help, dragonet & copepods

[brennan]

:help: I bought a very cool green dragonet several weeks ago because I had tons of white bugs in my tank. He sems to be doing well, but 've noticed he has eaten most of the bugs. Questions:
1. Prior to him actually starving to death, is there any way to tell if he is getting enough food?
2. Is there a way to introduce more bugs, and if so, how much and how often?
My set up:
55 gal, protein skimmer, aqua-something pump/filter, 30 lbs LR, 1 inch aragonite substrate, one magenta dottyback, 3 chromis, 4 very large turbo snails, 5 large scarlet hermit crabs (I had 6, but this morning I saw the dotty swimming with one of the crab's huge carcus hanging from her mouth!)

Also, did the dotty kill my hermit, or just decide to eat him after he died?
Finally, can I safely add a cleaner shimp and a yellow clown goby? Feel free to offer any advice about anything you see here. Thanks so much

 

[scubadoo]

It takes about 100 pounds of mature live rock to provide an adequate supply of pods. Some folks install a fuge where the pods mutiply and are slowly released in the system. I fear your set-up is inadequate to sustain the madarin for any long-term period.
Most will not accept alternative foods such as mysis shrimp.

 

[jcrim]

There are sources that sell copepods in a bottle. You could try that...

 

[dea_mt]

yes, have your tried frozen mysis or live brine yet?

 

[jerthunter]

You can try feeding frozen mysis shrimp, my dragonet(scooter blenny) loves to eat frozen mysis.

 

[my way]

Do a Google search for Ocean Pods. I think it's about
$25 for a bottle.

 

[brennan]

Thanks everyone!!

 

[sankysyuck]

In my opinion, trying to feed your mandarin frozen mysis or bloodworms ect. is a lost cause. Your best bet if your willing to spend the money is to buy a refugium and find a really fancy reef buisness near you that sells bottled Copepods, I've seen them from $20 to $30. You could put the pods in your Refugium with a little iodine (they like iodine) and they would breed and eventually be filtered back to your main salt system. I've seen all kinds of names from Aquapods to Superpods, im sure you could even find a place online that sells them also.

 

[promisetbg]

They do not like iodine...and this can easily be overdosed{testing for it is innacurate}please do not add iodine.Pods can benefit from live phytoplankton,such as DT's.Do add some more LR,slowly over several months.
The pods in a bottle are a good thing,they can be purchased online as well.If you cannot afford a refugium right now,make LR rubble piles in the back of your tank so the pods can hide and reproduce there.1" Is not very much sand,along with only 30Lbs of LR..I fear this tank is in for trouble unless you get more biological filtration in the tank.
It is possible that the dottyback killed the hermit,but more likely that it had molted,was laying on the substrate,and she just picked it up.
I would say you should be ok with the other two additions,but I seriously caution you not to overstock this tank with it's present set-up.Consider more LR and LS.

 

[nm reef]

Originally Posted by promisetbg
They do not like iodine...and this can easily be overdosed{testing for it is innacurate}please do not add iodine.Pods can benefit from live phytoplankton,such as DT's.Do add some more LR,slowly over several months.
The pods in a bottle are a good thing,they can be purchased online as well.If you cannot afford a refugium right now,make LR rubble piles in the back of your tank so the pods can hide and reproduce there.1" Is not very much sand,along with only 30Lbs of LR..I fear this tank is in for trouble unless you get more biological filtration in the tank.
It is possible that the dottyback killed the hermit,but more likely that it had molted,was laying on the substrate,and she just picked it up.
I would say you should be ok with the other two additions,but I seriously caution you not to overstock this tank with it's present set-up.Consider more LR and LS.

Yup....exactly what the lady from Florida said....

 

[harlequin]

Best thing I can think of is get hold of a 20-30 gallon tank, put a slow return pump and fill the tank with LR, have the in-flow on one end and the pump on the other. Buy some of those bottled pods you have read about above and put them all in this tank, do not put any fish or crabs in this tank. As stated above they will slowly filter into your main system and the rock will assist with filtration as well.