Copepods implementation for mandarin

[solidsnakejv]

I've had my tank setup for over a year now and I never got a mandarin because I knew I needed a refugium for it. As it turns outi completely forgot to add pods in order to get a population going. my wife got me a blue mandarin and a much smaller green mandarin yesterday. Ivwent to the store nd got a bottle of tigger pods. I placed a rough cleaning sponge that came with my glass cleaning blade between a few rocks and kind of made a hole in the middle of the sponge and used a turkey baster to gently shoot the pods into the middle of the sponge. i am wondering if it's bad to have the sponge in the tank and if tgere are any other ideas on how else to build up the population since I do have 2 wrasses that may also compete for the pods?
I have a 90 gallon reef tank with 100 pounds of live rock and a wet and dry filter

 

[CaptainAhab]

IMO 1 is a bad move, 2 is a disaster. Even if you dump 'bottle pods' in multiple times a week the odds are against you. They should be prohibited from collection and sale.

 

[carey]

Wow. You're in a tight spot. Did you have a pod population before the add in pods? I am very very interested in getting a mandarin myself but they are a devil to keep alive.

I hate to even say it, really I do, but I would return them... :-(

 

[Fishguy2727]

IME there are two options for success (which can be a relative term) either you have a big mature system that will feed them on its own or they learn to eat pellets. The captive bred ones are fed New Life Spectrum and we got wild caught ones to eat it at the shop I was running. Golden pearls would be the other good one to try. Other than that they are almost certain to die.

 

[solidsnakejv]

I never put pods in there before, so no, unless the hitchhiked at one point. I know I am in a right spot that's why I came here to get some input but I'm not training them because I don't want to tear up the tank trying to get them. I'm open to any suggestions and input. From a in tank refugium, ti a hang on back, to turning my wet and dry to a refugium.

 

[carey]

I have the intention of growing a pod tank for the future mandarin I get. but that could take months to get a good population.

I don't think pods hitch hike in, it's something that naturally happens over time with the LR. I currently have thousands of pods on my front glass of all 3 of my tanks. Even the bio cube I started with some LR has pods crawling around.

 

[nxb161]

I've heard they don't eat trigger pods because of their size, but need copepod. I've had one over a month and a half. I only have a 38G, but it has a 10G sump, and was up well over a year before I bought him. I knew for sure there was a good pod population, as well as lots of live rock with lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide in. That said I'm still nervous, but I watch him continously munching throughout the tank. If you don't see pods hiding in your rock, I think you're in trouble and would be best to return the fish for both of your sake. We're not trying to be too critical, it is just based on people's experience with this creatures.

 

[bavass]

One way to get a good supply and different types of pods is Garf Grunge, I put about 10lbs in my 55g along the back glass at the base of my rocks and I have them crawling everywhere they love macro algaes to breed in. If you scroll down on his page you can see a link to learn about the brunge. Ever since I added this stuff I will sit at night and look for different critters from pods to baby stars.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Look at your live rock at night with a flash light. If you don't see them swarming around, forget the Mandarin. Even with a huge population, I have had difficulty keeping them for long periods of time.