Cope pod Population

dankolle

dankolle

Reefing newb
I have had my mandarin for about a year and a half. When I first got him my tank was exploding with cope pods...but I have to admit I am worried my poor reef keeping skills of the past (not measuring salt accurately, using tap water, poor lighting, no water changes) might have killed them all off.

The mandarin is doing good, I think...he is still alive, great coloration, swimming, etc. He eats brine / mysis when I feed the rest of the tank, but I am worried I might not have any cope pods left. I have been in at night with a light and not seen any moving around like i used to, so how do I know if I have them anymore? What is the best way to re-seed my tank?
 
Is your mandarine looking skinny? If he isnt i would say you are doing fine. You can tell because they get pinch in the belly and down the back
 
I can see a small slenderness after his main fins but it's not huge, so I guess I don't know...are there any reference pictures I can compare to? I can't seem to find any...
 
That's how mine looks, there isn't a profile shot from the back, mine goes in a little bit behind the main fins, but it looks very uniform...but it looks great. Maybe I'm in denial...
 
I have purchased pods before and seeded them in my tank & sump, but I can never find them...I have cheato in my sump but it never grows so it's pretty thined out and I cannot see the little guys swimming
 
they are like a snack but if you put half in your sump like fast said they can thrive I seeded some of those in mine and they did well also..
 
I have been reading a lot about "farming" your own to seed the tank, and I am worried my cheato is in too high of a flow area to hold the pods, and there is nothing I can do about that for now. So I am thinking of ordering a cope pod pack as suggested above and putting them in their own environment of waste water to effectively grow more to re-seed my tank. Has anyone done this before?
 
Several people have. They just have several jars and jugs that they culture the pods in and pour in a few every week or so and rotate through them.
 
I get a new culture of pods every couple of months to make sure my pods are good. Remember that not just your mandarian will eat pods. My yellow watchman loves them as well. Just because you dont see pods doesnt mean they arent there. My suggestion would to get a new culture and add it to the DT as soon as you can. Only way to be safe. When i seed my tank with a new culture i turn off all the flow and filtration. Take the turjkey baster and squirt half slowly but directly into the reef. The other half i either split shooting into the reef or just dumping into, the tank. If you have a fuge id split it with that.
 
I am currently trying to get some pods off of ebay. They said it would be a perfect starter culture. I'm going to put some directly into a rubble pile in the display and use the other half to start a culture. I'm also going to get some phyto cultures going to feed the little buggers while they are...doing the horizontal monster mash. I'll try to keep a progress of this going incase there are others out there like me scared to take the first steps!
 

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