- Location
- nj
i do have pods in my tank and i think if others have success with them, then i will have to see if i can also. like i said before i have researched it and said i would try one for now not two. truly appreciate the info. thanks
Mandarin care
- Thread starter Arnaldo24
- Start date
i do have pods in my tank and i think if others have success with them, then i will have to see if i can also. like i said before i have researched it and said i would try one for now not two. truly appreciate the info. thanks
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
I forgot to mention that this fish should not be added to a new system. It needs an established tank.
- Location
- Long Island - 11771
I have also noticed that they have a really hard time competing with other pod eating fish like certain wrasses and pipefish. Unless you have a really established tank (i.e. PaulB) you will have difficulty keeping multiple fish fighting for the same food source.
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
Hmm, a 20 year old system is a bit overkill. An established reef of 1 or more years is a good start. I do agree that you don't want too many pod eaters in the system.
I had my 1 male in a 75 that was 1.5 years old. I upgraded to my 156 two years ago and introduced the female shortly thereafter. I have 35 fish in my system plus 6 cleaner shrimp, 4 peppermint and 1 scarlet and other CUC. I also have a 55 gallon refugium. There's plenty of pods in my system for my two mandarin. If you feed well you'll have enough pods.
Manadarins should not be in a system less than 55 gallons, for sure. My fisrt 2 mandarins, over twenty years ago, were thriving in my 55 gallon with an undergravel filter. I had a gazillion pods in that set up because of that undergravel filter and crushed coral substrate.
There are all different kinds of pods that grow in our systems; copepods, amphipods, etc. Copepods being the smallest and most difficult to see. If you make small piles of rubble rocks in the corners and back of your tank you will eventually see a cloud of copepods hanging over and around the piles. They are very tiny. You will see amphipods and other pods running along the rocks and on the glass. I see them at night. This is when I know I have a good supply of pods.
If you have any doubt then dose your system with pods. Key is to make sure you get a very healthy fish. If they are not eating in the store the stress in change from one system to the other will do them in. This is why you need some experience before you take on caring for these fish.
I had my 1 male in a 75 that was 1.5 years old. I upgraded to my 156 two years ago and introduced the female shortly thereafter. I have 35 fish in my system plus 6 cleaner shrimp, 4 peppermint and 1 scarlet and other CUC. I also have a 55 gallon refugium. There's plenty of pods in my system for my two mandarin. If you feed well you'll have enough pods.
Manadarins should not be in a system less than 55 gallons, for sure. My fisrt 2 mandarins, over twenty years ago, were thriving in my 55 gallon with an undergravel filter. I had a gazillion pods in that set up because of that undergravel filter and crushed coral substrate.
There are all different kinds of pods that grow in our systems; copepods, amphipods, etc. Copepods being the smallest and most difficult to see. If you make small piles of rubble rocks in the corners and back of your tank you will eventually see a cloud of copepods hanging over and around the piles. They are very tiny. You will see amphipods and other pods running along the rocks and on the glass. I see them at night. This is when I know I have a good supply of pods.
If you have any doubt then dose your system with pods. Key is to make sure you get a very healthy fish. If they are not eating in the store the stress in change from one system to the other will do them in. This is why you need some experience before you take on caring for these fish.
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- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
LOL, thats still my system. I find mandarins to be the easiest, least maintenance, most disease free fish there is, but the tank has to be mature and not very sterile. If you are the type of person that cleans up every piece of uneaten food and goes to confession if you see some detritus, don't get a mandarin. I also feel a one, or two year old tank is to new. I made a feeder mainly to feed my tiny pipefish but the mandarins overtook the thing so now it is theirs but for the 35 years before that tyhat I have been keeping mandarins, I never had to do anything special to them. They are not a type of fish that you can feed yourself, they were designed to eat a pod every 10 secondds or so and thats how they should eat. Not flakes or pellets but live pods or something as small as a pod. I did spell it all out in that link above so no use going over it again, but good luck if you get one. They are one of the most beautiful fish and the reason they are called psycadellic fish. Whish was a very common word in the 60s.
SteveZ15
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Ridgewood Queens
its so funny after starting my first reef tank and reading this forum.I had a 60 gal fowlr years ago i also had crushed coral and bio ball filter.I had millions of these pods in the filter in the substrate and went crazy trying to get rid of them because i didnt know what they were i thought they were some kind of bugs and were not good.I never made a dent in them there were soo many.I hope in this tank now will hold these pods.I had 2 scooter blennies that were fat as hell,I thought they ate fish waste and uneaten food now I know why they did good.
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
+1. I never tried to kill them I just didn;t know they were pods. Whenever I cleaned my undergravel filter I'd have a gazillion of them swimming around. I thought they were shrimp. I had a bio filter too. I liked the undergravel filter but it was a PITA when I cleaned my tanks. LR and substrate is much easier.
- Location
- 11563
So saturday i grab a bottle of pods and poured in my refugium. Now how long should i wait untill i introduce the mandarin ??. How long untill they make it to my DT.??. I try looking at night with a flashlight but didnt see anything.
- Location
- Flushing, NY
You should have pour some in your DT. I would probably wait at least week or so for your pods to fully populate your tank.
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
Hmmm, you don't see anything at all on the glass or floating around in the water column?
Here is a picture of several different types of pods on the glass of my pico
Here's a better picture I found on the internet from Melev's reef
Here is a picture of several different types of pods on the glass of my pico
Here's a better picture I found on the internet from Melev's reef
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- Location
- 11563
No i really dont see anything yet Im not too concern yet since i just poured it on saturday nite i will check again later on tonite.
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
How old is your system?
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I enlarged a picture of one of those copepods.
- Location
- nj
like to have one of those in my tank.
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
Ugh, more like red bag material.
- Location
- NYC-10002
i had successfully trained my pair of spotted mandarins to eat frozen food ;]
too bad, Sandy killed them and a pair of clowns :smash::irked:
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
I'm so sorry. That hurts! Especially when they've been thriving. My first pair died when the seam on my tank busted. A very ugly sight and the smell they let off from their slime coat is horrific.
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- Location
- 11563
No doubt any marine life will definitely do better in the ocean. Does that mean we all should quit the hobby???? I guess we all try as best as possible to recreate natural ocean conditions in our systems to successfully keep any type of marine life. Thats why research is a great thing and is exactly what I'm trying to do I maybe wrong but just thinking of leaving them in the ocean is kind of a contradicting ourselves. And by the way my system is 2 years old.
Attachments
- Location
- Virginia originally from New York
A 2 year old system should have plenty of pods. Make piles of rubble rocks in the back corners so the pods have a place to reproduce. they like piles of rubble in dark places. Good luck!
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