Mandarin Copepod+Copepods

[fuerte91]

I am thinking of ordering some fish, including the Mandarin Dragonet. My question was if i bought the 200 Copepods in the same shipment, will they be able to reproduce. How do i bree these litle guys? I have read of people trapping the copepods in th tank, but i do not understand it. thanks for all the advances in advance
I meant Mandarin Dragonet in the title

 

[detguy313]

what size tank is this going in and how long has it been runnning...mandarins eat alot of pods a day and need a tank with lots of live rock and one that is mature

 

[lexluethar]

200 will not be enough to keep the mandarin alive. You need about 75 lbs of established LR and an established coepod population for them to reproduce enough. I've heard the mandarin eating a rediculous amount of pods a day.

 

[prk543]

a mandarin would probably decimate a population of 200 pods in a short time, not to mention the other fish in your tank would eat them too.
I would suggest that you add the pods to give them time to reproduce and then eventually after time you can add the mandarin.

 

[niskyvaulter]

yeah, first we need to know how much lr you have, how old the tank is, and do you have a sump? IMO, all of these are necesary to keep one

 

[nycustomsumps]

i have a pair in a 125 with about 100lbs. of liverock and they are doing great,
i also have a sump/refuge with a 20 gallon refuge loaded with pods and macro.
they also eat live brine shrimp and frozen brine , mysis.
my tank was running a good year before a added the pair.

 

[doktorj99]

i have a one in my 20g and she does awesome....i.e.....i also buy pods every two weeks and alternate putting in tank and refugium....plus the fuge i have is for a bigger tank.....and she eats frozen mysid and i spot feed her every night....so it can be done in a small tank without tons of LR but not recommended....i waited almost a year and a half before i got one and worked with my LFS to get it to eat frozen.....IMO i would wait...

 

[drex]

i agree with the above, i just got mine yesterday and my tank has been going for about a year and a half, 90 gallon with 100 lbs of LR and sump setup. they had the brightest mandarin at my LFS and i left, came back to get it 30 min later and it was gone. had way more orange then blue and it was the brightest orange ever.. anyways, i would wait..