How to create a sustainable food source?

[Kershaw]

I am planing on a red Sea reefer p650 this summer. I am planning a mixed reef, mostly lps but with some montis and birdsnest. For fish I plan on having A malanarus, checkerboard, and two leapord wrasse. And 4 to 6 pipe fish. There will be other fish as well but not ones that will be competing for pods and small crustations. How can I create a sustainable food source in addaition to my normal feeding.

 

[Paul B]

I am not sure about California but here in New York I collect amphipods by the thousands and dump them in my tank. They are all over the place and multiply. The fish love to catch them. Along with the amphipods I also collect probably millions of copepods for the smaller fish. I get them in mud which I also dump in.


5 gallons of life. I also want the bacteria in the mud.



I get it in tide pools

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Must be nice to be near the shore. No opportunities for natural marine life here in Central, Ohio.

If you're land-locked, you could try raising pods. Not that hard if you can keep a culture of phytoplankton going.

 

[Kershaw]

I don’t live near the coast. Will pods from 52 degree water live in a reef tank? I am not looking for culturing looks like a pain in the butt. I am planning on trying a fuge and buying the pods. In the past I can never seem to keep cheato alive.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

You dont need chaeto for pods. Even a cryptic (dark) fuge can grow pods

 

[Sipec]

I saw this today, its pretty neat

 

[User1]

I don’t live near the coast. Will pods from 52 degree water live in a reef tank? I am not looking for culturing looks like a pain in the ***. I am planning on trying a fuge and buying the pods. In the past I can never seem to keep cheato alive.

You are in or around Sacramento, you are near a coast ;) I dive in Monterey all the time and have used NSW from the area and trucked it back to Elk Grove. I've also grabbed a few snails. Yes, the water is colder but in the summer the tide pools are pretty warm. No, it won't live long time in our home aquariums but you can still get critters for food. If you want longer term then best bet is to attach a refugium, bring in some pods, and a algae source, and then you will have self sustaining. Depending on what tangs you keep, if any, or other fish that consume it you can cater to their needs. I personally like tang heaven from IPSF but all of the rage is cheato these days. Macro algae in a refugium can be unique in of itself if that is something you want to do or can do I should say. Little substrate, lighting, some rubble, started kit, and you are set.

Whatever you do stay away from the Berkeley area for collecting and some areas Oakland and San Francisco - very dirty - shipping and refinery. You want to hit up the cleaner area say around Point Reyes (the light house) or down in Monterey. That is where I go - just stay out of the reserves. I've messages and talked to the water resource control board and also fish and game when in the drought to collect. They really don't care where you pull or collect from has long has it isn't in any reserve / park.

 

[Paul B]

I don’t live near the coast. Will pods from 52 degree water live in a reef tank? I am not looking for culturing looks like a pain in the ***. I am planning on trying a fuge and buying the pods. In the past I can never seem to keep cheato alive.

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Yes, sometimes I collect them under the ice

 

[Kershaw]

I live in ca. But a 2 hour drive for pods isn’t worth it. What I would spend on the trip I can order online lol. Also do pods mainly feed on phyto?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Run an undersized (now days that’s one rated for the tank lol) and a large fuge. Stop using filter socks I’d you want to force a pod bloom, sprinkle spirulina flakes on the Chato.
Making a tank support bugs is pretty easy. Hardest part is not using the conventional wisdom of test test test. You are going to have higher numbers. Bugs need food. Like cockroaches.

I order my chato and the mixed pods from aquarium depot. Comes with cope amphi and iso pods.
And yea, somtimes you have to stick some chato in the DT to re pop the DT.

I actually made a chato tree in the DT with chato a dead birds nest and fishing line. My pipe would sit on top and pick bugs out. The Mandy too.

 

[User1]

I live in ca. But a 2 hour drive for pods isn’t worth it. What I would spend on the trip I can order online lol. Also do pods mainly feed on phyto?

Well, you plan a day around it. My plan would be doing a couple dives off the beach or just going for a drive, nice lunch, then return home. If you haven't been there Point Reyes is actually very nice. Don't get me wrong, I understand the drive part. Just for pods like you said - no, not worth it. But if you say stop at Napa, or visit somewhere then collect water or pods it suddenly becomes worth it. Up to you - but you are near a coast and some of the best scuba diving in the world :)

 

[Kershaw]

Well, you plan a day around it. My plan would be doing a couple dives off the beach or just going for a drive, nice lunch, then return home. If you haven't been there Point Reyes is actually very nice. Don't get me wrong, I understand the drive part. Just for pods like you said - no, not worth it. But if you say stop at Napa, or visit somewhere then collect water or pods it suddenly becomes worth it. Up to you - but you are near a coast and some of the best scuba diving in the world :)

When I started my last tank I may or may not have aquaired 3 5 gallon buckets of purple sand from big sur. It was filled with pods. But my wrasses decimated them.

 

[cracker]

so what do pods eat in the average refugium? Is it the macro or phyto that grows on it?
Salty made an interesting comment about feeding spirulina flake to the refugium?
The trick" I think" is getting pods form the refugium into the display. I'm not sure how many pods survive the trip thru the return pump.

 

[jda]

This might sound crazy, but flatworms are a sustainable food source for all of those wrasses. ...probably not worth risking introduction.

Growing pods is easy... getting enough of them with so many active hunters is quite hard. You really have to look hard to find any in my tanks with leopard wrasses, but overturn a rock and there are scores on them that flee.

Large dead acro skeletons are nice pod condos.

 

[Kershaw]

Thanks for all the reply’s. I am planning to try and get a good population started before I interduce the wrasses. I never really fed my tank phyto before. Just here and there.

 

[Kershaw]

This might sound crazy, but flatworms are a sustainable food source for all of those wrasses. ...probably not worth risking introduction.

Growing pods is easy... getting enough of them with so many active hunters is quite hard. You really have to look hard to find any in my tanks with leopard wrasses, but overturn a rock and there are scores on them that flee.

Large dead acro skeletons are nice pod condos.

I did have a flat worm issue in my last tank and my 3 wrasses did handle that for me. There seemed to be to much risk using fwe so I let nature run it’s course

 

[Kershaw]

so what do pods eat in the average refugium? Is it the macro or phyto that grows on it?
Salty made an interesting comment about feeding spirulina flake to the refugium?
The trick" I think" is getting pods form the refugium into the display. I'm not sure how many pods survive the trip thru the return pump.

I have herd of people taking a clump of cheato from fuge and rinsing it in the display at night, to transfer pods.

 

[cracker]

this is what I do still get bits of chaeto in the display however don't think it hurts anything.
What do they eat in the display? I would think a large fuge with the right conditions could grow a lot of pods .

 

[Kershaw]

this is what I do still get bits of chaeto in the display however don't think it hurts anything.
What do they eat in the display? I would think a large fuge with the right conditions could grow a lot of pods .

Yea I think I will attempt a fuge again. I want one for nutrient control anyway but I have not had luck with cheato. It always seems to fall apart and shrink. I’ve tried different lighting. And flow through it. The Red Sea p650 sump has a fuge area that the water hits before it gets to the skimmer so maybe I’ll have better luck.

 

[cracker]

Ok I remember from an earlier post. I had the same issue & started dosing a"little"No3 Po4 the chaeto perked right up. Didn't want to add any nutrients but I again "think" the chaeto quickly removes it. So at least it working for me. Hey this whole thing is a big experiment to me so.