Quote:
Originally Posted by joselastra  what and where are these tiger pods purchased from????? |
Establish Tank: is depending on multiple factors 1 year is a bulletproof rule to fallow, but it can accure as fast as45-60days-With help.
Pods Are:
Copepods are crustaceans. They are found almost everywhere where water is available and they constitute the biggest source of protein in the oceans. Most of the economically important fishes depend on copepods and even the whales in the northern hemisphere feed on them. Trillions of litte copepod guts produce countless fecal pellets contributing greatly to the marine snow and therefore accelerating the flow of nutrients and minerals from surface waters to the bottom of the seas. Predatory freshwater copepods have been successfully used to control pests like Dengue fever.
Copepods can live in your main tank, your refugium, or in a separate dedicated system. In your main tank they will be eaten and depleted by your fish and corals. In your refugium they will thrive since there are no predators. Pods from your refugium can be periodically harvest and fed to your main tank.
Copepods like to hide so they will prefer an environment with nooks and crannies. In your main tank they will hide in your live rock and gravel. In your refugium they will hide in your macroalgae and other plants.
This place sells codepods($20), called tigger pods which we could breed in your reef allowing you to feed the mandarin with easy. pluse they have pos effects on a reef.
Reef Nutrition Marine Copepods
Breeding Tigger Pods
Upon arrival, open bottle cap and remove the inside liner. Let stand at room temp for 2 hours to allow temperature to rise. The Tigger Pods™ can be poured directly into your refugium and/or main tank. They can live several weeks in the bottle, as long as they are fed and the bottle is open to the air.
Tigger Pods™ feed on microalgae and we recommend feeding them with Phyto-Feast™. Phyto-Feast™ can be dosed directly into both your refugium and main tank. The recommended feeding rate is 1 to 5 drops per gallon each day, depending on the bio-density of your reef tank.
Mandarins:
Feeding: As noted above, feeding can be a major issue with Mandarins. Some will take foods such as frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms. Others will refuse to take anything but live foods. Mandarins are extremely slow and hover, much like a hummingbird using their front fins while looking for food. Even Mandarins that take prepared foods have a hard time competing with faster fish for the morsels. One suggestion I have heard that makes good sense, especially in smaller tanks that don't support a large pod population is to build something called a 'pod pile'. This is a few small rocks stacked into a pile into which small pieces of shrimp or similar food can be inserted every couple of days. This pile of rocks provides shelter and a food supply for the pods which allows them to rapidly breed and provide food for the Mandarin.