ruble pile for copapods? location? flow ?

[ketill]

I have been reading in some of the post for mandrins about "ruble piles" assuming piles of small pieces of LR and shells ect ?
was wondering what size pieces , location of the pile in relation to LR, flow, lighting ect. and how big should the pile/ piles be? should I have more than one?
65g,
66pounds LR, 3-4 inch sand bed, 15g fug( chaeto and LS with florecent lighting), DT lighting is PC 48" 260W.
thanx for help/ tips.

 

[ketill]

29 views no replies :0(

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by Ketill
29 views no replies :0(
First you need to know that mandrins need an established tank..Im sure you realize this. If you have enough live rock in an established LARGE tank...then its not a problem.... I have a 130 gallon established and a 45 gallon fuge with LR rubble,cheato,etc...and can keep a nice fat mandrin. You have not stated the age of your tank,,,,but by the size ....I doubt you can sustain enough pods to feed a mandrin at this point.. But to answer your question.... If you put LR rubble in the fuge where no predators cans get to them ...AND some rubble in a corner of the DT, That would be your best hope to breed pods. But I dont recommend it at this point and time for you. Just my 2 cents

 

[ketill]

tank just went thru a brief move, but was 3 years prior to move, kept all the rock, and 4o gal of the old water, and the 15g fug w all it's contents move was about a week ago, everything is back to 0. thank you very much for the response and I am thankful for any more info.

 

[ifirefight]

Here is a quote from the archives... I was supprized to see somebody having sucess with a smaller tank . Nicely done. Just wanted to add my 2 cents on my experience with a psychedelic madarin. I've had one for about 7-8 months in a 55 gallon tank and it is healthy as a horse. I have about 3-4 inches of live aragonite sand and about 60 pounds of live rock in the tank.
While I do not have a fuge, I do have two large hob filters utilized as fuges.
I believe my secret to success in my small tank is that I do not clean the back and sides of my tank, and I use a razor blade to clean the front of the tank. This pretty much ensures a nice pod population. I also have THICK algal mats growing on the returns of my hob filters which are CRAWLING with pods. I mean you can poke the algae with your finger and they come squirming out like army ants.
So if you have a 55 gallon tank with no fuge, get liverock, live sand, and hob filters and you should be ready for a mandarin once the tank gets established and ya get a thick growth of algae on the returns https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/176307/fotm-mandarinfish

 

[snakeblitz33]

umm, you don't necessarily absolutely have to have an established tank. You can actually buy copepods by the bulk from swf.com!
You can also bury a pvc pipe in the sandbed and have a few holes from pvc t's and elbow's that are poking up behind your live rock. This is basically a little copepod breeding area. It costs way way way less then a small pile of live rock.

 

[ketill]

since the tank move i have been worried and been buying them bought 400 last week put all in DT, getting another 400 today, going to split it between fuge and tank.
My LFS wont order them even though their supplier sends them samples of them. . . bummer for me. hoping enough survived the move to keep my mandrine happy

 

[lexluethar]

How do you know if you have enough pods? I hope to get a mandrine once i get a larger tank. You say a smaller tank must be established, or a larger tank just needs enough LR - but is there any real way of measuring the amount of pods you have in your system? What ensures that they will breeds in your sump/fuge/LR? I'm just thinking if you had some general way of measuring the amout of pods you can determine if you can support a mandrine or if your current one is getting enough food before it becomes a problem (ie your mandrine looks in poor health / dies).
Not trying to hijack - i'm just curious.

 

[ketill]

Don't ever worry about hijacking oa post of mine, most likly I have the same questions as you, just forgot to ask them. The post linked earlier in this post was very informative for me. did ya check it out yet ?

 

[lexluethar]

Yes, VERY informative! That does help - but other than poor health is there really no way to know if you have enough pods? I just wish there was a more pro-active way of measuring the pod population.