My tank is a little over 9 months old at this point with about 35-40 lbs of LR. (40 gal long tank) From the beginning I always had TONS of pods swimming and scooting all over the rock and Crushed Coral bottom. About a month or so ago I switched from CC to a sand only substrate and ever since then the pod population has declined rapidly. I use to see the pods at all hours of the day and my scooter blenny was constantly chasing and eating things. Then about 2 weeks ago I noticed the scooter acting funny, swimming up the sides of the tank and trying to pick at alge or something on the glass (instead of scooting along the bottom as usual) He doesn't seem as nice and fat as he use to anymore, in fact you can see some of the indents around his head that you never use to be able to see. I also don't see any pods during the day and at night I'm lucky if I see 1-2 with a flashlight. I used to be able to shine a flashlight in there at night and see hundreds, literally, swimming all over. Whay has my pod population pretty much gone exstinct? What can I do now?
1 more ? ... pods
- Thread starter petcrazy213
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I would say it has more to do with the predation of the blenny than the change to sand--my tanks with sand and no predators have lots of pods, those with sand and pod predators have noticably fewer pods. The so-called scooter blenny is actually not a blenny--it is a dragonette, same as mandarins. Scooters are a bit more likely to take to prepared foods, but it's not a gaurantee, and they will eat lots and lots of pods.
You can build pod centers--little piles of rubble, where they are safe from predation and can reproduce more easily. Also, supplemental stocking (there are a few places that sell pods, search around) will help out.
You can build pod centers--little piles of rubble, where they are safe from predation and can reproduce more easily. Also, supplemental stocking (there are a few places that sell pods, search around) will help out.
Another cool idea... Thanx OG!
Would those pod centers be best placed on the sand, or in the reef?
Besides the rock rubble you can also put in a piece of pvc pipe. Hide it in the back of your rock work. I call the pipe my pod motel. They can do what comes natural without fear of being eaten while 'in the act'.
