culturing pods

[swatchguy]

I'm looking for a club member who is willing to part with some "pods" so that I can begin culturing my own supply. Once I get these things propagating, I'd be happy to share others in the club.
I've already invested $50 in bottled pods and for one reason or another I haven't been able to get them to take. I've been using a 5g bucket with microalgae (commercial), cheato (sp) and lr. I'm going to take another shot at it in a couple wks after I've set up a partioned 10g. I figure I can monitor the perameters more consistently. Sorry to bug y'all
but I'm frustrated!!
Thanks for your help. STEVE

 

[CookieJar]

I can put a filter sock on my returns and that usually traps about 5 or so in a few days. these are the bigger ones- about 1/4" long. if you want me to do that and you can pick them up LMK. I'm in mountain view.

 

[Elite]

What are you feeding them?? My little tank covered with pods but I don't really know how to get them out.

 

[Gomer]

My tank shows no VISIBLE pod life...cause my 6line eats all in sight. What fish are in your tank?

 

[swatchguy]

Thanks for your quick response. Cookiejar, I'll take you up on your offer, once I've stabilized my culture tank. My plan is to propagate enough pods to eventually keep a Mandarin Dragonette fat and happy. Naturally, I won't put the Mandarin into the tank until I can sustain it's healthy appetite.
Gomer, I have a Biocube 29 with 2 clowns, a damsel, a goby/pistol combo, a Pajama Cardinal, a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp and a single emerald crab. Also, assorted hermit crabs (red and blue legged), various species of snails and
an array of LPS and SPS.
My thought is that, if I can supply (cultivate) enuf pods to keep the Mandarin's
belly full, the surplus might make it some of the other livestock.
The entire process is a little frustrating, but the challenges are what makes
this hobby so exciting.
What do you folks think? Is it doable?
Thanks again, Steve (Swatchguy)

 

[Elite]

IMO, it's not a good idea to put more fish in your tank unless you remove some fish. See if you can get one that eat pellet or frozen food. I think it would be hard to raise enough pods for a mandarin.

 

[swatchguy]

Elite, I think you may be right about the Mandarin putting the bioload over the line. I'll have to think about that. Don't you think that the pods would provide a good food source for some of the other livestock?
To address your thoughts on "training Mandarins" to feed on pellets: I've read about several techniques, but I'd think that some of the shrimp might compete for the pellets.
I don't want to get into the "just-one-more-fish syndrome" and that may be where I'm headed with this idea of mine. I wouldn't introduce a Mandarin unless I thought he'd have an excellent chance of surviving. ie enuf food and other resources.
Thanks for your input. S

 

[Elite]

Check out this link..
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html


Before you buy the fish ask the store to feed fish. If it doesn't eat flake or frozen, don't get it.

 

[swatchguy]

Thanks, Elite. I've reviewed the article and I'll take it to heart.
S

 

[CookieJar]

swatch- i'll be happy to give you a filtersock full of 'pods, since I think the idea of a 'pod tank is cool, but the pods I catch aren't what mandarin dragonets eat. I have a dragonet (scotter blenny actually) and he eats smaller pods than the 1/4" long ones that you see with your eyes and catch in filter sock. I've seen him pass over the 1/4" pod, to my surprise, so I figure it must be too big for him. The pods you want are the smaller ones, which are too small for me to see and get from my filter sock.

 

[swatchguy]

Thanks CookieJar, I kinda figured they might be too big. I'll keep lookin' for a source for the little ones. I think that I need to straighten out the parameters in my culture tank before making the next move. Thanks for your offer, though.
S

 

[Elite]

Steve, RN sells live tigger pods. Maybe you can raise those. They are small enough for the Mandarin..
http://www.reefnutrition.com/tiggerpods/index.htm

 

[GreshamH]

Most copepods will do as what your really looking for is for them to be breeding at the time and producing copepidites.

If you want to email me direct I can help you culture Tigger-Pods. The ones in our tank are a lot more work to get a decent culture going of as they typically are pelagic copepods. Tiggers have a benthic stage when they are born.

 

[Vincerama2]

I find an aweful lot of pods in my hair algae! I See my mandarin pecking at the hair algae a lot, so even though I'm on a quest to destroy the hair algae, I can see how it's not ALL bad. Well, OK, it IS all bad, if you don't have a pod eater.

My QT tank gets overrun with pods, just even eating the algae that builds up on the walls of the (uncleaned, snail-less) tank. I figure a few get into the tank via frag rocks and they just thrive!

What is in your pod raising tank? Maybe a simple "dirty" tank will be enough to have a nice big pod-pulation?

V

 

[swatchguy]

Hey Vince...I don't know what I'm missing here but I can't seem to get pods to grow and
propagate. I'll start my "bucket" over this weekend to stabalize the parameters. Til now I've had cheato, a live rock and some live sand with a air tube (slow bubble just to keep the water moving some. I feel like such a KLUTZ.
My alternative plan is to divide a 10g tank with a partition and start the process in there, only because it's easier to watch the progress in the 10g rather than the 5g bucket.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks, STEVE

 

[Thales]

What kind of pods are you talking about? Amphipods are very easy to culture, as are copepods, but the methodology is different.

 

[swatchguy]

Thanks. I've read that copepods are what I'll need to feed a Mandarin Dragonette. Eventually, I'd like to add one to my tank, but first I have to have this propagation process down pat. Thanks for your help. Steve