Copepod propagation

[Cantareadio]

How does one propagate a thriving self sustained copepod community? I'd like my fire goby to have these as a dinner option. I've had her for almost a week and haven't seen her eat yet =\ she tested flakes but spit them out

 

[redsea]

A good way to "grow" copepods would be having a refugium. A refugium is a separate tank where the water from your main display overflows into the refugium. The refugium lets the pods to multiply without fish constantly eating them. This is what I will be doing for my 125g tank. Sorry if this sounds confusing, but if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Cantareadio]

Thanks! How do the Copepods get back into the tank?

 

[mr_X]

try some live bloodworms. they are cheap and most fish love them.

 

[Cantareadio]

Live??? How do u keep them alive??

 

[mr_X]

you would keep them in the fridge.

 

[maryannr]

I bought some live copepods (trigger pods) at my LFS for my Spotted Mandarin. I bought him a week ago. He's been picking at the LR but iI don't know if he's getting anything. He's getting thin. I just got the pods today. Will the pods multiply in the tank? 46 gallon only about 12 lbs LR. I also bought a bunch (2 lbs ish) of small pieces of LR to make small piles for the pods. Does anyone have any more advice to help me keep him alive? He's just so adorable!!

 

[mr_X]

Same thing for you Maryann, try the live blood worms. Unfortunately, the odds are way against you with 12 pounds of rock in the tank. Despite all the success stories that seem to be going around, The rule of thumb for many years has been 1 mandarin per 100 pounds of live rock.

 

[carey]

The best option you guys have is to try to get them to eat prepared foods. I've done it twice with dragonets. I started off feeding small frozen food like cyclopeeze then moved up to baby brine and then to mysis and bloodworms. Both of mine really enjoy the bloodworms. It also took me almost a month with my scooter and maybe a little over a month for the mandarin to be pretty much completely on frozen. both of mine still peck at the rocks though and i guess they are finding some pods to eat as they are both on the chubby side for fish.

If you don't think you can take all the time needed to train them you should probably return it to the lfs. :-(

I tried to make a "pod tank" when I first got my scooter and it was pretty much a failure. Couldnt raise enough of them to feed the one fish let alone the two.

 

[wvanderborg]

Awesome. My girlfriend saw a mandarin and fell in love with them. I picked up a bottle of tigger pods and dumped them into my 25 reef just to see if they would colonize well enough to suffice one. But I was wondering about the conversion from live to frozen foods. Thanks carey. Lol

 

[Cantareadio]

Omg how will I keep a thing of blood worms in the fridge hidden from my mom...
Gotta think on how to do that

 

[mr_X]

It's a small, closed container. It's not like they escape and jump into the rice pudding.

 

[Cantareadio]

You should have heard the stink she made about my little bottle of plankton
What's the big fuss? She loves sea food...
I gotta be clever about this or she may make me get a little mini fridge to keep in my room

 

[mr_X]

nothing wrong with your own mini fridge.....

 

[redsea]

Do you all know of any good places where I can purchase bloodworms? Thanks!

 

[Cantareadio]

Except that I live in California where bedrooms are small. =\
And I'd rather spend that $ on a protein skimmer than a lil fridge.
I think I'll just buy then and put then in the fridge and if she asks I'll say fish food...but not "blood worms" cuz I know the name alone would be a deal breaker!

 

[mr_X]

lol! Good luck.
@ redsea, all of the LFS's around here sell them. Check their refrigerated food section.

 

[maryannr]

Great news!! I saw my spotted mandarin eat 3 frozen brine shrimp. There is hope. He actually looks a little plumper (is that a word?). I'm going to keep squirting the brine shrimp around him and adding the rest of the pods. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[CleverBs]

I don't have the experience with green mandarins but I was able to get my scooter dragnet to eat prepared foods in a week by shutting off all my pumps so the water didn't move and spot feeding him with brine shrimp and cyclops shrimp. Now he eats anything I put in the tank and comes to the front of the tank when I feed. I have a hob aqua clear 70 that I have a list on from a 2.5 gallon tank with nothing in it but chaeto and there are a lot of pods building in it and my little scooter seems very happy and isn't skinny but he's not very big yet only about 1.5 inches.