How do you know when you've got enough pods for a mandarin.

[Spare time]

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

 

[L Sean Hubbard]

I just got a mandarin a couple weeks ago. Used live brine from my lfs to train it to eat frozen. Gotta leave powerhead off for an hour, since it's not a super aggressive eater.

I also have Masstick, which I will likely try, since that's supposed to be good for finicky eaters.

 

[Reef257]

Not sure how .maybe luck I got a red fin mandarin which eats hikari extreme seaweed small once. Hes quite big .I try to grab a video if can .my tank is full of tangs soni try my best to keep fish collection slower to tank .

except for mandarin and come wrasse .maybe all start to get used to it

 

[Reef Nutrition]

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.

We recommend you add our Apocyclops panamensis (Apex-Pods) to the tank for more zooplankton biodiversity. Very good to hear you have such a large system since mandarins can be very voracious and typically wipe out pod populations in a smaller tank.

Also, if you get a Biota mandarin (captive bred) they will eat our TDO Chroma BOOST pellets (size extra small) since that's what they use in their hatchery. But, you still need to have live copepods in the tank since mandarins need a fairly consistent food source.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,
Chad

 

[rusty hannon]

I currently have 30 gallon sumpless tank. I have three half gallon jars of pod cultures that I harvest once every month. Mandarins are extremely good pod hunters. In a 116 with a fuge you’ll likely be fine. For redundancy I’d have a culture or two to add to the fuge to keep them fat, happy, and healthy.
I decided to go with the tisbe in my cultures because it’s more of the rock/glass/sand clinging type vs the tigers that are more free floating. Atleast that what I found in my research
Please correct me if I’m wrong

Tisbe and apococyclops seem to b their favorite and they stay in substrate and rock. I have a pair I'm hoping to breed good luck they r awesome to watch n if you have a pair their dance is beautiful

 

[ClownWrangler]

This would be something difficult if not impossible to quantify. There are too many factors. However I found that rubble type substrate sustains higher pod populations. Also get rid of any crabs or shrimp, they compete with the PODs for food. Over feed your fish, so the PODs get more leftovers. Also, Adding a divider to the tank and moving the mandarin from one side to the other once per week or so helps the populations recover. Another approach is to have a shelf in your tank the mandarin cant get to with rubble to keep a seed population of PODs going.

 

[ClownWrangler]

Will a mandarin goby eat coral pests?

 

[Lindaanne60]

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.

The best kind of mandarin is captive bred. I got mine from biota. Its an excellent fish. https://shop.thebiotagroup.com/collections/cultured-fish?page=2

 

[Buckster]

My mandarin was doing great for 6 months until i went on a trip. My neighbor fed the fish and we had a power outage. When I came back the only fish missing was the mandarin. Bummer!

 

[rusty hannon]

That is a bummer. Couldn't do without my dragons

 

[FragFarm]

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.

Soon as u hear a tiny belch you good

 

[rusty hannon]

From what I've learned apaococyclops, live n substrate and rocks and r my pairs favorite . I keep a can of them to feed along w some pellets in morning. The tisbe if I'm not mistaken swim mid tank. I seeded my 70 w 25000 pods before adding and add a few thousand every 3/ months. They are fat n happy. Try to get a few cans of apacocyclops, I save bubble packs from other frozen foods and freeze cube after opening can and it works great.

 

[ajtomase]

Greetings. I have two Mandarins. One male and one female. Spawning every once in a while. Have had them for about 3 years. I have a 180 g. reef and I’ve concluded that my pods outproduce the big appetites of my two mandarins. I don’t reseed. You should be good if the pods have a lot of places to hide. Good luck!!!

How long did you seed the tank before you decided to stop? How much did you add to your tank and how frequent did you add them?

 

[DaJMasta]

How old is your tank? A copepod explosion is fairly normal in a young tank, but isn't necessarily the quantity it will maintain in the long term. Your tank is definitely large enough to maintain sufficient pod population, but it will be helped along by a bunch of other factors (amount of rockwork, presence of substrate, presence of refugium, etc.), and if you've really only seen an explosion of them after a cycle, it would be wiser to wait for the system to settle and mature more to be sure those pods will keep multiplying as being predated on.

Another way to approach it is just to train the mandarin to eat frozen, and then even if it remains a supplemental food, it can bear some of the burden of the pod consumption with much bigger food morsels that are much easier to provide.

