How do you tell if you have a good pod population?
- Thread starter fishstix
- Start date
schneidts
Active Member
What other fish do you have in there? If they are not being hunted right now, then there population should grow. If you don't have a fuge, you can try to pile up some rock rubble and feed some pellets or greens to that area. There population is dependent on nutrient levels and whether or not they can multiply safely.
wildtang
New Member
I currently have 2 clowns, one bengaii cardinal, and one blue damsel. Along w/ assorted cleaner crabs/snails and 1 cleaner shrimp.
Can you make a fuge or do you have to buy one?
If you can make a fuge how/what do you need etc
Thanks for all the help
Roughly speaking i have anywhere from 45-55 and maybe even to 60pounds. I also have a coupl very tiny pieces of rubble and I have live sand
Can you make a fuge or do you have to buy one?
If you can make a fuge how/what do you need etc
Thanks for all the help
Roughly speaking i have anywhere from 45-55 and maybe even to 60pounds. I also have a coupl very tiny pieces of rubble and I have live sand
h2oengr
Member
Do a search for "Fauna Kit". I have not purchase it or see it, but from what I have read here at SWF, it's a combination of little critters that will help develop your pod population.
Please don't jump the gun and think that the mandarin will be alright without a developed population of pods. I have tried this and starved a mandarin almost to death, took him back to the LFS and begged them to try to get him to eat and he eventually died. Wait until you can see little critters crawling about your sand/crushed coral.
Please don't jump the gun and think that the mandarin will be alright without a developed population of pods. I have tried this and starved a mandarin almost to death, took him back to the LFS and begged them to try to get him to eat and he eventually died. Wait until you can see little critters crawling about your sand/crushed coral.
belothsurf
Member
Originally posted by fishstix
I want to keep a manderin but I know you need to have a good pod population how do you know if you do? And if not how do you get more?
I just got a Mandarin a few weeks ago, so I've asked all these questions. I was concerned, because I've understood that a Mandarin can eat up a small pod population quickly, and then slowly starve to death. I didn't want that to happen!
First, what's a good pod poulation? The general consensus is that in order to support a Mandarin you need about 100lbs of live rock. Pods live in live rock, and piles of lr rubble, like we live in houses. So if you don't have enough houses, then don't worry about the population. But if you have enough live rock, then the pods will come. Sorta like "Field of Dreams"...."if you build it, they will come". But the best bet would be to have a Refugium, a seperate tank plumbed into your dt tank, that will allow pods to grow without having to worry about being eaten. Anyway, if you already have 60lbs of lr, and have not noticed any small white bugs, then you may not have a good pod population. You can buy them off a number of websites, and can get a good deal on ----. Search for "refugium" and that will bring it up. But you have to have the live rock first, so you are still about 40lbs short. HTH:happyfish
donmgicwon
Member
I have about 135 lbs of LR and the pods are everywhere, they come out a few hours after the MH's turn off. If you have enough you will know.
chris17
Member
I have also read the 100lbs of lr......that is the least you will want to have.........the tank needs to be well astablished before you can get one.......more less , a steady pop. of pods.
Also if you can do an above tank refuge..that will be your best bet...........cause the pods will live when they flow to the dt. if you have a pump pumping water back into the dt then alot of the pods that go through the pump will die. The manderin will still eat them, but the more alive pods goin into the dt the better, they will have a better chance to survive and reproduce. all you really have to do to see the pods is to just look at you aquariums glass.....kind of concentrate just on the glass and you will see them moving around.........well HTH:joy:
Also if you can do an above tank refuge..that will be your best bet...........cause the pods will live when they flow to the dt. if you have a pump pumping water back into the dt then alot of the pods that go through the pump will die. The manderin will still eat them, but the more alive pods goin into the dt the better, they will have a better chance to survive and reproduce. all you really have to do to see the pods is to just look at you aquariums glass.....kind of concentrate just on the glass and you will see them moving around.........well HTH:joy: