Stocking question

[Rpbustillo]

Have a 45 gallon reef tank with a 20 gallon refugium, current stock is sailfin blenny 3.5" diamond goby 2.5" 2 occ. Clowns 2" green mandarin 1.5" purple stripe dotty back 2". My lfs has a red scooter blenny, do you see any issues with my current live stock?

 

[ezy33]

The scooter will eat pods that your mandarin needs.

 

[LaWoWee]

Do you have macro algae (ie. Chaeto) in your fuge? That will give them a safe haven to reproduce and keep a population. My pod eaters are fat and i always see pods in my fuge crawling around in the chaeto. I'm not saying it will prevent your pod population from being depleted but it will definitely slow it down and you can always supplement pods for a peace of mind.

 

[Rpbustillo]

Yes I keep chaeto and caulerpa in the sump, and I few different types of macro in my display. I was thinking making a large pile of rubble rock in a part of the display would also help keep the pod population up

 

[carey]

How long have you had the mandarin? ASking because unless you have had him for a long while you dont really know how quickly he will eat through the pod population.

 

[Rpbustillo]

No I haven't had him long, but I have already ordered pods they are on the way. Is there a way I could have too many pods in my tank?

 

[Bectan01]

I had a scooter blenny and asked my LFS once if I could add a mandarin and he advised against it - for the reasons above but he said they could also fight. This was in my 55g I decided it wasn't worth the risk...

 

[dragonfisher33]

No I haven't had him long, but I have already ordered pods they are on the way. Is there a way I could have too many pods in my tank?

it's actually the other way around that most hobbyists worry about ----the lack of pods. a mandarin or the scooter that you want to get will decimate your entire pod population within days if you don't have a sump to house the pods. you can never have too many pods.

 

[Spechty37]

Two of my friends bought mandarins at the same time I told them what you guys on here were saying about making sure they had enough pods well guess what they didn't listen and they both died one in about a month and the other one in about six weeks they both wondered what happen to them I told them they starved them to death to this day they blame the lfs for selling them sick fish I no better

 

[carey]

I for sure with noo doubt would advise against having a scooter and a mandarin. I had both but they both ate pellets and frozen foods. That is not the norm however and you cant count on that.

 

[Rpbustillo]

I may just get the scooter and put him in another tank that I have, thanks everybody

 

[54seaweed]

Is there a way I could have too many pods in my tank?

if you have a mandarin and a scooter your pod population will deplete fairly rapidly , it's not hard to raise pods in a separate tank , I keep them along with shrimp all you need is a good amount of macro's for them to breed along with a cheap light to maintain your macro growth and a 2 small power head to tumble the macro's I can accumulate around 2000 pods a week, and my 20g long divided in 2 is slam packed all the time , all i do is take a small net and scoop out a bunch every week and add to the 2 main tanks , as for the shrimp I get about 200 a week , it's a good way to save on foods
with your stock you don't need the shrimp as they probably wouldn't eat them
, I started with 2000 pods now I would say I have at-least 20 to 30 thousand
you can actually see them with out straining to see them since theres so many,

 

[Rpbustillo]

Where do you get your shrimp from? I have a dwarf lionfish that I feed live shrimp to

 

[dragonfisher33]

Where do you get your shrimp from? I have a dwarf lionfish that I feed live shrimp to

check ur lfs or there's online retailers like Liveaquaria that sell live marine feeder shrimps

 

[Rpbustillo]

My dotty keeps attacking the diamond goby, his fins are all chewed up and he doesn't look good at all. What is the best thing I can do to stop him? Will changing my scape help?

 

[Rpbustillo]

I have an opportunity to upgrade to a 75 gallon tank. Would that be better for them to be in a larger tank?

 

[carey]

It certainly wouldnt hurt to have the larger tank, more space and most likely less aggression

 

[TheTodd]

+1. Bigger tanks leave more room for escapes and individual territory.

 

[dragonfisher33]

it's always good to have a larger tank to reduce the aggression, but the question is whether it's a good idea for an upgrade for the sake of one fish financially. if you're well-off, then by all means be my guest. if otherwise, i would just return or rehome the fish and make sure you get something not as aggressive. there's really nothing you can do to a limited size tank with a fish that's known to be an aggressor even though it's labeled as "semi-aggressive". you can easily swap it out for a flasher wrasse or firefish or royal gramma while maintaining the lively color in the tank.

 

[Rpbustillo]

Well I've been looking to upgrade to a larger tank anyways, now just seems like a good time to go ahead and do it.