are these harmless amphipods?
- Thread starter Herbie
- Start date
thinkfuture
Member
Great for your system. They are pods. Those are great source of Food for finicky eaters (Mandarin Goby)
Herbie
Banned
hmmm. never put that together. I can have a mandarin (ooo, maybe a pair) with Occys, right?
thinkfuture
Member
Yes you may, although there are a few in your system, If I were you, I'd wait before adding a Mandarin. They are expert fish & once all the pods are eaten they will starve to death. You will need a lot more than what you have & a established system (at least a year) before supplying a mandarin with sustainable supply of pods.
Herbie
Banned
Thanks. I'm pretty sure I have an esentially endless supply. This system has a separate 20t fuge with TONS of them in there and it's been up over a year. I gave up on Mandarin's when I was new because of the fear of starving them. I simply forgot that they would be a good candidate for this (was thinking wrasse). If I could figure out a way to easily trap many of these pods I'm pretty sure I could go into business selling them LOL. I'll have to see if Matt can get me a pair as he had this beautiful set before:
[video=youtube;ZuWcprHhq6Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWcprHhq6Q&feature=share&list=UUOHTMIFakgi6113cVdHFoMw[/video]
DD
"Rambo"
Matt had a couple spotted mandarins on Saturday when I went.
Jep21
Well-known member
not to be controversial or anything but u should be fine nate with adding a pair of mandarins blue/red/or spotted or even a potters/leopard/ornate/blue star wrasse in your system just make sure u have a mesh top... i for one dont keep a mesh top but u never knw.. i have a 29 biocube with and intank fuge and the pods seem to grow just fine and keep my leopard/melanrus/spotted mandarin dragonette happy and always have a full belly
Gary
Active member
A single mandarin would eat pods at a faster rate then a tank of that size can sustain them. Over time they will dwindle, add two and you will speed up the time that it takes for them to run out of food. If you really want them, but ORA ones that eat pellets. This way they will eat more then one source of food.
Jep21
Well-known member
you can always train them.. thats what i did with my mandarin and leopard wrasse..trained them to eat flakes and frozena and they are fat as can be lol
Herbie
Banned
FWIW, the system is 60+ total gallons. The DT is a 20 L but there is a a 29 sump and a 20t refugium with many types of macro, mangroves and LR. Also LR in the sump section and the DT of course.
Gary
Active member
If it worked 100% of the time sure, but why chance it when you can get a tank raised instead of a wild caught one. That's my advice.
I would still argue that over that it will still out eat the reproduction. The problem is that just about everything in your tank will eat pods. Let alone anything you may consider putting in there. I still think the tank breed one is your best option.