As soon as my 116 gallon tank cycled I added a bottle of Tigger pods to the tank to start developing a copepod population for my future mandarin dragonet. At this point it's been over a month since seeding and I have TONS of pods crawling on the glass of my tank. I'm assuming since the pods are on the grass that they're also in the sump and sand bed. How long should I wait before adding the mandarin and should I still continue to seed the tank from time to time? I have a fuge in the sump and am 3D printing a copepod/amphipod breeder as well to try and keep the population healthy.
Also, would it be beneficial to add other types of pods like tisbe pods? I'm not sure if it's good to have diversity or not.
Tigger pods will not survive in the display and if they are in a refugium they really should be fed phytoplankton daily.
I would add apocalypse and tisbe pods or some other mix that is better at hiding from predators.
But really the big thing is to keep dosing phyto to keep them flourishing