Best late birthday ever !! :)

[Justin144]

I might be doing somthing of that manner ... But won't that take more time ???

 

[Dav3]

Yes. But which is more important? Time or money?

 

[huma-huma]

well time IS money....so id venture to say time

 

[Justin144]

I think I'm gojng to find some good base rock and seed it with live

 

[Justin144]

Picked up done rock today !!!

 

[Evo8]

Nice rock bro! How's the cycle coming?

 

[Justin144]

Slowly but surely ... I got 10 pounds of live rock and 20 dry so I have awhile till everything is ready

 

[Justin144]

What's everyone's thoughts of mandarin dragonet fish ?

 

[Dav3]

Your tank is too small to sustain enough pods for one to survive. Even ones trained to eat frozen foods may change their minds in your tank and choose to only eat pods. Only way would be to grow your own pods or purchase large quantities but that would get expensive.

Beautiful fish though!

 

[huma-huma]

Your tank is too small to sustain enough pods for one to survive. Even ones trained to eat frozen foods may change their minds in your tank and choose to only eat pods. Only way would be to grow your own pods or purchase large quantities but that would get expensive.

Beautiful fish though!

i dont fully agree with this. however i fully agree that they are EXTREMELY picky eaters and it takes either extreme luck or a ton of patience to get them to live a fat-bellied life in our tanks. i have one in my 125 and he was on the verge of dying but started to eat pellets (extremely lucky) so ive been giving him targeted feedings as often as possible to fatten him back up. if you still decide to attempt 1, id wait as long as possible, and even then, try to find one that eats pellets. granted its not a guarantee but it helps.

 

[Justin144]

Oh I planned on not doing one forever , I was going to start a refugium and add pods now before anything was in the tank and then maybe about 6 months down the road see what I thought

 

[huma-huma]

thats really your safest bet. id also be loading that tank with pods as often as possible to help establish a colony.

 

[Justin144]

That was my plan ! I was gong to buy a lot now before I buy any fish to let the colony build and then keep adding up until I get him and prob after too... Would I need a light in the sump to grow them their too ?!!

 

[Justin144]

And when am I clear to add a clean up crew ???

 

[Themonsterisme]

Here is my oceanic bio cube 29 before I rearranged it

 

[Justin144]

Would I need a light source for the copopods to breed in the back ?

 

[huma-huma]

not necessarily but when not exposed to light, they tend to come out and venture. so having some light exposed back there may help to keep them contained.

 

[Fishman007]

Would I need a light source for the copopods to breed in the back ?

You could store some macros which the copepods love to breed in if you get a small desk lamp or some form of light in th back, chaeto is really easy to grow and has other benefits aswell.

 

[carey]

If and when you decide to get a mandarin i would suggest strongly paying the extra money for an ORA one. The are supposed to eat pellets, mine didnt of course but I think that the fact that it was raised on pellets helped me to train mine to eat them again. I've had mine for a few years and it took over a month to get him eating frozen foods, luckily I had enough pods in my biocube to keep him fed until he came around. he would have starved no doubt in my mind. Mine is now pretty fat and started eating pellets about a year ago which makes feeding alot easier.

 

[huma-huma]

id imagine the mandarin was looking pretty skinny towards the end of his hunger strike? did you target feed twice daily to fatten him back up? and how long did it take to get him turned around and fat?