live copepods

[Dazz78uk]

i am thinking of getting a mandarin fish but have read they need to be fed on live copepods.

would i have to keep buying them and adding them to the tank or would they breed in the tank?

if i put algae into one of my filter chambers would they breed in there and flow into the tank?

 

heres my filter i plan on changing the filter pads in the future

 

[MeepNand]

You can't keep a mandarin in a nano unless you train it to eat something else. A fuge in your filter will be way too little to support it. If you don't spend $10 a day on pods, it will starve. Unless you buy a pre-trained one.

See alto guide to breeding copepods in the aquaculture forum.

[IHeartMyFish]

i am thinking of getting a mandarin fish but have read they need to be fed on live copepods.

would i have to keep buying them and adding them to the tank or would they breed in the tank?

if i put algae into one of my filter chambers would they breed in there and flow into the tank?

 

heres my filter i plan on changing the filter pads in the future

 

 

I'm a newbie on this but you should wait for your tank to mature and allow pod populations to grow before introducing a madarinfish. Captive bred madarins are sometimes available and do eat other foods. Play it safe and add a refugium(or modify your filter to house one), maybe add a culture of pods to your tank, and wait a few months before placing a mandarin in your system. Mandarins have a reputation of being good at wiping out populations of pods-- you might want to think of getting a different type of fish. Good luck!!!

[Manaz101]

I too would suggest against it. Unless you can see the fish you are buying actually eat pellets or some other type of food before you buy it, I would stay away from a mandarin. A friend of mine was tricked into buying one from a LFS that told him, "oh these eat pellets" and he bought it only to have it die the next week because it didn't eat.

[Dazz78uk]

well there goes that plan.

would it still be a good idea to add them to the tank anyhow?

i havnt got anything in it yet but plan on getting a cuc soon.

if i get a cuc in my tank and i dont have any fish or coral in there i will have to put something in there to feed them on wont i? will they eat the pods?

should i be putting in some sort of pellets for them?

[IHeartMyFish]

will they eat the pods?

should i be putting in some sort of pellets for them?

 

The pods should be fine, depends on cuc. As long as the things that they're supposed to "clean" are in the tank, you should be fine(again, depends on the cuc).

[Veng]

You don't need to bother adding pods. You'll get them eventually as you add coral frags.

[IHeartMyFish]

Can I see a full tank shot? Any unwanted algae will provide food for a cuc.

[MeepNand]

How big is the tank?

[aquatect]

Just find a Mandarin that eats frozen foods.

 

There is no way to maintain a pod population in a tank that small. They will eat thousands of pods a day. They will decimate the population.

 

Therefore, there are two options:

1. Get a Mandarin that already eats frozen (not that hard to find). If you can wait awhile for the next generation of ORA Mandarins, they are tank raised and will eat frozen and pellets.

2. Train one to eat frozen foods. This is not easy to do but can be done. Some people have easier experiences than others, but you run the risk of not being able to do it in which case you'll end up spending a lot of money or letting the little guy starve.

 

I trained my Scooter Dragonet to eat frozen mysis shrimp and blood worms and he does incredibly well. I dump some pods in occasionally (as an unsustainable food source when I might be away from the tank for a couple days). However, training scooters is supposed to be easier than Mandarins.

[Zidion]

Try to find a mandarin that will eat pellets/frozen. I found mine a local shop. He loves spectrum pellets.

[Dazz78uk]

thanks guys

im going to wait abit before adding a manderin now but i did ask about one at a not so local fs and he only sold manderins that would eat frozen food. i will get one but im going to wait