Djplus1 January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 I just got a mandarin goby for my 14g biocube and I was wondering if I should make some changes to make sure he has enough to eat. Currently I have an in tank media basket with filter floss on the top, a bag of Rox .8 in the middle and a ball of Chaeto on the bottom. I have a heater in the first compartment and removed the stock filter pad. The 3rd compartment has the sponge filter in place, as well as a MJ900 for a return pump. My question is should I remove the filter floss and the sponge filter to allow for pods to run freely between the back and the display so the mandarin can eat them? It seems that they would get caught up in either, so If I have pods in the display, they would get sucked into the floss on the way in, or if I try to house them in the chaeto, they will get stuck in the sponge filter on the way out. If I do take them out, how much will that affect the cleanliness of my water? I do about a 3 gallon water change every Saturday morning.
smallreef January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 You'll be fine without them, as long as you keep up on your water changes...
smallreef January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 You'll be fine without them, as long as you keep up on your water changes...
jimlin January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 not sure if you will be able to have enough pods to reproduce in a 14g to keep that fish full.
smallreef January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 Your going to have to supplement as you try to get it to eat frozen,,,but should be okay after, though that does take a few weeks/months...
Wes January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 (edited) There is no way to sustain a population of pods in a tank that small. Your mandarin will very likely starve, even if you get it feeding on frozen food. They need to eat a lot and often. My advice would be to find someone with a larger tank to take it. Edited January 15, 2013 by Wes
NYfan78 January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 how about a 34 gallon aka Red Sea Max tank. Would I be able to keep it and with pods and all. ( sorry not trying to jack your post)
Djplus1 January 15, 2013 Author January 15, 2013 There is no way to sustain a population of pods in a tank that small. Your mandarin will very likely starve, even if you get it feeding on frozen food. They need to eat a lot and often. My advice would be to find someone with a larger tank to take it. I'm that someone with a larger tank. I would like to acclimate him to that tank to see how he does before I move him to my 72 gallon.
Djplus1 January 15, 2013 Author January 15, 2013 Your going to have to supplement as you try to get it to eat frozen,,,but should be okay after, though that does take a few weeks/months... I'm giving him cyclopeze 2x a day in addition to him foraging for pods. I've only had him for a week and a half, but I already see that he 's slowed down on the eating. I guess I should get a bottle of some pods. Are the tigger pods the best route? Or is there a better brand to seed with?
Djplus1 January 15, 2013 Author January 15, 2013 You'll be fine without them, as long as you keep up on your water changes... Will the pods move freely from the chaeto to the display? In other words if I buy a bottle of pods, can I just dump them in the chaeto and have them breed there and they will get out into the display on their own?
Wes January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 I'm that someone with a larger tank. I would like to acclimate him to that tank to see how he does before I move him to my 72 gallon. ah, cool. I did the same thing with one in a 12g -> 75g once and it turned out fine. The tiger pods won't reproduce all that much IME. What I did to try to keep the population running was to make little pod condos out of rubble and swap them between my nano and my bigger tank's fuge that had a massive pod population. You could also dunk chaeto from your larger fuge in your cube.
smallreef January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 Yes, but you could add the pods to the display (with the lights off) and they will find their way to the chaeto if they want to be in there...they may populate the rock in the display too....
Jan January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 (edited) +1 a fully grown mandarin goes through a lot of pods in a day. That's why a larger tank is better for them. Give it try. My only concern is that if it starts to look like it is losing weight it may be too late. not sure if you will be able to have enough pods to reproduce in a 14g to keep that fish full. Edited January 15, 2013 by Jans Natural Reef Foods
smallreef January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 If your 75g has a TON of pods in it(like my 50g does) then you could easily add some water, or rubble rock like Wes suggests, to keep your pod population up... I just set up my 5g pico and used part of the water from my 50g and 2 small pieces of rock from it and I have a TON of pods in that little tank (though I do not have any pod specific eaters)
Djplus1 January 15, 2013 Author January 15, 2013 If your 75g has a TON of pods in it(like my 50g does) then you could easily add some water, or rubble rock like Wes suggests, to keep your pod population up... I just set up my 5g pico and used part of the water from my 50g and 2 small pieces of rock from it and I have a TON of pods in that little tank (though I do not have any pod specific eaters) So just take a few small rocks and a cup of water and just dump it in the small tank? You think that will do it? I'm pretty sure my 72 has some stuff. I literally had the biggest bloom of something a few weeks ago and I'm still cleaning little carcasses out of my sump.
zygote2k January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 Why torture the fish? Common sense dictates that a mandarin requires an enormous pod population to survive, let alone to actually thrive. The fish needs to eat a bottle of pods daily. Didn't anyone read Paul B's post?
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