Mandarin...is it time?

[Fishyfreak031592]

So my tank has been set up since about march of 05. I have 70-80 pounds of LR with sufficient ammounts of diferent growth on it. My tank is 72 gallons. Now, i have never seen pods when the lights are on, but every time when i go to clean out the spange in my wet/dry filter, i take it to the sink to rinse it out and i can see about 2-5 pods go down the drain. This happens every time i clean out the sponge, which is about 3-4 times a week. So my question is, am i ready for a mandarin or a scooter blenny? And i have another question. Am i deminishing my pod population when i clean out the sponge to my filter? Any comments are highly appreceiated. Thanks...

[Tammy3770]

someone correct me if I'm wrong,
dont they eat copepods insted??????????/

[elephen]

Mandarins are very hit and miss. I have a spotted mandarin that I have had for 2 years and he'll eat brine.

I had one before that wouldn't eat at all. You just have to hope your luck holds out =)

I would say its been up long enough, my tank was only up for 5 months or so before I put this one in.

[Fishyfreak031592]

umm....maybe you misunderstood Tammy..."pods is just short for copepods...

well i have about 8 or so different frozen foods in my freezer, so if i get one, i hope it will take to one of those...

[Tammy3770]

it's just my point that you would see amphipods go down the drain but copepods are so small that it would be near impossible to see go down the drain.
thats all, just wanted to clear it up,
and a refugium would help the population of "pods"
do you have one??
dont stone me yet, I'm just trying to help.

[SaraB]

Make sure you do not have another fish that will compete for the pods ... like a sixline wrasse. It is hard to have more than 1 pod eater in a tank of that size. I lost mine to this sort of competition.

[Fishyfreak031592]

Not stoning you....lol that sounds funny...

And refugiums, i think they are cool, but i wouldnt know where to put it. I dont like the in-the-tank kind of refugiums because they take up too much space inside the tank...

[Fishyfreak031592]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6506621#post6506621 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sara B
Make sure you do not have another fish that will compete for the pods ... like a sixline wrasse. It is hard to have more than 1 pod eater in a tank of that size. I lost mine to this sort of competition.

I dont worry about wrasses because i cant have wrasses in my tank...becausae i have an open-top tank...

[Cutiewitbooty]

I would say it would be fine, just try and get one that eats mysis just in case, they should be able to show you the fish eating in the LFS.

[Fishyfreak031592]

Well, im probably going to get a pair of either a mandarin or a scooter blenny...if i can find a mated pair...

[supertech3]

I would not try a pair that would be double the consuption in your tank, try one first.

[Fishyfreak031592]

would you think that the scooter blennier are easier to take care of than the mandarins? It would seem like it, right?

[divewsharks]

as mentioned earlier, you wouldn't see the copepods go down the drain, and that is what the mandarin eats, look on the glass and rock for little white/colored specs moving around, you will need to see alot of them before putting a dragonet of any type in the tank, and if you are looking for a mated pair, definitely have an establish fuge.
as also mentioned, you should be able to test at your LFS if the dragonet will eat prepared foods, mysis, brine and such. even then you will likely need to target feed as dragonets are slow/deliberate feeders so they can easily be out competed for food by quicker/faster fish.

[ejmeier]

IMO, I wouldn't try it. :( Not unless you can find one that will eat frozen foods. OR, if you add a fuge.

Honestly, a lot of people (myself once included) think that because they see tons of pods in the tank, everything will be okay. The pods just have a head start, but that doesn't mean that the population will be sustained long term. Just think of it this way, you are trying to keep the fish its entire life, not 2-3 months.

Without a fuge, I think you MAY have issues keeping the pod levels up. He will just eat everything in the tank and the pods won't have any protection and their numbers will dwindle.

FWIW, I've tried both a mandarin and a scooter blenny, (on two seperate occasions) and both met their demise due to starvation. That was in a 45g tank, but I had ~55+ lbs of LR in the display, and a 7g refugium to boot. I saw tons of pods too, and thought they could make it. I was wrong.

I may be wrong though. :D Just don't want to see another dead fish. ;)