Which animals eat copepods?

[bigjohn]

Holy replies, Batman!!! Thanks for all the responses!!

I certainly did not mean to offend anyone. I have always admired Mandarins and would like to make the best effort to keep one. That is the point of my original post. In no way am I looking to reduce or eliminate the pod population in my system.

Can anyone expand on training a Mandarin to eat dead (or prepared) foods??

I have heard about people rotating filter sponges in and out of their refugia to keep a supply of pods in the display tank.

My yellow watchman goby never leaves the cave system that he shares with the pistol shrimp, except to dart out and grab food. I don't think that he is a pod predator.

The dottyback stays and guards his cave on one side of the tank. I never see him out actively hunting.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep reading and planning. This is not something I want to rush into!!

[BoomerMn]

Can anyone expand on training a Mandarin to eat dead (or prepared) foods??

At times you can get them to eat brine shrimp or black worms, usually in a smaller tank without much of a pod population. This does not always work and many time they just by-pass the food without eating it ands will starve to death.There are a number of fish that would rather die than eat something they are not use to or don't care for. This is one of those fish and is high on the list of not eating prepared foods. It is a shoot-miss gamble. In a reef tank he will be in direct competition for these foods. Being that he is a nasty methodically feeder, slow and slow at eating and even looks a along time at his food before he eats it, such foods will be long gone, to where there would not be enough for him. This might be OK, in a tank with only a Mandarin, such as the one I had for a couple years in a 10 gal. And it was a pain in the a^ss to get him enough food. He finally died afar about 2 years and it was lack of food. I then put a mantis shrimp in the tank, that was fun. Fed him live bait minnows

[Xerxies]

I only just registered in these forums, I usually lurk, but I thought I'd add something to this discussion that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Refugiums

If you keep a good store of LR in your refugium, and light it properly, you will have a pod breedery, assuming your tank has seasoned sufficiently. I've found that it is more than capable of keeping up with a hungry pod eater or two. Of course, I set up with that in mind, knowing that I wanted a mandarin myself, so I seasoned my refugium along with my tank, before I added the mandarin. Good Luck

[bigjohn]

Xerxies,

This sounds like what I had in mind. How long have you had your Mandarin?? Do you think he is getting plenty to eat?? Are you keeping it in your display tank or in your refugium??

Thanks,
john

[Xerxies]

He is now 7 months in the tank. In the tank, not the refugium. He looks healthy, and happy, as does my scooter blenny, the both of them eating cocopods all day long. I've had the scooter blenny for over a year. I also have a large population of amphipods, which usually get snapped up by my coral beauty as soon as they flow into the display tank. I love my refugium

[Phishnoob]

Originally Posted by CountryBoy0524

Instead of telling you things that you didn't ask about, I will answer your question specifically.

Gobies are sand and rock dwelling carnivores that will eat copepods and amphipods. I had a Yellow Watchman goby that frequently picked things off the rock and sand.

Keep this in mind, most small carnivore fish will eat copepods and amphipods if they find them.

Hope that helps.

Since when are we supposed to stay on topic? Is that a new rule

Now where was that frosting recipe Icebear posted..it was on one of these threads.

[CountryBoy0524]

Ok, I just have to post a comment. I can't believe how much controversy was caused by one comment. Geez guys, lighten up!

Just sometimes it's a bit frustrating when you are looking for information, and all of the comments never address the question. I don't know if people are looking for "posting points" or what. Just kidding. But I hope you understand where I'm coming from. If I post a question, I want answers to that question, not a complete history of the subject.


Yes, I have a dry sarcastic sense of humor... so please don't take things I say SO seriously.

[tims]

We do take things seriously .. but have fun doing it too.. i think a lot were aiming for John's in general question..

if he does go woth a mandrin he may have probl;ems with the damsels picking at it, but his main copepod eater should be the mandrin , with the watchman coming a close second. since he has a large tank ( we want some pictures John !! ) and lots of nice hiding places and caves for everyone the picking should not really happen alot..

[bigjohn]

Okay! I'm going to watch my pod population for another couple of months before I take the plunge.

My pictures are here:

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost...r=2229&thumb=1

[BoomerMn]

John

You need lots more LR, especially for a Mandarin. Almost double what you have

[Phishnoob]

I read someplace a rule of thumb which was like 1 year on the tank and 100 lbs of LR.

We need to get a bigger house and plant a big tank downstairs so I can have the fun stuff.

[ruhspolostar]

, Phish I am sacraficing and allowing my dad to remove the extra bed in my room and install a 240 gallon tank

woe is me

[Phishnoob]

You are too old to have friends spend the night anyway Adam.

[Graham]

My mandarin likes frozen Mysis (thawed of course) .
I didn't know this until I saw her eat some about two year afters I had her.
They're great fish, but I agree you should put them in a mature tank.
One thing I do is create little "pod piles" of rubble rock in out of the way places in the tank. Pods congregate there and seem to serve as a sort of low-grade refuge for them.

[bigjohn]

Graham,

Could you post a picture of your pod shelters?? I'm trying to picture a rock structure dense enough to keep out little fish like gobies, wrasses, mandarins, etc.

I don't want to add too much more live rock. What you see in my tank is 120 lbs of fiji. I stacked it in the corners to leave some open swimming space for my tangs.