Pod Population

[wsboyette]

I am entertaining the notion of establishing a pod population in my 45G FOWLER, and eventually supporting a mandarin using a pod pile. I am considering starting the population by adding three or four generous cultures at first, then once a month adding a culture for say, six months. What I am wondering about is whether my existing clowns, damsels, sally lightfoot crab & hermit crabs will decimate the pod population faster than I can build it ? And if not, would the pod pile sustain a mandarin without further addition of cultures (assuming an establishment period of 6-8 months) ?

 

[yote]

Everything in the tank will feed on the pods.From the fish to other cryptic creatures inside the live rock. That being said, there is really no way of knowing if your plan will establish the population like your planning.

One thing that MAY help would be to feed some type of phytoplankton to encourage the pods to breed.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Yote.

 

[Nonfamous]

How about I add a question to this. It may sound silly but .......

How do the pods get from the sump to the DT? Do they venture out into the pump chamber and get pumped up there or do you actually have to move them up there?

 

[Bifferwine]

They get pumped up there.

 

[wsboyette]

One guy on another forum uses a large foam block in his sump for refugium & breeding of pods. He just periodically removes the block, shakes it over the aquarium, then returns it to the sump. Says he's had a mandarin in the tank for months, and it is still fat & happy. I believe I will try that dodge; if the pods reproduce well it may be enough for a mandarin and the other life in the aquarium as well.

 

[little_fish]

My only issue with that story is the has only had the mandarin for months instead of a few years, these guys can still be slowly starving to death over the course of many months if they are still getting a few pods a day.

 

[wsboyette]

My only issue with that story is the has only had the mandarin for months instead of a few years, these guys can still be slowly starving to death over the course of many months if they are still getting a few pods a day.

He says that hundreds of pods are released whenever he shakes the foam block out; that would certainly be enough.to sustain the fish adequately if he does that every few days. He says the mandarin is fat; unlike the undernourished mandarins I've too frequently seen in office aquariums which looked gaunt. Of course, I can only hope that he is being totally truthful. I wish that I could find one that eats frozen food !

 

[Kelz88]

Id say wait for one that eats frozen. Saddest thing you will ever see in your fish tank is a dead mandarin/scooter.

 

[wsboyette]

Yep, I know. A problem with chloramine in my RO water wiped out my first mandarin in this setup (along with the pods, a maroon clown and 2-spined angel).

 

[cvcdrk]

When they become more widely available I am going to seriously look into getting an ORA bred Mandarin.

Until then, I will only dream about them.

 

[wsboyette]

When they become more widely available I am going to seriously look into getting an ORA bred Mandarin.

Until then, I will only dream about them.

As I do not have a money tree in my yard, I'm not putting $144.00 into a $16.00 fish. Even if I had that money tree, it is still against my principles. I'll buy the $16.00 one, temporarily stick him in my 20L, and while he's in there train him to eat frozen food using sushi roe in a basting syringe.

 

[BL1]

I don't know where you've been looking but ORA mandarins typically go for $45-65 when I've seen them.

 

[wsboyette]

I don't know where you've been looking but ORA mandarins typically go for $45-65 when I've seen them.

That $144 was a round figure including the shipping from online retailers. I don't think any of the reef shops in my area carry the ORA fish. I might could fork over $45, but that's still a bit steep. If those people at ORA expect us to buy their aquacultured stuff to promote conservation, then they are going to have to lower their prices quite a bit.

 

[Bifferwine]

Prices on the ORA mandarins will go down as they become more numerous and as more people start breeding them. They are still relatively new on the market. Look at tank bred clowns -- they are cheap as can be, but that's because they've been around for a long time and a lot of people breed them.

 

[wsboyette]

That's right, Sarah, the demand now is now high with respect to the supply. ORA just needs plenty of stiff competition selling like items, then they'll come down quite a bit. This practice by businesses of price-gouging based on supply and demand just infuriates me....

 

[bjohanson1234]

That's right, Sarah, the demand now is now high with respect to the supply. ORA just needs plenty of stiff competition selling like items, then they'll come down quite a bit. This practice by businesses of price-gouging based on supply and demand just infuriates me....

How is it price gouging? There is a lot more money put into raising fish from fry than there is in just sending a boat out with some nets. They need to pay for electric, salt, food, ect. Then there is the % that die before they are adults. Finally, there is profit to add. All this adds to the cost of the fish. If people weren't environmentally conscious, a company like ORA would fail. But people do realize that there are only so many fish in the sea and getting tank bred fish is the way to go.

 

[FishyReef]

Ask your LFS if they can place an ORA order for you - most of the LFS's I know will place an ORA order every couple of months. And from my perspective, I'd gladly pay a little more for an ORA mandarin (mind you, not $150, but $50-60 is okay) knowing that (1) it will eat frozen and I won't have to worry about buying a new bottle of pods every few weeks at best, and (2) knowing that I am contributing to and thereby promoting sustainable aquaculture. Long term I think the saltwater hobby is going to be dependent on sustainable aquaculture efforts and the sooner we all get on board the more fish we'll see being produced sustainably, and the faster prices will fall. Just my :twocents:

 

[Bifferwine]

All ORA stuff starts out high priced at first, then goes down as hobbyists propagate them -- like corals. You can find ORA corals in any LFS. I wouldn't call it price gouging. It is simply the law of supply and demand.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 BJ....they are pioneering this and have put in a lot of money towards breeding them. I don't see what's wrong with recouping the costs. Same with prescription drugs -- generic is cheaper because they are merely using a "recipe" that the name-brand spent millions to create.