29 gallon pod sustainability

[dbb123]

About 5 years ago I sold off everything I had and got out of the fish game. Well, I'm happy to say I'm back but doing things a bit different this time. I'm setting up a 29g biocube and I'm taking my time and doing so much research before 1 drop lands in the tank. If I had it exactly the way I want I would have 1 clown, 1 mandarin dragnet and a lot of coral. My question however; is it possible to sustain enough pods in a 29 gallon biocube to support a mandarin? I plan to plant Tigger and tisbes, maybe even some apocyclopse... thanks for any/all information.

 

[T_BONE]

I would think with enough live rock for hiding spots and reproduction that you could possibly pull it off. Just be prepared to, in the event that the mandarin picks them all off, replenish the population or feed manually. They can consume quite a bit as they pick them out the rock during all of the lights on periods. Just my $.02

 

[dbb123]

This is great thank you! I'm thinking of shoving a bunch of cheato in the "refuge" in the back of the tank (it's like a 5 gallon partition in the back of the tank) but will this provide enough safety to support a pod population? How much chaeto would you instinctively recommend?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have a 32 gallon, I seeded pods months before I got my mandy, and I had 3 x 5 gallon tanks cultivating pods. The mandy wiped my tank out of pods in 3 months, and with my 3 tanks cultivating pods, I was on a schedule to harvest pods once a week. I still couldnt do it and my mandy got skinnier and I had to give him away. The thing is relentless, it just hunts and eats all day, doesnt matter whats happening around the tank, it never stops. For the 3-4 months that I had him, my whole hobby became about that one fish, always trying my best to get it to eat other foods, always worrying if it has enough pods to eat, harvesting pods, etc.... i even almost bought 2 more tanks so that I could have 5 tanks total cultivating pods, thats when I decided I had enough.

If you can find a captive bred one that eats regular food then go for it, but it still needs to be fed many times a day. It's not even friendly with the owner, it will never pay attention to you like other fish will.

Good luck to you!

 

[fryman]

I don't expect the pod population in a 29 gallon would be sufficient for a mandarin long term. Unless you are planning to add large amounts of phyto, there simply won't be enough food available in the tank for a large pod population. Also I expect the mandarin will hunt them all down in such a small space.

You could maintain pod cultures in seperate containers, but I'm not sure how much you'd need. You may be surprised how many pods a single mandarin will eat.

Easier and safer imo to just find a mandarin that eats pellets. You can still add pods periodically as a treat.