Mandarin and culture question

Icedphoenix

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So I purchased a new mandarin from my LFS. I had a couple of questions/ideas and was wondering if anyone might have done this or an improvement on some stuff.

First I want to set him up with a little feeding station. He had been in the store for at least a couple of weeks, and he does eat frozen cyclops which I have witnessed myself in my tank at the house. I am thinking a glass spice bottle with the center cut out of the lid. Cut an old fish net to go between the lid and the jar. I would put a few chunks of rock rubble in the bottle and then put tigger pods and baby brine in the bottle. Would the fish net slow them down enough, so he has time to snack on them through the day? I can fill the bottle as needed so to speak to supplement tisbe pods in the main tank.

I plan on setting up a phyto/pod culture station. I want to culture both the tisbe and the tigger pods for this endeavor. I would use the tigger in one bottle to take from and place in the spice bottle and every 3 weeks or so when I harvest the tisbe split it between the new culture and the tank itself. Can I use the off the shelf pods to start my culture? Are they a good mix to use that way?

Culture question really is how should I harvest out the pods? I would want to catch all 3 life cycle sizes and obviously keep most of the young for the new culture. Do I just run the pods through progressively smaller sieves? When doing the tigger pods do you do water changes by running them through the sieve and putting them in new water? The tiggers are basicly for his jar as they would be gone the moment they hit the water column any way.

Thanks for any recommendations on this thought process. Good news is he is not what I would call fat, thats my clown fish but he seems healthy and does not have what people online show as sunken stomach. Hopefully with the pods the tank was previously seeded with and him eating the frozen that will keep him healthy while the pod production ramps up.
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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This person created a mandarin feeder thats quite popular, it might give you some idea's:

 

littlefoxx

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Following. Great idea, considered it for my pair but never had an idea how to do it so I dose pods once a month, both are fat and happy but a station for them is a great idea!
 

MarsReefer

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How big is your tank and have you seeded any pods before?

My mandarin pair (bought as babies from biota) has been in my 130 gallon for 6 months now and I’ve never done anything to feed him. I dosed pods into my tank every 3 months for the first year before buying him. I still see pods on the glass so he hasn’t eaten them all. They’ve quadrupled in size.

I have started a phyto culture to increase pod populations, but I’m in my first week so not advice there yet.

With a big tank and pre-seeded pods you are probably ok no matter what though.
 
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Icedphoenix

Icedphoenix

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How big is your tank and have you seeded any pods before?

My mandarin pair (bought as babies from biota) has been in my 130 gallon for 6 months now and I’ve never done anything to feed him. I dosed pods into my tank every 3 months for the first year before buying him. I still see pods on the glass so he hasn’t eaten them all. They’ve quadrupled in size.

I have started a phyto culture to increase pod populations, but I’m in my first week so not advice there yet.

With a big tank and pre-seeded pods you are probably ok no matter what though.
It is a 65. I did seed it with a few bottles of dinkins and prior to that some reef nutrition pods. Was a while back. I just want to make sure he has enough and as I want to culture some I thought it would help for him to have a station.
 

Uncle99

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Ok, I have kept a mandarin in a 65g for years.
The tank has a lot of rock and he is the only exclusive POD eater in the tank.
Never fed him once but tank was 6 months before the add.
Add some PODS her3 and theirs and keep watch, the feed a lot in the lower light times so keep watch to ensure when he/she hunts, he/she pecks about once every 20 seconds.
IMG_0112.jpeg
 
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Icedphoenix

Icedphoenix

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Would depend a ton on tank volume of rock, sand and water.
What size and how much rock?
The tank itself is about 9 months old. I figured with trying to culture them it would help having a station with the wrasses in the tank. He is definitely pecking at the rocks and for sure I have seen him eating the frozen pods when I feed the tank them. Just have always wanted 1 and don't want him to get pushed aside by the other fish. I am one of those where i feel like I have to provide the best for the animal as I am responsible for their care now.
 

Uncle99

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The tank itself is about 9 months old. I figured with trying to culture them it would help having a station with the wrasses in the tank. He is definitely pecking at the rocks and for sure I have seen him eating the frozen pods when I feed the tank them. Just have always wanted 1 and don't want him to get pushed aside by the other fish. I am one of those where i feel like I have to provide the best for the animal as I am responsible for their care now.
It eats and for this fish, is the single most important factor.
Easiest fish I ever kept.
Enjoy
 

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