copepods

[JJ1234567]

Im assuming the horde of small translucent looking bug thingies (dont you love all that technical jargon?) crawling on the walls of my tank are copepods. Any ideas for natural preditors that I could pick up at my LFS tomorrow?

 

[fraservet]

pods are GOOD things, means your tank has a nice healthy ecosystem going.

a lot of fish will eat them - what kind of tank do you have, how long has it been set up, what stock is in it?

and some, like mandarins will starve without a good supply.

 

[JJ1234567]

i understand that they are good, I just have a TON of them and I would like to throw something in that will munch on them.

tank is a cube (24gal) with corals and rock no fish. set up almost 4 months.

 

[Navarre]

Mandarins will sort them out. I would only get one though as they will soon bring their numbers down to a more managable level.

 

[fraservet]

will a tank that size be able to support a mandarin long term?

read this article - especially on tank size and amount of live rock.

Article

please note I've never kept a mandarin, this is just based on what I've heard/read.
anyone with actual experience of keeping mandarin's in smallish tanks?

 

[JJ1234567]

after visiting my LFS i picked up a bengal cardnal fish, he is already nibbling at them. I doubt he will demolish them like a mandarin, but this is only a short term (3-4 month) solution til i get the larger tank set up.

 

[smellyangryman]

will a tank that size be able to support a mandarin long term?

read this article - especially on tank size and amount of live rock.

Article

please note I've never kept a mandarin, this is just based on what I've heard/read.
anyone with actual experience of keeping mandarin's in smallish tanks?

Navarre has a mandarin in his Nano Reef.
Ask him, i would definatly not think it is a problem if he owns one

I also owned on in my 15 gal, he was fine.
But then i upgraded to something bigger, now hes lovin it! (actually i think its female)

 

[Navarre]

My mandarin eats pods and is also trained to eat frozen foods. if you want to try a mandarin then make sure its feeding on frozen foods if you have concerns on keeping its fully fed long term.