Clowns and Copepods

chroniccoral35

chroniccoral35

Member
I have two clowns, I put in a bottle of copepods/tiggiepods from my SWF store about a month ago maybe more, because I was going to buy a manderin which I just acclimated last night, now my question is will/did the clowns eat the copepods? I tried looking around the tank I didnt see any, I did see them when I put them in of course...but after that I didnt really look...im hoping they reproduced and are still in there for the manderin, if not I'll have to buy more and get some live brine or live worm, if anyone can answer that question thanks :)
 
browniebuck

browniebuck

Active Member
When we have added the bags of copepods from SWF.com, we haven't really been able to see them very well (they are tiny). We begin to notice them much more when we first turn the lights on a couple of weeks later as they begin to grow larger. Yours are probably hiding in your LR (assuming that you have LR) or in you sand (assuming that you have a sand substrate). If the clowns did eat any, they certainly didn't eat them all.
If you want your mandarin to thrive, you will need to either set up a refugium or continuously replenish your supply of pods (or hope that he will eat frozen mysis like mine does
)
 
chroniccoral35

chroniccoral35

Member
yeah, I am new to the hobby...my buddy has a 250g reef, he got me addicted =/...mine is only a small 10g in my room, loaded with LR tho, but yeah it was a bottle of tiggie pods, from my SWF store I go too, i hope they are still in there but I am going to buy live brine or live worms and feed him every 3-4 days anyway, maybe he will eat the frozen brine that my clowns do which is what I hope because I have tons of it, thanks for your help tho...he seems happy so far :)
 
browniebuck

browniebuck

Active Member
The way that I got mine to eat frozen mysis is to turn off all powerheads and filters then add the mysis/brine (mysis is better for them than brine). This allows the mandarin, which doesn't have the greatest eyesight, to see and catch the shrimp as they fall near her (put the shrimp into the tank near where the mandarin is).
 
browniebuck

browniebuck

Active Member
Just make sure to turn everything back on before walking away...I forgot to do that once and nearly lost everything.
 
chroniccoral35

chroniccoral35

Member
Okay, I'll give it a shot, I think i'm still going to buy a thing of live worm or brine...because thats what the website says they eat...I wonder if the clowns will eat it also?
 
reefmate75

reefmate75

Member
being in a 10 gallon tank your sure to have to feed him anyways so never hope your tank can suply him with enough pods for him to live long, so better hope he starts to eat frozen foods
 
L

lsu

Guest
I'd return the mandarin unless you can get it to accept prepared foods. Sorry but a 10 gal is no where near large enough to support the amount of pods required for a mandarin. If you can get it to eat prepared foods you may have a shot but I'd return it or it will most likely slowly starve and it's not a fun thing to watch.
 
L

lsu

Guest
Brine has little nutritional value unless it is freshly hatched and still has the yolk sac, I've never heard of worms as food. General rule of thumb is that mandarins need an established tank with at least 100 lbs. of lr., in order to maintain the proper amount of pods. A fuge also really helps. I'd suggest using the search feature for mandarins to get a feeling for their requirements, or asking a question on them in the new hobbyist section which has a higher volume of traffic.
 
browniebuck

browniebuck

Active Member
yeah...I didn't realize that you were putting the mandarin in the 10 gallon tank...that is more than likely bad news. I know that the fish is small in size, but their diet requirements really make them a larger tank fish. Best bet for the fish, find someone that can offer it a good home or take him back to the LFS.
 
chroniccoral35

chroniccoral35

Member
Well I just fed my clowns frozen brine, and I watched the mandarin the whole entire time, and he did eat some of the brine...and hes constantly picking at the LR for pods im assuming or some food, if I see he is starving I'll deffently put him in my buddys 38g, but I am upgrading to a 20g nano cube soon...so im still brainstorming on what im going to do...my hopes is I can keep him alive in this 10g
 
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