tigerpods or copepods for my Mandarinfish

iretthepirate · May 1, 2014

Recently bought a Mandarin fish thinking it was tank raised cause that's the request I put in. come to find out they gave me a wild one anyways needles to say he won't eat brine or mysis so going to the local fish store today to pick up either tigerpods or copepods. Which one do u guys think would be better for him he's pretty big

cpayne015 · May 1, 2014

either or....when I had a mandarin I would buy several thousand copepods from reef2go and grab tigerpods when I saw them locally

Squishie89 · May 1, 2014

Mine loves tisbe pods

davocean · May 1, 2014

Even ORA's tank bred were problematic on eating prep'd foods, and even if they did you will still need pods of any kind.
Not sure your tank size or history/specs, but Ideally you should have a fuge of some kind, even just a HO will help.
Buying pods is going to get expensive for what you will need.
A fuge w/ a clump of chaeto goes a long way in providing pods.

wangspeed · May 1, 2014

Those little bottles of pods won't do anything for the mandarin. They'll be gone in no time. I second the idea to make a huge order of pods from reefs2go and use that to seed your aquarium with pods. You'll likely have to do this once in a while, depending on the size of your aquarium, and how aggressive the other fish are with eating pods. No way I can keep a mandarin. Too many wrasses that keep the display clear of pods.

davocean · May 1, 2014

wangspeed said:
Those little bottles of pods won't do anything for the mandarin. They'll be gone in no time. I second the idea to make a huge order of pods from reefs2go and use that to seed your aquarium with pods. You'll likely have to do this once in a while, depending on the size of your aquarium, and how aggressive the other fish are with eating pods. No way I can keep a mandarin. Too many wrasses that keep the display clear of pods.

If OP has a fuge of any kind, pods will reproduce very quickly, $5 for a clump of chaeto that will hold and sustain them(some give chaeto away free) vs a big bottle of pods and shipping.
Normally one clump of chaeto will come w/ plenty enough pods to begin a colony in no time, as long as it is in an area lacking of predation.

c.declivisowner · May 2, 2014

I'd say buy as much as you can of both live foods. Every time I'd visit a LFS I'd buy a $20 bottle of Tiggerpods. After quickly realizing that these $20 bottles add up quick I finally got her to eat frozen. Now she eats frozen, flake and pellets. She swims up to the top and competes with all the much larger, quicker fish. Just buy a large quantity of these up front and maybe supplement this original culture with the smaller bottles of Tiggerpods! Hopefully one day yours will decide to take a bite of frozen!

Eienna · May 2, 2014

Do NOT order from reefs2go.

Drsfostersmith.com and getyourpods.com sell some nice-size bottles. The tisbe species of pods are best for mandarins.

Both my mandarin and scooter dragonet pretty quickly took to New Life Spectrum Small Fish pellets, but best to feed pods as well until they're eating the pellets reliably.

cynthiaCaC03420 · Nov 27, 2016

Our madarinsfish really enjoy copepods, make sure that you don't forget the pods food as well, they eat stuff like phytoplankton, what my boyfriend does and I think is pretty genius, when he buy bottles of pods, he put a little of phytoplankton in the pod bottle so they can eat before being eaten. Hope this helps and good luck

Abhishek · Nov 27, 2016

Why don't you try with @AlgaeBarn ? They are a sponser here and amazing at customer service .
Moreover, its buy 1 get 1 free for CyberMonday for a 5280 pods + phytoplanton ..

Regards,
Abhishek

roberthu526 · Dec 1, 2016

The pods in my tank get to a quarter inch long and are black. Not sure what kind it is but my wrasses love them.

AlgaeBarn · Dec 6, 2016

Abhishek said:
Why don't you try with @AlgaeBarn ? They are a sponser here and amazing at customer service .
Moreover, its buy 1 get 1 free for CyberMonday for a 5280 pods + phytoplanton ..

Regards,
Abhishek

Thanks for the shoutout! We currently have a 15% off all orders with code "Reef2Reef" for anyone looking to get some pods before the holidays, thanks again!