Newly started tank

[wcleveland]

I am getting back into the hobby after a 30 year absence, and so much is changed.

I am setting up a33 gallon, 29 gallon display tank AIO. The eventual goal is to primarily have corals, and 3 fish ( a pair of clowns, and a mandarin). I have 58 lbs of live rock coming in from Tampa Bay, after a fishless cycle.

Would it be possible to create a reproducing population of pods after the cycle and prior to the introduction of fish that would be sufficient to sustain the mandrin or would I need to continue to supply pods, or find one that feeds on pellets?

Thanks in advance for you guidance.

 

[TX_REEF]

Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to Reef2Reef! Congrats on the new system, would love to see some pics. Here are some tips/opinions from me:

• you don't need to wait for the tank to cycle to add live rock. In fact, it will move things along faster to add it sooner. When you do add it, keep an eye out for undesirable hitchhikers to remove them before you add your own livestock. I used some TBS live rock and sand in my systems and am a big fan.
• Yes, pods will reproduce in your tank, especially with that much quality rock. The live rock will likely come with a healthby population of pods, but you can supplement as well. I know @Reef By Steele cultures pods for sale and is very active here. You will obviously still want to feed a quality dry or frozen food (or both) for the clowns. The mandarin may also develop a taste for frozen food or pellets over time in addition to pods, especially if you get a captive bred fish. Biota is a great source for sustainable captive bred fish. If you go that route, feel free to use code REEFSTACHE for 10% off (not my code, just sharing the wealth)
• Have you given thought to what kind of corals you want? This is important for deciding what sort of equipment you want for lighting and flow.

 

[Rjukan]

I am getting back into the hobby after a 30 year absence, and so much is changed.

I am setting up a33 gallon, 29 gallon display tank AIO. The eventual goal is to primarily have corals, and 3 fish ( a pair of clowns, and a mandarin). I have 58 lbs of live rock coming in from Tampa Bay, after a fishless cycle.

Would it be possible to create a reproducing population of pods after the cycle and prior to the introduction of fish that would be sufficient to sustain the mandrin or would I need to continue to supply pods, or find one that feeds on pellets?

Thanks in advance for you guidance.

Hi! Welcome to R2R

TBS is great, and you started off with a fantastic foundation for your reef. A couple things jump out at me:

First is, that's a lot of rock lol. It's great but it's also a challenge. Trying to aquascape that much in a 29g display will be tough, unless you go for a wall of rock. I don't know your actual tank, but if it was me I would try and break up some of the LR into small pieces and keep them in one of the chambers if possible. It will create a safe haven for the pods to populate and spill out into the tank.

Next is the mandarin. I would love to say sure, it will be fine since you are getting so much quality live rock.. but I'm skeptical it will be enough to provide for it long term without a good supplemental source. Consider having a white worm culture, or you could get on a schedule delivery of pods from @reef by steel to keep your tank stocked. A healthy mandarin will eat countless pods per day, and in a small tank will quickly deplete the population. But, with that much live rock and no pod eater competition, you might be ok.

 

[wcleveland]

Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to Reef2Reef! Congrats on the new system, would love to see some pics. Here are some tips/opinions from me:

• you don't need to wait for the tank to cycle to add live rock. In fact, it will move things along faster to add it sooner. When you do add it, keep an eye out for undesirable hitchhikers to remove them before you add your own livestock. I used some TBS live rock and sand in my systems and am a big fan.
• Yes, pods will reproduce in your tank, especially with that much quality rock. The live rock will likely come with a healthby population of pods, but you can supplement as well. I know @Reef By Steele cultures pods for sale and is very active here. You will obviously still want to feed a quality dry or frozen food (or both) for the clowns. The mandarin may also develop a taste for frozen food or pellets over time in addition to pods, especially if you get a captive bred fish. Biota is a great source for sustainable captive bred fish. If you go that route, feel free to use code REEFSTACHE for 10% off (not my code, just sharing the wealth)
• Have you given thought to what kind of corals you want? This is important for deciding what sort of equipment you want for lighting and flow.

There are several leathers and LPS that I rally like, and for the foreseeable future that is the direction that I see this tank going. I will enjoy seeing them grow, and develop. There may be an SPS in the future but that will being years down the line more that likely.

For lighting and flow, I have a Red Sea 50 for the lighting and a Reef Wave 25 for flow. I will take a look at Biota I would prefer to utilize captive bred fish.

I appreciate your experience and advice.

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

WOW @TEX_REEF and @Rjukan being a fellow reefer and getting back to back shout outs like that is awesome. Both of you made great points.

Developing a pod population is vitally important IMO for any dragonet, Mandarins of course are one of the more popular and recognized. Due to their short digestive tract the need to eat continuously and wild caught are notorious for being finicky eaters. Having never owned a tank bred Mandarin, but the mandarins we have do pick at the pods from the rock all day long. So it is my guess that just like our high metabolism fish like Leopard wrasses, Anthias, etc. captive bred mandarins will need to have multiple small feedings per day if not provided with a continuous live food source.

There are three ways to achieve this from my experience.
Choosing the right pods up front and hitting the tank with enough to really get them reproducing into self sustaining colonies. As already mentioned having some rubble and also some macro algae in a chamber will allow the pods a safe haven to reproduce. You will need to monitor especially in a smaller tank to ensure that the reproduction exceeds their predation. Here is a thread that I put together in this.

