Any pod eaters in my fish list?

[SkinnyPete]

I'm slowly stocking my tank. It's about 3 months old now. After a year, I'm going to attempt a mandarin and I'm trying to prepare for the required pod population now. I've got about 160lbs of live rock (100lbs of it from lr.com) and I noticed pods RIGHT away. Since adding a few fish I've noticed the pod population drop significantly. They used to be all over the glass but I haven't spotted any in weeks. I don't have a fuge and I probably will not be adding one. I'm thinking 160lbs of lr, if mature, should be able to support a mandarin in a year or so. I'm also adding lr rubble in the bottom caves, under my rock to promote pod reproduction.

Now, are there any fish that I've added that may have contributed to the pod population drop? I read that clowns, watchman, and yellow tangs are pod eaters. I've got 2 clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 yellow tang - plus tons of crabs, 4-5 pistol shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 3 common urchins, 3 pencil urchins, snails and hermits. I'm willing to part with anything if it means the possiblity of grabbing a mandarin in the future.

Thanks.

- Skins

[seaham358]

Sounds like you have plenty of LR for a manderin!!!
Every fish will eat pods if they can catch them... The pods are probably hiding now that you have fish in the tank.. Check the tank out at night with a red light, you should see them a few hours after lights out.
Sounds like your doing the right thing by building pod piles and waiting a year to get the fish... Good for you..

What size tank??

[SkinnyPete]

Thanks.

I have a 110 gallon tank.

I actually just bought a couple medium sized pieces of tufa rock at petco and chopped it up to add to my lr rubble. I know it's not real lr, but I'm assuming it'll still help give those pods a place to hang out away from my fish.

Other fish i'm thinking about, by the way, are Royal Gramma, Flame Angel, and maybe a reef safe Wrasse. I know the six-line is a big pod eater. Should I just stay away from wrasses as a rule?

Thanks again.

- Skins

[Pghjeff71]

After an outbreak of ich, I had put all of my fish into a QT (including a six line wrasse); for the 6 weeks my tank sat "empty" the pod population got astronomical, they were everywhere! Let's just say that in the course of two days upon returning to the main tank my wrasse has cleared up the population. He is a voracious "pod eater". I can't say I've noticed the tang or clown really showing an interest like he did picking the glass clean.

If you setup a refugium that should keep your pod population going.

[IndyReefMan]

I know you said that you wouldn't have a fuge but it would really be helpful if you plan on keeping a Mandarin. Mandarins will clear out your pod population pretty quickly, even in a 110 gal tank. Pods will require a predator free environment to reproduce in order to keep the population high enough for the Mandarin. A fuge is the best way to do that... pods will continuously be swept into your display tank and provide a consistent source of food for the Mandarin.

[SkinnyPete]

Yes, I've found that out while researching. I'm ordering a hang on fuge today and use it primarily for pod growth.

In the meantime are there any other families of fish I should avoid? I'm going to avoid Wrasses for now. Anything else that may make a dent in my pod population?

Thanks all. I hope you're not getting tired of my pod questions. Just trying to do this right.

- Skins