Tigriopus pods should be able to survive and multiply in a tank, and their larger size and benthic lifestyle makes them good choices for mandarins, but ultimately what will survive in your tank is what can reproduce, and there are a lot of diet dependencies that could keep a certain kind of pod from multiplying. If you want to try to maintain an overall higher pod population, consider dosing phytoplankton, as that's a primary component of most copepods' diet and should help maintain a larger population in the long term.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

How long did you seed the tank before you decided to stop? How much did you add to your tank and how frequent did you add them?

So this wasn’t an intentional biological experiment, I knew that I had an established tank 5+years, I knew also that I had pods, both cope, and amphi. I do recall purchasing one for sure possibly two small refrigerated bottles of pods from my lfs. Put them in and forgot about them. Then purchased a male mandarin and then a month or more later finally found a female and bought her. During the past 3 or so years I would buy a cup or 2 of reef stew on my way out of the fish store. Dumped it in the tank as a treat for the fish. So all in all I really haven’t had any type of regimented seeding of my tank over the years. All that to say is my logical and rational conclusion is that these pops outbreed my mandarins appetite for this live food. I also kind of doubt that they are getting much in the way of supplemental feeding (frozen) when i feed my fish. The flow in my tank is med-high and I’ve never turned it down to assist fish like these to catch a piece or two.

 

[MaxTremors]

You will always have to supplement copepods once you get a mandrine. They make short work of any copepod populations this is because they hunt 24/7 . I culture pods and even then it's hard to keep up with my 2 . My advice buy captive bread I wish I would have

This is just not true. If you have real live rock there is no need to supplement any pods. I’ve kept mandarins (both species) and the brown and red scooter dragonets (not the ruby reds) for years with nothing but quality live rock. You need an appropriately sized tank and lots of rock (I would say 30g and at least 30lb of rock per dragonet). If you’re stocking just a couple species of copepods into a sterile dry rock tank, then yes, you might need to continually restock, but if you have live rock with a myriad of different microfauna (dragonets will eat way more than just copepods and amphipods), there is no need to continually restock copepods.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

This is just not true. If you have real live rock there is no need to supplement any pods. I’ve kept mandarins (both species) and the brown and red scooter dragonets (not the ruby reds) for years with nothing but quality live rock. You need an appropriately sized tank and lots of rock (I would say 30g and at least 30lb of rock per dragonet). If you’re stocking just a couple species of copepods into a sterile dry rock tank, then yes, you might need to continually restock, but if you have live rock with a myriad of different microfauna (dragonets will eat way more than just copepods and amphipods), there is no need to continually restock copepods.

Your experience may differ then others but to say its not true is laughable. There's a reason why multi million dollar companies such as algae barn and reed Maricultre exist ....a single mandarin can pick a small 30 gallon clean with little effort . Makes zero difference if you start with live rock or seed your own rock . At some point the copepod population will need a break or a boost

 

[Spare time]

They are e

This is just not true. If you have real live rock there is no need to supplement any pods. I’ve kept mandarins (both species) and the brown and red scooter dragonets (not the ruby reds) for years with nothing but quality live rock. You need an appropriately sized tank and lots of rock (I would say 30g and at least 30lb of rock per dragonet). If you’re stocking just a couple species of copepods into a sterile dry rock tank, then yes, you might need to continually restock, but if you have live rock with a myriad of different microfauna (dragonets will eat way more than just copepods and amphipods), there is no need to continually restock copepods.

I'm betting they are also eating other zooplankton from live rock

 

[Alexraptor]

From personal experience, it's not so much about the actual tank size, as maximizing surface area and providing shelter for the pods. For about a year I successfully kept a Mandarin in a 10-gallon system with a stable pod population(before upgrading to a 25). I ran the system as a very high nutrient system, completely packed with caulerpa and halimeda.

An old cringy video, but it illustrates well the sheer density of critters that was present in her system.


The undergrowth helped provide a safe environment where pods and other microfauna could multiply undisturbed.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

From personal experience, it's not so much about the actual tank size, as maximizing surface area and providing shelter for the pods. For about a year I successfully kept a Mandarin in a 10-gallon system with a stable pod population(before upgrading to a 25). I ran the system as a very high nutrient system, completely packed with caulerpa and halimeda.

An old cringy video, but it illustrates well the sheer density of critters that was present in her system.

Yeah something like this that's jammed with macros could definitely do the job . Most people set systems up for corals so you don't see many true macro setups very impressive good job