Breeding Copepods!

[Dgameman1]

Would it be possible to breed copepods in a 1 gallon jar with chaeto, some live rock, and gravel with an led light for the chaeto?

There would be no filter or heater.

And every week or so, i'd just grab a cup full of water and throw it into my main tank for my mandarin?

And would I need to buy tisbe copepods or tigger copepods?

 

[Mebbid]

A mandarin will require waaay more pids than a system like that will provide. I would suggest 2 air powered 10 gallon tanks so you can keep 2 cultures going in case one crashes. I would also start off with a phytoplankton culture as well so you can have food for them.

I would use both chaeto and PVC tubes for growing them. From my understanding they love the tubes and will breed prolifically in them.

 

[Dgameman1]

Do you suggest tisbe or Tigger pods?

 

[seiz]

If you can teach him to eat frozen - that would be best.

I have one, and he loves to eat brine shrimp.

Tons of info on the web on how to teach them.

 

[Dav3]

No guarantee that they will continue to eat prepared foods. They tend to revert back to natural habits.

 

[Macscale]

No guarantee that they will continue to eat prepared foods. They tend to revert back to natural habits.

+1. That's why I've heard.

 

[Mebbid]

No guarantee that they will continue to eat prepared foods. They tend to revert back to natural habits.

I wouldn't say they "tend" to but they have been known to from time to time. It's not a terribly common thing from what I understand.

 

[nelix10]

Tisbe are better! They crawl around more which is what the mandarin hunts! To culture you don't need any chaeto or rocks or tubes! Just an air pump and salt water! I have had a culture going for 2 months now! I only feed phyto feast and they do great! Once a week I strain out most of the pods and add them to my tank at night!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Feeding mandarins live food from a feeder that eliminates competition from more aggressive fish is the way to go. There are 20 reports of a starving mandarin on the forums for every post that someone has raised one for a long time. They can eat thousands of pods in a sitting.

 

[Mebbid]

Feeding mandarins live food from a feeder that eliminates competition from more aggressive fish is the way to go. There are 20 reports of a starving mandarin on the forums for every post that someone has raised one for a long time. They can eat thousands of pods in a sitting.

+1 exactly the reason I suggested a more complex breeding setup.

 

[carey]

I tried breeding my own pods in a 10g but did not do very well at all.

The best advice, from a former mandarin owner is to wait until you have enough pods naturally before getting one. I alson would strongly suggest an ORA mandarin, as they have been eating pellets so it has a better shot at taking frozen food in my experience.

Keeping another whole tank that needs special food so that you can feed another tank with a special needs fish just seems like a huge hassle and you still have to produce enough pods for the mandarin, who as mentioned above can decimate thousands at a sitting.

 

[mr_X]

Buy a 125 reef ready, toss in 150 pounds of uncured live rock, let it cycle and run the tank for a year with no pod eating fish in it, then you can have a mandarin long term. Piece of cake!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Special needs fish... I like that. Liveaquaria should adopt that description.

That means most wrasses and a bunch of other fish are not allowed. It can be done. But you need to be careful because one single wrasse can out compete a mandarin easily. And if the pod population takes a nose dive, so will the Mandarine. They will eat more than live pods, they will eat live baby brine shrimp and live worms. The DIY feeder Paul B came up with (another forum) is on the internet and YouTube. It is far easier to grow baby brine and worms than it is pods. Yes, I know the baby brine hasn't a lot of nutrition in them, but they will gorge themselves on them. The same guy has pictures of his Mandarines spawning. If I ever get another Mandarine, I will try his methods. The pod farm didn't work out and I hate losing a fish.