Mandarin feeding

[dmann]

I have a mandarin on hold at a lfs and he has it eating frozen food already. How do i seed the tank with pods and how long should it take? Thanks

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I have a mandarin on hold at a lfs and he has it eating frozen food already. How do i seed the tank with pods and how long should it take? Thanks

Put the pods in the tank. If they have places to "hide" and phyto to eat they will multiply.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Put the pods in in advsnce?

Yeah if you don't have other fish that eat pods it will give you more time to get a larger supply.

 

[dmann]

How long in advance should you put them in?

 

[dmann]

How many would they go through in a week about?

 

[Marshall O]

What size tank do you have, how long has it been set up, and do you have a refugium?

 

[dmann]

60g cube 1 year. Sump no .refugium.

 

[dmann]

 

[vic67]

I would add pods maybe a week before you get the mandarin home.I would also add a small cluster of rubble rock in the corner whee they could hide and reproduce. I still add pods from time to time to make sure my mandarin is happy.

 

[dmann]

Cool thanks. Do ypu jist add them to the tank?. Will the skimmer get them?

 

[Ole Man]

I always add mine at night when most of the fish inside the reef sleeping that way the PODs have a whole lot better chance of getting into the rocks without the fish thinking wow what a feast!!!Works for me...

 

[dmann]

Would it be better to put a loofa in the sump with my live rock and turn off the filtration for a while at night and add them to the sump?

 

[Marshall O]

I would add them both directly to the DT as well as to the sump.

 

[dmann]

So put some in the dt and some in the sump. How many do they go through in a given week do you think?

 

[Marshall O]

So put some in the dt and some in the sump. How many do they go through in a given week do you think?

Well, if they consumed one every 30 seconds, for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, that would be over 10,000. Hence why you NEED a productive refugium and/or place for them to reproduce.

 

[dmann]

Do they really consume that much? Wow.

 

[dmann]

How fast do they reproduce?

 

[Baldguy]

I'll add that even if the mandarin is eating frozen they still rely on pods for the biggest part of their diet. Seems I've read that a 75g tank is required for a self sustaining pod population. If this is true you're going to be barely adequate.

 

[dmann]

Now theres a minimum tank size required for pods? Lol.

 

[Shep]

Why would you need a 75g for pods? As long as there are places for the pods to safely reproduce it would not really matter what size tank you have, I only have a 20g but I have more than enough pods in my tank to be self sustaining.