
www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com
I'm not a rookie to this hobby. I have a combined time invested of about 8 years. Again, snobby response veiled with your well wishes. Thanks for the feedback.
I was inferring rookie to mandarins but I can tell you are an expert at everything. Your thread history speaks volumes. You will be wonderfully successful I'm sure.
The captive breed can be fed prepared food. Once we meet their dietary requirements they will be fine. Biota sells captive breed ones which comes eating prepared food. It's a myth that they can only eat pods. Like all other fish we keep; they didn't eat prepared food in the wild but we figured out what they needed and suppied it to them. Good luck.
To put it simple, you just add air, water and pods (and food) and then the pod just explodes in population? thanksEasier than phyto as I don't worry terribly about sterilizing equipment weekly. Super simply setup. I use a 14qt plastic totes with some plumbing (in hindsight, I'd go with these). An air pump hooked up to a stone and some tubing to provide circulation. Feed them phyto fairly regularly. I keep tisbe, tigriopus and apocyclops. All separated as the apocyclops are voracious eaters and will outcompete the other two. They get natural sunlight from the windows, but I don't provide artificial lighting. I have to feed the apocyclops regularly. Daily in fact (I usually skip Sundays). The tisbe can go a few days and the tigriopus are good for about two days between feedings. I just dump in enough phyto to tint the water a bit and then move on. Occasionally I'll run it all through the spigot and then a series of micron mesh filters to I can then clean out the totes. That's a pita, but I only do it once a month (or more).
Here's a pic of my school setup. Tisbe on the left, then tigriopus and two totes of apocyclops.
Folks, go back to page 1 and re read my post...captive bread, you have a great chance of long term survival. We did Pods for 3 months in my Nephews 13.5 Evo Tank, he put a mandarin in at the 3 month mark, he is fat and happy, and we no longer dose Pods. He started his tank this past December, put a mandarin in March, doing awesome.
I never said I had issues. I've had a pair for over a year now. I simply stated I added pods a few times over the year and feed tdo pellets. Implying that you don't need to add pods every week as others are doing.
A pod hotel made of plastic is not much better than highly porous live rock. Or even a sponge from an HOB external filter. I would never buy one of those.
I have a red mandarin i relocated from my main DT plumbed into a 15 gallon tank, sharing a common sump. I put my sensitive small critters that I want to observe closely in the 15, where it has milder flow for my red mandarin and 2 pairs of yasha hasha gobies each paired with a red banded randall's pistol shrimp amongst my frags from my DT.
Wow.
appreciate this. I was like “is he serious?”A pod hotel made of plastic is not much better than highly porous live rock. Or even a sponge from an HOB external filter. I would never buy one of those.
I have a red mandarin i relocated from my main DT plumbed into a 15 gallon tank, sharing a common sump. I put my sensitive small critters that I want to observe closely in the 15, where it has milder flow for my red mandarin and 2 pairs of yasha hasha gobies each paired with a red banded randall's pistol shrimp amongst my frags from my DT.
I have not seen the red mandarin ever eat anything in the DT nor eat any foods I give the gobies and shrimps in the 15g. He has been with me for over a year now. 6 Months in the new 15 gallon tank. He is not skinny, but he is not plump either. His belly is slightly rounded, convex and not concave/sunken in like a starving fish when I first got him. But he has started to develop the long finnage of a male dorsal fin, so I know he's healthy.
My theory is that he is ok in the 15g, because he grazes along the rocks and sand and the sump pumps in ~250 gph of refugium water (post-skimmer) and replenishes the pods. I also have a ton of chaeto from my sump/refugium that I sort of let sit around in the 15g frag/critter tank. The flow is super low and it just looks like a refugium. I think the fact that I don't clean it at all and leave chaeto floating around helps with the pods.
I think if it was a standalone 15g and not connected to the 30 gallon sump and 90 gallon display tank, the red Mandarin, Manny wouldn't be able to survive. Here is the setup and a closeup of the 15 frag/goby pistol/dragonet messy tank. Its almost impossible to get a photo of the red mandarin because he is always zipping around the rocks. Poop. I'd love to see him more out in the open, but he has a shy personality.
Wow.
Lets not go here and judge other peoples passion level. I understand you think you consider yourself partially successful on the 3rd year, and I congratulate your opinion of yourself. But let's not judge anyone else who could potentially become an expert at the 1st year. We can judge equipment, fish and reefing methods, but don't judge other people.
