LF: copepod culture
 

I was just wondering where in Calgary can I find live copepods to culture it in my tank.

P.S. I have many tiny tiny amphipod in my tank so I was thinking of adding copepod in the AC110 fuge and get a mandarine in it ;) And before you flame me, please do tell me where I can find copepod culture :mrgreen:

I just don't want any gobies in the tank since I have three maxi minis waiting for bottom dwellers ;) And I want something challenging :)

Mandarins are gobies so to speak. Slow moving easy targets for sticky nems. IME they are hard to keep in small tanks I went through 2 scooter dragnets that ate frozen live and flake and still was unable to keep either alive for more then 7 months. This has been my experience though, and my tank is larger with nearly triple the total water volume of yours. Approach these lovely fish with extreme caution. Good luck.

If this is a serious fish for you, being that your tank is small you will be best off culturing your own pods and feeding the tank on a regular basis to keep it well fed, also trying to coax it to eat pellets will be to your benefit.

Yap well aware of that. As many would say, my tank is too small for mandarine. But I would love to take up this challenge and ofcourse I have back up plans if I can't keep up with it (which I am 90% confident that I won't). But this hobby is all about challenges ;) Like you successfully used, what most would say, "snake oil" to cure ich. :mrgreen:

Oh I totally forgot about the goby family thing :| But I really don't like YWG since they are just, STILLLLLLLLLLL! Even my banggai and firefish move around the whole tank :P Weird :P

Yah I intend to add copepods culture every month. Plus I have ABUNDANT amount of tiny amphipods too. And AC110 fuge which hold big volume of chaeto (well not as big as dedicated fuges ofcourse :P). Putting 6oz of copepods in chaeto should be enough; whats your opinion on that? :)

And I do plan to try for few weeks to get it trained to jump through the loop :D

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I don't follow

Sorry I might have mixed up but someone with "nano" in their username used herbtana to cure ich successfully :redface: I was just trying to present an example of debate :P

Yes herbtana is 100% safe though, I wouldn't call it snake oil, I think your thinking of the time i steered you away from using kordon ich attack which is a whole nother thing.

If you are going to seed your tank monthly will most likely not keep up with the mandarins eating habits. Remember your other fish eat them too, though it is not their sole dietary need. I would be going weekly in a smaller tank, as they will get cleaned up faster then they will reproduce

Yah herbtana is a great product. My fishes actually recovered automatically so didn't buy that. But there are people who call those "snake oil". I clearly remember some in that post ;)

Anyway back to the topic; I feel like I don't have any pod eating inhabitant. I got a pair of clown, a banggai and a firefish. I will using the fuge as breeding ground. Currently, its the breeding ground for amphipod and trust me, there's LOT of them! Don't you think 6oz bottle will be good enough for the breeding cycle for a month?

From what I understand Mandarins graze pretty much constantly. What you consider a lot will probably be mostly gone in the first week. If you want to have one you will probably need to culture pods in other containers and add them to the tank or it will slowly starve to death. Make sure to get Tisbe copepods as opposed to Tigriopus (Tigger) pods.

As an alternative you could get an ORA captive bred target Mandarin. They raise them to eat pellets and frozen food. ORA may have Blue Mandarins available now again as well, but not last time I checked.

Thanks :)

I am actually going to try to train it at first and if not, I will keep on adding pods manually, depending on the need. Now I need to find pod :P

BTW any specific reason you are not suggesting tigger pods? Because online, I found people use tigger pods since that's more likely to be available.

From what I understand Tisbe pods are Benthic and hide a lot so they aren't all immediately eaten. Tigger pods are primarily Pelagic and don't tend to hide. They will swim in the open and quickly be eaten by all your fish. Tisbe pods are a little more difficult to culture as they are tolerant of a relatively narrow range of temperature, salinity, and water quality whereas Tigger pods are much more hardy. Also this is not from personal experience, I have just been reading up on it as I have been planning to get a Mandarin for quite some time and want to be prepared.

I remember seeing a sponsor in Edmonton or Calgary who sells cultures of various live foods. If you do a search in the forums you could probably find it. I think it was Calgary.

Mrhasan, last time I was at Blue World Edmonton they had copepods, and I'm pretty sure he ships as well. When I first got my mandarin I was worried about the pod population in my tank as well, so I bought a white worm culture from Blue World to suppliment feeding, and my mandarin loved them. What I did, is throw a few white worms in my tank along with a pinch of NLS pellets, and now after a few months my mandarin is trained to eat pellets as well.:biggrin:

Awesome. Thanks for the positive heads up :D

sure thing i have my big n strong mandarin for over 2 yrs it eats NLS pellet too. buy the one with a blue tang label. altho mine eats all NLS now.

Golds usually have live tigger pods for sale, just make sure you check that they are still swimming around before you buy them.

Thanks for the heads up :)

Thanks :D I will sure check that out. Any idea how long one bottle is going to last for my 20 gallon?

Please save yourself the trouble and learn from other peoples mistakes, you have identified that this tank is too small & it contains goby predators.

Although I agree this hobby is about challenges and learning, its also about trying to be as environmentally responsible as possible. Put yourself in the Mandarines shoes, would you enjoy being put in an overly small tank with a lack of food and things that could kill you @ every turn?

I think not... But alas I have a feeling this fish will be added to your tank regardless.

+1

+1. :)

I, in no way, will disagree or argue with what you said. :)

Alright. I have thought about it through and have decided not to get a mandarin :) After all, I am not ignorant :mrgreen:

But I really want to add fish to my tank :( I don't want any goby and I have NO problem with bioload (WC every 2 week with no traceable nitrate before WC with "extremely" heavy feeding). I just want splashes of color that moves :(

Suggestions? :D

I was thinking of carpenter wrasse :D

Smaller wrasse?
Flame angel? (Caution in a reef)
Cardinal?

You have so much to choose from...

Good job not setting yourself up for headache and failure.

Thanks for the suggestions :D

I have my eyes set on a coral beauty :) The one in the LFS currently had a hole in the fin (from fight or something); the guy was offering it at a lower price but I didn't take the risk.

Wrasses are jumpers and I can't put a screen on top since I have HOBs on the back of my tank. So I am passing on wrasses for now.

And cardinals...pass...I need movements too :P Maybe a chromis :)