Cali Kid Corals

Pod eating fish

James Oh

James Oh

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So last night my 3rd zoa frag melted away and 3 more frags have been closed up. Sounded like I had some sort of zoa eating pest in the tank so I dipped the zoas and the only things that fell out were a ton of pods... Now I introduced pods to the DT and refugium a couple months ago to diversify my tank. I only have a pair of clowns in my 29g biocube so I feel like the pod population is being left unchecked and now they are running rampant. I can't say for 100% that the pods are the ones causing the zoas to melt but I would like to have a fish in the 29g that will at least keep the pod population down a little bit. Not looking to absolutely decimate the entire population as I know they are good for the tank (I think?), just looking to control it with a fish (also gives me an excuse to have another fish). So question. What are my options for a 29g biocube? I hear wrasses do great but can be hit or miss in terms of peacefulness vs hostility. Also there are dragonets but they will absolutely destroy a pod population then starve to death. So... anything else?
 
Try one of the smaller and docile wrasses, such as the pink streak wrasse. Similar shape to the 6-line, but without the demeanor of one. It's a bit more cryptic and shy, but extremely peaceful. Another option, along similar lines, would be the possum wrasses.
 
Ibn said:
Try one of the smaller and docile wrasses, such as the pink streak wrasse. Similar shape to the 6-line, but without the demeanor of one. It's a bit more cryptic and shy, but extremely peaceful. Another option, along similar lines, would be the possum wrasses.
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I will definitely look into this. Question. I hear sometimes fish will ignore the bigger pods sometimes. Is this the case with these two?
 
Well if you want one that eats all day then a Mandarin goby will take care of it. But it might starve since tank is so small.


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scuzy said:
Well if you want one that eats all day then a Mandarin goby will take care of it. But it might starve since tank is so small.
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Yah I really like the looks of the dragonets but I am 99% sure it will starve =\. If the dragonets would only eat prepared foods. I have heard of some people that have trained some to eat prepared foods but have heard too many stories of the opposite and how they would just starve to death.
 
You might try a leopard wrasse. Will tear through the pods and there's a decent chance that by then it will also take frozen or pellets. Also if you truly want a mandarin order a captive bred.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
You might try a leopard wrasse. Will tear through the pods and there's a decent chance that by then it will also take frozen or pellets. Also if you truly want a mandarin order a captive bred.
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I've read some places that people have successfully bred some mandarins that will eat frozen. I think i'll look into it more and make sure before I get one to have them feed it to see if it will.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
You might try a leopard wrasse. Will tear through the pods and there's a decent chance that by then it will also take frozen or pellets. Also if you truly want a mandarin order a captive bred.
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I ordered a captive bred mandarin from Live Aquaria/Diver’s Den a few months ago. It was like half an inch long (smaller than a fingernail) and disappeared in my tank. I saw it on day 2 but never again. Presumably didn’t make it.

But since I didn’t have a body to take a picture of, and because LA/DD no longer honors their alive guarantee without a pic of a dead animal as proof (now that they were bought by PetCo), I was out the $90. I would never recommend that route again.
 
JVU said:
I ordered a captive bred mandarin from Live Aquaria/Diver’s Den a few months ago. It was like half an inch long (smaller than a fingernail) and disappeared in my tank. I saw it on day 2 but never again. Presumably didn’t make it.

But since I didn’t have a body to take a picture of, and because LA/DD no longer honors their alive guarantee without a pic of a dead animal as proof (now that they were bought by PetCo), I was out the $90. I would never recommend that route again.
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Oh boy I will keep this in mind and 1/2" o_O that is super tiny! The pods in my tank are about that big haha. I was hoping to buy one at a store or from a person so I could see it in person eating. I really wanted to avoid online purchases of fish. I am always worried about that situation you had.
 
Yep, both the pink streak and the possum wrasses will eat larger pods.

If you want to check out mandarins, stop by Aquatic Collection. I was there a couple of weeks ago and they had 3 green spotted mandarins that ate frozen brine shrimp.
 
Ibn said:
Yep, both the pink streak and the possum wrasses will eat larger pods.

If you want to check out mandarins, stop by Aquatic Collection. I was there a couple of weeks ago and they had 3 green spotted mandarins that ate frozen brine shrimp.
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Oh nice! I might go check them out this weekend.
 
I’ve looked many times and never seen them in stock on the Biota website, I’m not even sure they still sell them directly. I would have bought directly from them if I could. By contrast LA usually has the Biota mandarins, and when I made my purchase I thought they still had their 14 day alive guarantee.
 
Curious to know if wrasses will also eat spirorbid worms. I had some come on a frag plug and now they kind of branched out everywhere. From my understanding they are harmless filter feeders but once again I don't want to have a major outbreak.
 
James Oh said:
Curious to know if wrasses will also eat spirorbid worms. I had some come on a frag plug and now they kind of branched out everywhere. From my understanding they are harmless filter feeders but once again I don't want to have a major outbreak.
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Depends on the wrasse species. Remember that the wrasse family is huge with hundreds of species.
 
You can't buy directly from Biota as a hobbyist. You have to go through someone that orders from them, such as CRC. CRC is the only LFS that I've been to that carries Biota captive bred fish. I'm sure you can ask them to bring one in for you.
 
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