Adding a Mandarin

[roadkeel]

My wife agreed to a bigger tank in the family room under the condition that she could have a mandarin. So I have the 90 gallon display with a 40 gallon sump established and running. (I purchased the entire set up from a friend and the only thing I changed was adding a larger sump and adding more live sand)

I have put 2 bottles of Tigger Pods in last night. I added one to the sump which has a good amount of rock in it and then after all my lights went out I added the other bottle all over the rocks in the display tank. My question is how long do I need to wait until I add the mandarin? I want to make sure I have more than enough pods to sustain a mandarin as I have read they can wipe out several hundreds of pods in a week.

I am also considering placing an order from Reef2Go for their BOGO 1,000 pack pods which would give me approx 2,000 more pods.

Is it possible to have too many pods? And just for info my tank is probably a little understocked currently with a pair of clowns, a Tomini Tang, a firefish, 2 blue chromis, and a yellow wrasse. I know the wrasse will eat pods, but not sure if any of my other current fish will.

 

[Marshall O]

I would wait at least a couple months, minimum. The other fish aren't competition, but the Halichoeres is as you mentioned. For that reason you will need time to make your tank can support two pod hunters.

 

[rworegon]

A mandarin can eat several hundred pods in a day, not a week.