mandrin goby is real hungry

[fkanderson]

hello, I have a 40gal reef tank established. I only feed about
once a week as was suggested
Question, I have a mandrin goby which only seems to like to
eat copapods all day off the rocks. Problem is that there are
not too many left. When I first set up my tank it was teaming
with these little miniture white critters which hang out on the
front glass or the rocks.. now there isn't too many left and I am
afraid my little friend will starve..
Is there any easy way to get a lot of those copapods back in the tank. I also like having alot of small little critters that come off the rocks. Any ideas were I can get these?

 

[y2says]

Mandarin Gobies are tough to keep. Most die from starvation since they feed mostly on pods. Some may take in brine shrimp, but very few. There is a way to replenish your pod population. Get a refiguim (spelling ?) so they can grow without any worries of predation. I was thinking about getting one for my 180g reef because I to want a mandarin, but am afraid that it will die. Good luck.

 

[fkanderson]

whats a refiguim? .. sorry I haven't heard of that.

 

[hondo]

LR = Copepods
refugium = Copepods
Your tank is on the small side for being able to have enough pod population for one of these, and it's pretty rare to get them to switch their diet but it has been done. How much LR do you have in your 40g?
Probably your best option is going to be a refugium. This is a seperate place full of sand, rock, and macro algae where pods can live and reproduce without threat of predators. It can be a HOB type or a sump type but you need to have a place where the pods can reproduce without them getting taken out by the mandarin. Also what other fish do you have in the tank? are any of them pod eaters?
unfortunately setting up a refugium and allowing the pod population to grow enough to where they start making their way to your main tank takes time. If it's an emergancy situation you can purchase pod kits from a couple places online (inland aquatics and IPSF) to help jumpstart the poulation

 

[jak424]

Has anyone else heard that it helps to keep your pods up if you stuff shrimp into a pile of stones (where the mandarin can't get to) and let it decay there? Sort of an in-house refigur-thingy...

 

[fishymissy]

I've heard of the pod piles....just a bunch of small rocks jammed together so no fish, shrimp or crabs can get into the rocks, but putting a piece of raw shrimp in the middle of it is a new one to me. I thought copepods ate algae? Or are they scavengers? Wouldn't bristleworms get the meat first? I don't know about anyone else's tank, but in mine, the bristleworms are the first to the scraps.

 

[kelly]

I think they are scavangers... I do not think the shrimp idea will work, but could be wrong. I hope you do not have any starfish, they will get the shrimp first.
Interested on hearing more about using shrimp as copepod food. I have a tank with no fish, and some copepods, maybe I can increase the pod population there then move them to the main tank.

 

[fkanderson]

so can you actually buy these little critters online? I think one of the coolest things about having a reef tank is having these mysterious little small crittres that just seem to come from the live rock. I have a few small critters in my tank that I have no idea what they are, that came off the rocks.
BTW I have atleast 65 pounds of LR packed in my 40 gal tank.
Packing scrimp in the middle of rocks and letting it decay seems like it would polute the tank... wouldn't it??

 

[fkanderson]

btw this guy will eat live brine.. but he just doesn't want to bother with anything that is not live...... plus I hear that brine
is not a very good source of nutrition..

 

[jak424]

The main reason I mentioned the shrimp is that besides reading from someone who probably has less actual evidence than I do, I also accidently dropped more shrimp in our tank than our hermits and everyone else cared for, and instead of removing the meat, I thought I would see what happened. So after a day, it turned bright pink, and after another day, a thick film covered it, but there was no real contamination. The film was quite solid and prevented and cloudiness. Long story short was that after several days, the film deteriorated into nothing, leaving nothing behind, but I noticed the pod population seemed to increase significantly. I am going to try this experiment again to see if the same holds true. Also encouraging to me was that there at least seemed to be many dots (small pods I assumed) on the film during this period. I post again after the second go at this pod experiment.

 

[john f]

You might try a product called Cyclop-ezze by Argent.
It is freeze dried copepods from a salt water lake in Canada.
My shrimpfish eat it eagerly and they are considered copepod and live food specialists only as are most mandarins.
The nutritionl profile of the cylop-ezze is fantastic. Probably better even than mysis shrimp.
They have so much natural caratenoid they are bright orange/red.
This stuff is also great for the corals in the reef tank.
Who in the world told you to feed once a week?
I feed my tanks 3 times daily.
Past of the reason the pods are disapearing is starvation.
If your tank cannot handle frequent feedings without large algae blooms, you need a bigger skimmer.
John

 

[wamp]

Another way to attract and get your pod count up is to place a sponge behind your Live Rock. They will hide and grow in there coming out at night and allowing your mandarin to pick them off.

 

[charvel]

I have a spotted mandarin,it's doing great, it loves brine and he is pretty much the only fish I have that really goes after the pods.I have 60 lbs of LR.and waited a while before adding him. As far as advice try garlic,more LR ? maybe eliminate the pod hunters (trade them in if you have any) I am still fairly new at salt water just having really good luck and catching on quick. I hope I helped. Take care. Mike.

 

[fishymissy]

One of the reasons brine shrimp aren't considered very nutritious is because the sellers are feeding them yeast. While this will keep the shrimp alive, it doesn't do much for the fish. I like to occasionally feed my fish live brine and so I "gut load" the brine by feeding them small amounts of DT's for a few days prior to feeding them to the fish.

 

[dinhouse]

"fkanderson" Have you tried feeding him zooplankton? My mandrine eats frozen foods but he really seems to like zooplankton.

 

[bang guy]

A pod pile will help a lot. Not as good as a refugium, but pretty good. The common Copepods we see in our tanks eat phytoplankton. Dosing with Dt's will also help their population. Skip the rotting shrimp. I would imagine this would increase the Copepod population by increasing the nitrate level ---> increases the phytoplankton. The resulting ammonia spike could stress everything in the tank though.

 

[jonthefb]

get a strand of caulerpa growing in yoru main tank. this stuff grows like weeds and will providea a harbor for all kinds of lfe, including pods. the sponge idea is another good one,but in my littel 20 gallon reef, i have the left side of the tank growig caulerpa in a kinda dense strand, and at night i check it out and tons of pods hang in th ealgae, and rock surrounding it!
good luck
jon