mandarin: pods and tankmates

im looking at buying a green mandarin sometime this next winter. i have a 50t with ~80 lbs of LR and deep sand that has been up for about 6 months. in the next two months or so i will be slapping together a 30g sump with more LR, macro algaes and mangroves (photo documentation to come). i'm also going to give a go at the famed "Bucket o' Pods" with a 5g and an airstone. hopefully i'll be swimming in pods by next january but i have a concern. i arleady have a sixline wrasse in the tank. i've named him and become attached, is there anyway these two fellows can coexist? i keep my fish very well fed, will that deter the sixline from muching pods enough to support a mandarin? thanks for checking in and please lay your wisdom on me

 

with those 2 fish your going to want to set up a nice fuge for the pods to live safly. if al your pods just live in yout tank those fish will eat them up and the pods wont have a chance to multiply. i would say set up a fuge as big as you can go, the more water volume the better. pods will love a low flow safe place to live.

 

Do you think you can go into more detial about the "Bucket of Pods".....Ive never heard of it before......sounds interesting.

 

after hearing what Tangster said you should prob build a fuge 1/10 the size of your tank. that wil ba a good place for pods to live.

 

RE:cement_skis

"Do you think you can go into more detial about the "Bucket of Pods".....Ive never heard of it before......sounds interesting."

i'm not entirely sure who to credit this with. when i first saw a green mandarin i went on a rampage trying to find a way to keep one alive. i found lots of site talking about how to breed pods (because they are crazy expensive) and even a guy who was keeping a mandarin in a nano (i do not endorse!). the gist of it is that all you need to breed pods is a container of water, an airstone for circulation, and phytofeast or some type of food for them to eat. what i'm planning on using is some LR crumbles and chaeto in a 5gal eclipse tank with a bio wheel filter and an airstone. when you've got a nice swarm of pods, you can drop a mesh puff ball (the shower scrubby thingies) in the tank and or just shake the chaeto ball into the display tank to replenish the pod supply. im planning on just using the old water from my water changes to keep the pod tank clean.

seek out packleader

 

The Bucket O pods will be a great addition... mandarins are tough to keep, as im sure you've researched... having a fuge AND a Bucket O Pods will be a big plus... Ive also heard of people feeding other types of foods to their mandarins, and from what they said, some will and some wont take to different foods... Just make sure your tank is mature enough and have a large ready supply of pods...

Best of Luck

 

Yeah, ive read of people feeding them roe (the orange fish eggs that go on sushi), but Ive never tried it myself. The Bucket sounds good though.

 

WOW I never heard of that BUT whenever my chromis lay eggs (like once a week now!!), the mandarin and scooter both go crazy for them even with the chromis attacking them constantly when close to the eggs.

 

Ive heard of mandarins eating fish eggs laid by chromis and clown fish, IF they could get their hands on them of course! lol

 

im slapping together some sump/refugium ideas ( http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/newbie-seeks-now-all-sump-help-62902-2.html#post604151 ) i like your guys' input