No Pods

[iechy]

I have been searching for pods every night in my tank and can't find any. I've only been up for about a month now and have 30 lbs LR and 3 inches LS. Is it too early or should I already be seeing some with the LR and LS. If not, what can I do to get some in there? I really want to get a mandarin but have read that they really need pods to munch on so I want to try and get them going before I start thinking about a mandarin. I look at night with the flashlight adn all I see is my son looking at me like I'm nuts.

 

[bang guy]

Wait a couple more months. Where did you get the Live sand?
IMO 30 pounds of Live Rock might not produce enough food for an adult Dragonette. If you can, add a refugium. That will add to your 'pod population.

 

[iechy]

I plan on getting at 20 more live rock before I get a mandarin so that will help. I was thinking of making a mini refugium in the return side of my bak pak skimmer for now. It seems like it would work but has anyone else tried it? My sand came from the LFS in the area and may not have been best quality. I think I am going to add more of that too from somewhere else. I have read others say that their live sand had feather dusters etc. in their and mine has nothing visible maybe just bacteria and microbes.

 

[demosthenes]

There is an excellent article on Pods in the Reef Tank in an old AFM, and if you have access to it I would check it out. The time it takes for pods to reproduce is 6 weeks minimum, so in a couple of weeks, your pod population should pick up. IMO, you should have a very mature tank, stocked with LS and LR, before a Mandarin Dragonette is to be considered.

 

[iechy]

Thanks I'll check it out. I am going to wait awhile for the mandarin but since it's one of my favorites I'm already making plans

 

[iechy]

Most from a bag and a little from an established tank. I am going tomorrow to see about getting 30 lbs more LR and some good LS. We'll see what else I come home with too.

 

[iechy]

They're here! I got some more LR (25 lbs) and LS (10 lbs) today and awhile ago I was searching the tank for critters and wouldn't you know it, I found some pods. I didn't see many but I guess if I have some then I will eventually have more. So I guess my tank is on its way to maturing. This really is much more fun than I even expected.

 

[maleficent]

I was worried about enough pods for my mandarin. I found some for 5$ plus shipping on the net. I started with 20 creatures and with no predators in my refugium tank I now have tons...way tons. e-mail me and I will send you the link. KNorman223@aol.com

 

[striker]

Hello Iechy, I have a mandarin in my 29gallon. I have a bakpak too and while I was adding some to the tank I accidently dropped a cupload into the return side of the skimmer. Needless to say it made a mess and now have about 4 inches in there. I've left it alone and even added some extra plants to the bottom. Don't know how effective it will be but I thought it was funny since you were thinking of doing it.

 

[iechy]

Well hopefully you have a mini-refugium started. I guess we'll both know if it works soon enough. I can't see how it could hurt anything Good luck!