Keeping Pods..?

[carey]

Quick question. can pods be grown or kept in a 10g tank separately?

I know they occur in established tanks but you can buy them online so can the ones you buy online be used to propagate a tank full?

You all know what the idea is, and usually its more trouble than it's worth but I thought I'd ask. I have a 10g coming up empty soon so I figured why not. LOL

Thanks folks!

 

[Sqasnatch]

You sure can. If you want a higher population of them you have to feed very small amounts of food tho.

 

[carey]

So could I basically keep them in the 10g like I would any other fish? They are so small I couldn't filter it though could I? I have a setup with filter, hood, light, heater think this would be enough to raise them?


Thanks for the speedy response I'm really curious what people think

 

[newreefaddict]

I actually do the exact thing that you are talking about. I have a 10g set up with just some LR and an airstone and some T8s. They breed amazingly!!! I do give them waterchanges about as often as my 225 thought.

 

[carey]

I actually do the exact thing that you are talking about. I have a 10g set up with just some LR and an airstone and some T8s. They breed amazingly!!! I do give them waterchanges about as often as my 225 thought.

Do they produce enough for a supplemental food source? How do you do a pwc with them being so small?


thanks so much!

 

[newreefaddict]

I just pump out 2.5 gallons once a week and replace it with water from my water change.

as far as feeding my tank i normally just change out the couple of pieces of LR with two others like a rotation and use them to supplement the natural population of my fuge..... kinda a booster. I have had a mandarin as well as a red scooter blenny for a while now and both do great.

 

[carey]

Thanks so much for your help. I'm still in the planning stage lol. I was thinking bio cube for a mandarin. The lfs has them on frozen food but I wanted to make sure I could supplement his diet with an ongoing supply of pods.

I'm still not sure how you would pwc the tank, don't you loose alot of potential pods? Or can I screen off a the siphon at the end so they don't get sucked up. hehe I'm sorry I'm not getting it

 

[newreefaddict]

If you just siphon from the middle of the tank you really wont suck too many up... of course you are going to lose a few but when there are no predators in the tank they can reproduce very fast.

 

[carey]

Ahh I see now. Thanks for clarifying for me.

i like having this option. Thanks so much, if I do it I'll be sure to post pictures of my mandarin. I LOVE those fish.

 

[newreefaddict]

me too!!! I also really like my red scooter blenny. They are really neat fish

 

[Dylan5359]

I'm thinking of setting up a small copepod tank as well! I wanted some for a stable food source for my future dwarf seahorses. (currently cycling -_-) Do you think a 2 gallon would be too small?

 

[carey]

Depends on how much pods they eat. I would only be supplementing the mandarins diet, do seahoreses have other food they eat? You might need alot more than 2 g.

 

[Dylan5359]

I would feed them twice a day, big appetite but only an inch big lol. I'm starting with 4 but they will definitely reproduce. This might be a bit random but are Copepods and Rotifers the same size? And would the Copepods need heat?

 

[carey]

Hmm lol I dont know if they are the same . i read that the pods need heat though.

 

[DA fisherman]

I think the best environment for them would be a setup like a refuge...........
I would do a 10g with about a 3" live sand bed,some live rock,and chaeto cause copods love chaeto....and the deep sand bed cause amphipods like that
Shoot I think I'm going to give that a try,lol

 

[carey]

hey great idea about the substrate id dint even give that much thought.

I can def make this happen. How much would I need to start ya think? They sell them by like the quart online I think. I forget what my lfs sells them for.

 

[Dylan5359]

Hmm lol I dont know if they are the same . i read that the pods need heat though.

Do they need light? Could I just keep them in a 5-10 gallon bucket with a heater?

 

[carey]

I donnt think lights have been mentioned yet. So far a 10g tank, heater, some LR and a deep sandbed.

 

[DA fisherman]

Yeah I don't know if they need light since they can be found in parts of the ocean that don't get light.......

 

[carey]

someone earlier in this thread I think mentioned they actually keep them already. We need him again! LOL