time for a dragonette?

[fishieness]

I am setting up a 40 breeder right now. i have jsut about 30 pounds of lice rock, my clownfish, a margarita snail, a few hermits, a coral banded shrimp, a few mushrooms, and 2 hitchiker corals right now. oh yeah, and about a bajillion amphiopods. They are all over the glass and the rockwork. Im looking at one of my small hermits shells, and there are about 10 of them just on that.... When my blue-legged hermit walks aroudn the rock, it looks like the rock is moving... so i think its time for a dragonette or some sort because i ahve heard that if there are too many, the amphiopods may eat polyps, and one of my hitchikers is a polyp of some sort, havent been able to figure out what kind though. There are a lot of the smaller types, but not many i have seen the size of a copepod. I was wondering if i should try to find a bigger one, to make sure he will be able to eat the pods. They are about 2 or 3mm long, the bigger ones, but there are a lot of smaller ones. Will a smaller dragonette be able to eat these?

 

[ssweet1]

If you dont have other pod eating fish like scooter blennies or goby's than 1 mandarin should be fine. I would look for a med/large size fish because they have survived longer and also may eat the frozen brine easier. A 40 gallon is probably the minimum I would go with since you said you have tons of pods and live rock to keep supporting the pod population.

 

[reefnut]

I would stay away from any Dragonet. A 40g with 30lbs of LR will not support one for long unless you get them eating prepared foods. Yes you may have many pods now but a Dragonet will make short work out of them, get fat and deplete its food source, at which point the 30lbs of rock will not support the population needed.
Now, if you do get one I would go with the scooter blenny. They are much easier to "train" to eat prepared foods then the Mandarin. It would most certainly eat the pods also.
As far as the pods eating zoos... shouldn't be a worry.

 

[rubberduck]

yes like reefnut stated. pods would be wiped out in a mounth no matter the size. they hunt most the day. even with prepared foods., i would be careful of starving. in a well established tank with pods. there is a breeding place where pods are born and bread. this is maybe in a rockwork that is pouris(sp) or in my case, my filter. it will just be a matter of time until the dragonet wipes it out by long term feeding or by finding it. all together i would say u NEEEd a well established refigium before it is possible. my 2 cents
travis

 

[fishieness]

i am def getting a refugium, as soon as i scroung up the money. But i see your point about whipeing them out. Thats what i was afraid would happen. And although i only have about 30 pounds or so now, it will be growing. I add a few pounds in a week for the most part. Would it be possible if i got a realy large, porus piece of rock? I have one thats about the size of a regulation football in my 30 gallon that is only a few pounds. Its more branching, with wholes everywhere, but not big enough for a mandarin. My 10"long snowflake eel hides in it well enough that i cant see him at all.

 

[fishieness]

im also trying to add pods into my 30 gallon tank. In there i have a small snowflake, a valentini puffer, and an orange spotted sleeper goby. Its a sand sifting goby so it wont eat the pods. Could i harvest them in there until i get a refugium?

 

[joksta]

the thing is IF he was able to eat frozen foods., he is too slow and passive that he could not compete with these other fish, so it would be VERY difficult to feed him. so be careful about getting one.
travis

 

[fishieness]

he is going to be one of the only fish in the tank. But he ate frozen brine at the store. I also have vitamin suppliments in case brine is the only frozen foods he will eat. And have been adding lots of amphiopods to my 30 gallon, to hope on growing them there. So i did get one if you didnt pick that up from the previous posts. I wasnt able to check the other posts about them since my mom wouldnt let me go online because she says i spend too much time on this site. But i did see sSweets an thought it would be okay. We will see how it goes. Thanks for caring everyone.

 

[harlequin]

Pods will not mess with anything in your tank, no matter how many there are. There is no such thing as too many pods in a tank. Like has been said before, the mandy will wipe out the existing population rather quickly in that small of a tank, in I would think less than 2 weeks. Whoever told you about the pods messing with things is FOS. If anything, the clown will hold them in check.