Buying Capepods

[Ximat]

I received a mandarin goby from a friend and need some food for him. I've found some places that sell Capepods. If i were to buy these would i just dump them in my tank? I don't have a refugium or sump or anything so im kind of lost.

 

[lando]

How much LR do you have and what is the size of the tank? YOur mandarin will need a constant and large supply of pods in order to survive. I believe you can find some on ebay or I have seen them on www.reefermadness.us They want $25 a bottle so it can get pretty exspensive buying food for these guys. Your best bet is to cultivate them youself.

 

[Jason]

how do you cultivate pods??

I am setting up a 72 and if I can figure it out, I might be getting a mandarin

also, where are they at on reefer madness? I didn't know you could buy bottles of them......I think I am going to get a couple bottles irregardless

 

[lando]

how do you cultivate pods??

A fuge or sump and LOTS of LR.

 

[malkore]

The rule of thumb is 100lbs of live rock for a single mandarin.

 

[JPloman]

If you are trying to keep pods in your system, you should also turn off any sort of UV filtration systems. They will kill the little buggers.

 

[midiman]

My UV is in my sump, separate from the fuge area, so no pods can get in. They have to swim or get sucked through it for it to kill them.

 

[Ximat]

Right now he is in a tank with 10 lbs of rock, but in a month when i get the ich out of my 75 he'll go in there, right now 75lbs of rock in there.

 

[Ximat]

http://www.reefermadness.us/Ocean_pods.htm

 

[Jason]

all right, so those bottles have 1,000 pods per bottle.

Is that a lot or a little, it doesn't seem like that many........then again, the most I've ever seen at 1 time is like 10 or something...

lets say for a 72 gallon aquarium, how many bottles of pods could I put in there without it being to many????

 

[JPloman]

That seems like a lot to me... You can buy little cans of Zooplankton at most lfs that has much less in them. I am not sure if it would work the same though.

 

[Tito2491]

The bottles of the copepods are only 4oz , a can of coke is about 12 oz , thats a little for $25

 

[Ximat]

So the Zooplankon i've been feeding has pods in it? I haven't seen him eat anything yet. I got some entice and am adding that to the food.

 

[midiman]

It's not likely to be too many, since many aren't going to live that long. I'm concerned that I won't have ENOUGH to start a culture to fully populate a sump and tank LR. I want to get mine in before I add any fish so that they have a fighting chance. I have to ask around, too, to find out what the right number is, or if I should culture them separately.

 

[JPloman]

So the Zooplankon i've been feeding has pods in it? I haven't seen him eat anything yet. I got some entice and am adding that to the food.

Pods are zooplankton. Most people freeze them, then sell them. If you buy the zooplankton that are kept at room temperature, you have pods!

 

[lando]

So the Zooplankon i've been feeding has pods in it?

No, it has plankton in it.
As far as 1,000 pods/bottle, it does not seem like too much to me. there will be some natural loss as well. I think these would be more useful in starting or supplimenting a pod population rather then being used for food.

 

[JPloman]

No, it has plankton in it.

Zooplankton are pods. Jellyfish are a type of zooplankton too, but most fish food Zooplankton are made of pods and other very small zooplanktons.

 

[midiman]

Zooplankton is the name of the general group of small, current-borne or swimming animals, including larvae, copepods, etc.

Phytoplankton is the plant (algal) equivalent.

 

[Jason]

if it takes a hundred lbs of live rock to sustain a manderin, how many pods (on average) would be in 100 lbs of rock?

assume the rock is from a healthy system and the pods are flourishing

 

[lando]

Zooplankton are pods

Sorry, I was refering to the difference between actualy living pods and their "off the self" counter part.