Too many coepods?

[jisushika]

I had a 25 Gal setup for almost 2 years and then decided to switch over to a 40 instead. The tank has now been setup for about a month now and there are tons of coepods, worms, and lots of other creatures. Can you have an overpopulation of them or is more always better? I was wanting to get a mandarin goby maybe, or a dragonnet. I understand that the tank needs to be established for at least 7 months before adding them but since I already have so many coepods, is it alright to add one sooner?

 

[alex4286]

im pritty sure thats a good problem to have
if you think u got too many pods.. ill take a couple hundred!!
I want one of those fish too but i don't have enough pods running around my tank & no store locally sells pods because "they dont sell" from what they tell me so they dont carry them

 

[warlock_king]

If you are sure youve got tons of pods going and actually see them moving about during the night roaming the tank then I would imagine it could be possible that your tank can handle a mandarin. Ive got one but didnt add it till my tank had been running for the better part of a year. so if you have any doubts in your mind I would wait a couple more months. good luck with the fish!

 

[alix2.0]

alot of people are going to say no because if you get a mandarin in that tank your copepods will be depleated like, overnight. unless you have a fuge and over 100 lbs of rock.
HOWEVER
if you are the experimental type, i have read several articles and such about keeping mandarins successfully in smaller tanks. while it is not reccommended, i am sure it can be done if you are willing to buy copepods, fish eggs (which i guess alot of them accept, notsure what kind, ill get back to you on that), etc.
if your really determined, try to find a mandarin that will accept perpared foods, because even though you have billions of pods now, im sure a mandarin will eat them alot faster than they can reproduce...
edit// sorry this sounds kind of choppy and random, i just woke up, and am insanely sick.

 

[1journeyman]

As stated above, a Dragonet will deplete a small tank of all of the tiny pods.

 

[jisushika]

Thank you for the input. Is a scooter blenny the same thing as a dragonet, I'm confused on this. I've seen the little brown ones at the LFS which are sometimes named scooter blennies or I see them labeled as Dragonnets too.

 

[1journeyman]

Yes, Scooter Blennies are from the Dragonet family

 

[peef]

I was looking at your tank....are those aiptasia everywhere in your tank....I would take care of them first off if they are!

 

[jisushika]

Yea I had another post about the aiptasia. I'm working on trying to get rid of all those things

 

[anthropo]

Originally Posted by alix2.0
i am sure it can be done if you are willing to buy copepods, fish eggs (which i guess alot of them accept, notsure what kind, ill get back to you on that), etc.
I think it's oyster eggs. they sell them at the fish store i go to but very expensive. something like 20 bucks for about 2 grams. mine as well do drugs for that price j/k. if they do try a small tank with minimal live rock even though you have hundreds upon thousands a dragonet will devastate a tank that size unless it is supplemented somehow whether a fuge or whatever is used. copepods multiply best in rock rubble so you could add a few or just one big piles of rock to the tank. good luck and on a side note yes it has to be an established tank of at least 9 months. preferably a year.

 

[alix2.0]

Originally Posted by alix2.0
fish eggs (which i guess alot of them accept, notsure what kind, ill get back to you on that), etc.
ok, the articles are in the february 2007 issue of tropical fish hobbyist, there are two about keeping mandarins in nano tanks, and the eggs are capelin roe, which you can find at places that sell asian food.

 

[wigle36]

I had aaiptasia problem. Bought 2 peppermint shrimp and no problems. They
really like to munch on them.

 

[jisushika]

Originally Posted by wigle36
I had aaiptasia problem. Bought 2 peppermint shrimp and no problems. They
really like to munch on them.
I wish mine would start munching already, the two that I have didn't do anything to the aiptasia yet. Can the aiptasia be too big for the shrimp to eat?

 

[dbmtrman]

If you have an asian food market nearby, you can buy roe (sushi fish eggs), for about $7.00 for 8 ounces. Lasts a long time, and fish love them. My clown fish really love them, as do my scooter blenny's. I haven't seen the mandarins eating them yet though. That is what I originally bought them for though. Mandarins will eat blood worms though. At least that is what I have found.

 

[peef]

I had some BIG aiptasia and my peppermints ate them right up.