Newbie Copepods/Maderine question

[krazydy]

Hi all, I recently cycled my 12G orig nano cube and its been like 1 month since i set it up and already I see White copepods :bounce: all over my tank. I cycled it using turbo start and 15 days later acording to my LFS and my at home test it was ready for fish. I added last week 2 perc. clowns and a royal gramma. Now I also added about 1000 more copepods that i bought aquaculterd alive from my local LFS and lest just say the clowns had there was with a few last night... Now my question is since I added 1000 more live pods in my tank when can i add a manderine?

 

[bkv1997]

With a 12 gallon tank I would think the two clowns and gramma are pretty much at the limit of the normal fish load for a tank that size.

However to answer your question... with such a small tank the manderine will quickly consume all the pods and if he doesn't learn to eat mysis or something else will end up starving. They usually do better in a larger tank with lots 75+ pounds of live rock so that the pods can reproduce fast enough.

Just my :twocents:

 

[krazydy]

The maderine I'm talking about is really small and not to mention is eating frozen brine. But would it be abel to stay alive lets say even if it dosent eat brine if i was to keep supplying on a monthly basis lived copepods when I do my water changes every month that i buy at my LFS?

 

[bkv1997]

Can it potentially work? yes

Is it the ideal environment for that specimen? No

The rule of thumb for a saltwater tanks is 1" of fish for 5 gallons of water. This is because that is how much water it takes to dilute the fish waste into a non lethal amount. With your current load plus the manderine you will be at almost twice the suggested value and I fear could start to cause you alot bigger problems.

I honestly can't recommend putting a manderine in a nano, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[krazydy]

Thanks for the honest Answer. I will take your recomendation and leave getting a manderine for later on when i set up my 95g in the living room. I wouldent want to do any harm to any animal at all especially such a delicate creature like the manderine.

 

[ReefWannabe]

yeah thats the limit already. even the royal is pushing it in such a small tank. just remember they will get bigger. and want alot of room. kinda like craming u and 3 friends in a bathroom when your little. its cool. but what about now???

Also. without the LR to support his eating habits. its not a great idea. and without the biological filtration that comes with alot of LR. your system would stand to crash and you could lose everything.