live rock pounds per mandarin?

[killafins]

Hi, I have just purchased 2 and half poudns of live rock for my twenty gallon. My madarin immediately recognized a new food source and is in the middle of a little cave I have created. I only took two and a half pounds because the lfs recommended i added them slowly. now i m curious, how long will these live rock support the needed copepods before the mandarin needs more? Will this suffice? How many pounds should I add?
thanks in advance...

 

[thomas712]

Was your mandarin eating anything else?
How long has he been in your tank?
I have heard that it takes about 60 to 100 lbs at least to support a mandarin that will only eat pods that live in the rocks. There are a few however that will eat frozen brine, but not many.
If your mandarin is new, he will likely starve to death, unless he is eating something else, and you are one of the lucky few.
I've been through this in a 55 with about 50 pounds of live rock and tons of pods, 6 months later, no more visible pods, after that I had a dead mandarin.
Thomas

 

[katara]

IMO..you need at least twice as much lr than you already have..I was lucky and my Mandarin ate live Zoe enriched brine to supplement his pod diet,try that.They are lazy eaters and will not chase after food but rather, wait for it to swim by or land by them.I would strongly recommend not getting one if your lfs does not currently sell live brine.

 

[katara]

Oops, sorry..just reread your post, you already have one..best of luck.Remember to strain the brine in a very fine net.

 

[dreeves]

There are also places which sell pod breeding kits and supplies...and a 5.5 gallon tank with a small heater would be pretty cheap and would work great. Then you could import your own pods as they multiply.

 

[killafins]

yeah, i have been feeding him live brine with the seahorse... he gets what the seahorse doesn't and visa versa. he also munches on the green algae so he has other food sources. That is what he has been on but the problem is is that the live brine shrimp is a huge problem to get because i can only pick it up on saturdays and the lfs usually sells out by then. so u think probably another five pounds would suffice? I do'nt want to spend too much money on stuff i don't need... thanks again

 

[bang guy]

IMO 100 pounds of live rock is required to keep a Mandarin healthy long term, and/or a very active Refugium.
Brine Shrimp do not have the density of nutrients required to maintain proper health.

 

[killafins]

lol. wow... well that's going to take a while