Copepods for a Green Mandarin

Hey Guys,

I am keen as on getting a good copepod population started in my refugium so I can eventually house a Green Mandarin Dragonet.

I have seen a few suppliers of "copepods in a bottle". I was wondering if these are a good way to go.

If I was to get some of these, and dose my DT and refugium in there, how do I know if there is enough to get a Green Mandarin? And how do I know that I have a sustainable population of pods that wont burn out or anything and cause my Green Mandarin to die?

Is there an alternative to "copepods in a bottle".

Thanks in advance.

Ryan.

 

Those are ok to add, but in preparation for my mandarin I also seeded copepods and amphipods from ebay a few times, reefs2go.com, reefcleaners.com, and liveaquaria.com and then waited months for the population to mature.

But the do require a large seasoned tank generally with a fuge for them to thrive.IMO

What size tank do you have? LR? age? fuge?

 

The copepods and amphipods from the above mention suppliers are better then the ones you buy in the bottles IMO. I have gotten them a few times from reefs2go and was very happy with what they sent.
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I have a 55g, with about 40lb of LR. I also have a 25g sump with a that takes about half of the sump.

My tank is about 3months old.

 

Some are gonna say its too small, but I think you'll be ok. I'd just slowly start seeding the tank each month with different pods, and wait a bit. Should be good to go in 6 months or so. Just keep an eye on it, and your pod population

 

But copepods in the bottle are definately worth it?

 

I honestly can't say either way, I used them, but not sure it was worth the cost after seeing what I got with my other orders. Its hard to say unless ya get the microscope out and do some sample counts!lol

Maybe one of the pro's on here have researched this better. Vinny will prob chime in once he sees the title and have some info on that for ya.

 

If I'm not mistaken you can get tank bred mandrins the readily eat frozen and flake food. well worth the extra money imo. I've got pods from reefcleaners no complaints, got it from there twice and I have a ton in my tank. Probably wouldn't hurt to get them from different places due to different types of pods they sell.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Will look into a tank bred mandarin, as long as it has similar colours etc.

I am struggling to find a supplier of pods that can ship to australia though, everyone who sells pods seems to be american!

 

The problem with a tank that size is not that it can't be done, but that it can easily become an overwhelming chore. You'll need a large breeding ground for the pods- a pile of coral or live rock rubble in-tank as well as the remote fuge. You'll also need to dose phytoplankton for the pods to feed on or they will simply starve rather than multiplying, and be prepared to counter nutrient spikes without filtering out the pods or phyto.

FWIW, I killed one myself in a well-established 55g reef tank w/80lbs LR several years ago. My pods came in with the live sand, and the population was so large that they were irritating my other fish. The LFS recommended the Mandarin. Long story short, in only 6 months the pod population was totally depleted, and the Mandarin was dead.

Here's a link to another thread on keeping Mandarins in a small tank. I encourage you to read to the end. As you will see, an ORA captive-bred Mandarin can become finicky with age and refuse the prepared foods that it needs to survive...

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/keeping-mandarins-nanos-2-a-134633.html