octopus January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 My tank is crawling with a-pods and c-pods. I've had my 150 since the summer, and most of my liverock has been in tanks for years. So what do yall think about a Mandarin moving in my tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoothtriqueter January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 Duuhhhhh.........I mean sounds like your tank is very well established and could handle one of those amazing fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 Recommend a refugium, that flows into the tank, as well - for sustainability. But hopefully by the time he runs out of pods, he will be snacking on mysis and other foods. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanCallan January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 Recommend a refugium, that flows into the tank, as well - for sustainability. But hopefully by the time he runs out of pods, he will be snacking on mysis and other foods. bob +1 Without a refuge he could eliminate a pod community in a few weeks or days even. Safest bet is to find one thats already eating prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 I have one that only eats pods. He lives in the fuge and the pods keep growing. I imagine if you have a well stocked tank with lots of pods, he'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve G January 8, 2009 Share January 8, 2009 I too am wondering if I am mandarin-worthy (75g up 3 years with a fuge). I think you're good to go as long as you are also careful not to have or obtain too many other tank inhabitants that compete for microfauna. No bird wrasses, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octopus January 9, 2009 Author Share January 9, 2009 I don't have a fuge (yet), but is it true one could wipeout a pod population in a 150 gal???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 I don't have a fuge (yet), but is it true one could wipeout a pod population in a 150 gal???? Hopefully not in short order, but he might be able to eat them faster than they reproduce. Don't get a 6-line wrasse. Mine have always kept the pod population decimated. Which is okay - after one of them finished off the pods, he went after my flatworms! Haven't seen a flatworm in a very long time. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 I went for it! My mandarin actually WAS eating mysis, until he went in my tank... there's so many pods that he is totally uninterested in anything I feed. He has steadily gained weight since I got him in late October. That being said, my rockwork is essentially one big pod pile, and before I got him, my front glass would get so full of them in the morning that it looked foggy and I would wipe them with my mag-float. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanCallan January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 I don't have a fuge (yet), but is it true one could wipeout a pod population in a 150 gal???? You mentioned the tank has only been running since the summer. The rock in my tank came from a long time established tank but I have so few pods I can't find them to count them. Just because rock is old and a tank has been running for a few months doesn't really dictate the size of a pod population. Especially if there are other fish in the tank, they may be eating the pods as well. Mandarins are not the only pod killers. It's always worth a try, but be prepared to take action if the pod population goes away and he is left without a food source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 I don't have a fuge (yet), but is it true one could wipeout a pod population in a 150 gal???? Yep. Or at least wipe it to the point where it doesn't provide him enough food. Speaking as someone who successfully kept a mandarin for years, which was always fat (see pic), until it was murdered, I always say that it is critical IMO (opinions vary!) to get them eating prepared foods. Mine took to PE mysis with a little bit of training, and never looked back. The 2 or 3 PE mysis shrimp he would eat every day were the equivalent biomass of eating 10? pods, and probably more nutritious. He would also pick at formula 1. There is no question there are tanks where the mandarins can survive solely on pods, but it seems so much better (and easier) to train them on mysis (and PE seems the easiest). my $.02, tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 (edited) Yep. Or at least wipe it to the point where it doesn't provide him enough food. Speaking as someone who successfully kept a mandarin for years, which was always fat (see pic), until it was murdered, I always say that it is critical IMO (opinions vary!) to get them eating prepared foods. Mine took to PE mysis with a little bit of training, and never looked back. The 2 or 3 PE mysis shrimp he would eat every day were the equivalent biomass of eating 10? pods, and probably more nutritious. He would also pick at formula 1. There is no question there are tanks where the mandarins can survive solely on pods, but it seems so much better (and easier) to train them on mysis (and PE seems the easiest). Tim, My PE Mysis is really big... did you chop yours up? My clowns won't even touch PE, because it's so darn big. Edited January 9, 2009 by MisterTang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 (edited) Tim, My PE Mysis is really big... did you chop yours up? My clowns won't even touch PE, because it's so darn big. Are you sure it's PE and not jehmco or some other mysis? There has been some confusion there. PE is smaller than jehmco, which is one of it's several advantages IMO. I never chopped them up. The bag should say PE (piscene energetics) on it. Nevertheless, my mandarin, which was on the smallish size, could handle PE (2 bites), my larger clown could eat one in 1 bite. Never had a problem. I guess it just goes to show everyone's tanks and inhabitants are different. There is some debate about whether the additional price of PE is worth it, and I don't really want to rehash that, but I have seen at least 3 cases in my own tank a fish that wouldn't touch jehmco go right after PE (including my mandarin). The other 2 fish were both orange spotted (diamond) gobies. Others reported the same thing feeding ricordeas. The seahorse speaker a while back said he tested all mysis on the market (including jehmco) and found the only decent one was PE. (etc etc). YMMV. tim Edited January 9, 2009 by extreme_tooth_decay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoothtriqueter January 9, 2009 Share January 9, 2009 Don't get a 6-line wrasse. bob Why is this? out compete for pods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkb8 January 10, 2009 Share January 10, 2009 Agree with Tim here. ~6 months (since Summer?) is not "well estabished" in my book. I had a 90g that WAS well established (7 years) and had a mandarin for a couple years (before I sold it), WITH a large refugium and the mandarin still wiped out the pods. Luckily, the fish decided it liked pellet food (mmm, gumballs!). 3 years - that's well established. 6 months ... hardlly over the cycle, heheheh (IMHO, YMMV). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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