What do pods eat?

[boogsawaste]

I added a mandarin to my tank and an in tank refugium to house my pods. I have a little live rock in the fuge with some substrate (just a couple small pieces maybe 1/2 lb). Most of the pods seemed to escape via the powerhead before I installed the missing restrictor valve that I later found :frustrat:. So my questions are, how many do you need to start a breeding colony in a fuge (there's like less than 10 that I can see)? What do they eat? And how long till they start reproducing? TIA

 

[yote]

Pods feed on phytoplankton,detritus,and some algae.And you've probably got a lot more than your seeing.

 

[boogsawaste]

Nice! I have some phytoplex (sp) that I can drip in for them.

 

[Bifferwine]

Add some macroalgae like chaetomorpha to your fuge. Chaeto is a great breeding ground for pods.

 

[reeffreak]

Add even more rock rubble and some chaeto macroalgae.I don't believe that size system and refugium will ever be a large enough breeding ground for copepods to sustain a mandarin.

 

[JustinStone87]

I hear that you need an ample amount of copepods to substain a madarin or any dragonette.

 

[dustin_P74]

you do need a huge amount, you should wait a year or longer before you get one so that you can have enough pods to where they can reproduce faster then the dragonette can eat them