How to get copepods to colonize?

How do I get an established copepod colony in my aquarium. When we got back into the hobby after a 10 year break, mandarin dragonets were one of our must have fish. We found a lot of information that we didn’t have during our early years in the hobby, and copepods and their importance was one of...

www.reef2reef.com

Second is to purchase initial pods and replenish with some regularity. The frequency and quantity of pods will vary from tank to tank.

Third would be to start with the first option and if you have time, desire and a DIY personality you can set up a culture (I would recommend Apocyclops and nannochloropsis phytoplankton) and have a continuous supply at your disposal.

 

[wcleveland]

Hi! Welcome to R2R

TBS is great, and you started off with a fantastic foundation for your reef. A couple things jump out at me:

First is, that's a lot of rock lol. It's great but it's also a challenge. Trying to aquascape that much in a 29g display will be tough, unless you go for a wall of rock. I don't know your actual tank, but if it was me I would try and break up some of the LR into small pieces and keep them in one of the chambers if possible. It will create a safe haven for the pods to populate and spill out into the tank.

Next is the mandarin. I would love to say sure, it will be fine since you are getting so much quality live rock.. but I'm skeptical it will be enough to provide for it long term without a good supplemental source. Consider having a white worm culture, or you could get on a schedule delivery of pods from @reef by steel to keep your tank stocked. A healthy mandarin will eat countless pods per day, and in a small tank will quickly deplete the population. But, with that much live rock and no pod eater competition, you might be ok.

I was planning on putting as much as possible in the filter compartments, and I'm not sure what I will figure out with the aquascape? I have some thoughts on what I would like too do, but the rock itself my change my plans? I'm not familiar with white worm cultures, but I will start doing some research. I thought for a Mandarin it had to be pods, so I was only looking at it form that perspective?

I will look into the @reef by steel suggestion as well.

Thank you for your guidance and advise.

 

[TX_REEF]

There are several leathers and LPS that I rally like, and for the foreseeable future that is the direction that I see this tank going. I will enjoy seeing them grow, and develop. There may be an SPS in the future but that will being years down the line more that likely.

For lighting and flow, I have a Red Sea 50 for the lighting and a Reef Wave 25 for flow. I will take a look at Biota I would prefer to utilize captive bred fish.

I appreciate your experience and advice.

Got it. That equipment will be perfectly fine for keeping soft corals and LPS. You may look into upgraded lighting down the road if you decide to go heavy on SPS.

 

[TX_REEF]

I was planning on putting as much as possible in the filter compartments, and I'm not sure what I will figure out with the aquascape? I have some thoughts on what I would like too do, but the rock itself my change my plans? I'm not familiar with white worm cultures, but I will start doing some research. I thought for a Mandarin it had to be pods, so I was only looking at it form that perspective?

I will look into the @reef by steel suggestion as well.

Thank you for your guidance and advise.

Stuffing the filter compartments with live rock seems like a good idea at first but keep in mind it will likely become a detritus trap down the line unless you remove the rock and clean out the compartments. which is annoying. Solid mechanical filtration before the rock chambers can help, but won’t completely eliminate the issue. Just food for thought.

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

Stuffing the filter compartments with live rock seems like a good idea at first but keep in mind it will likely become a detritus trap down the line unless you remove the rock and clean out the compartments. which is annoying. Solid mechanical filtration before the rock chambers can help, but won’t completely eliminate the issue. Just food for thought.

I agree. A little rubble not a packed area.

 

[Biota_Marine]

Welcome to R2R!

Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to Reef2Reef! Congrats on the new system, would love to see some pics. Here are some tips/opinions from me:

• you don't need to wait for the tank to cycle to add live rock. In fact, it will move things along faster to add it sooner. When you do add it, keep an eye out for undesirable hitchhikers to remove them before you add your own livestock. I used some TBS live rock and sand in my systems and am a big fan.
• Yes, pods will reproduce in your tank, especially with that much quality rock. The live rock will likely come with a healthby population of pods, but you can supplement as well. I know @Reef By Steele cultures pods for sale and is very active here. You will obviously still want to feed a quality dry or frozen food (or both) for the clowns. The mandarin may also develop a taste for frozen food or pellets over time in addition to pods, especially if you get a captive bred fish. Biota is a great source for sustainable captive bred fish. If you go that route, feel free to use code REEFSTACHE for 10% off (not my code, just sharing the wealth)
• Have you given thought to what kind of corals you want? This is important for deciding what sort of equipment you want for lighting and flow.

Thank you for the shoutout! If you have any questions about our mandarins please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We do feed them only prepared diets at our facility primarily TDO B2 size, Hikari baby brine, and mixes of other chopped or small feeds. We feed 3-5 times daily but many of our customers get away with 2-3 times a day.

 

[TX_REEF]

Welcome to R2R!

Thank you for the shoutout! If you have any questions about our mandarins please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We do feed them only prepared diets at our facility primarily TDO B2 size, Hikari baby brine, and mixes of other chopped or small feeds. We feed 3-5 times daily but many of our customers get away with 2-3 times a day.

@Biota_Marine it’s absolutely my pleasure! My little yellow tang that I got from y’all last year is doing phenomenal, here’s a photo (his name is Tango, no regrets)... I only make recommendations that I can personally support, so I shamelessly shout you guys out at much as possible. Feel free to give me my own TXREEF discount code