what should i do to maximize the growth in the pod population in my ten gallon. it has ~20lbs of LR in the tank, and lots of cirulation. i've had the tank going for 5 months now, and i haven't seen any real growth in the population.
promoting pod growth
- Thread starter Seamonkey84
- Start date
Put some red plastic wrap over a flashlight and check out your tank at night. I thought I didnt have a lot of pods till I did that, then WOW I had no idea there was so many critters.
tren
tren
if you have any beds of macro or micro algae that seems to be the major hideout of pods in my tanks. as soon as the lights go on they scurry into the holes in the LR and some spots in the sand. you may also be able to check out some cool polycheate worms hanging out. some cool stuff comes out at night.
i some maco algea i added, plus patches of hair algea "lawns" (i dont' mind them too much). i'm thinking about adding some piles of crushed coral or live rock "rubble" in the corners so i can see if anything is going to hide in the pile. i'm also adding phytoplan to the tank, hopeing that the phytoplankton would make a better food sourse for some of the pods, plus the awaited pepermint shrimp larva that are going to hatch from the eggs on one of my shrimps
sorry to knock your hopes down, but you won't get anything from the shrimp eggs. you don't need to add phytoplankton. normal feeding of the tank will supply everything that the pods need to reproduce.
Why do you say that? I've seen peppermint shrimp reproduce in an lfs tank before. They were unidentifiable dots when first spotted, but when I saw them again last Saturday they were obviously baby shrimp. The adults would hide in a plastic decoration laying on it's side and the inside of the decoration was crawling with the fry. The tank only had shrimp and coral in it, no fish.
Back on subject: I thought my 75g reef was light on the pods too, until I was sitting next to the tank one Saturday morning when the light came on. Usually I go to work when it's still dark out so I don't see the tank when the lights come up. The tank was literally crawling with pods on every surface, lucky for my mandarin. I was wondering how he stayed so fat without a good pod population.
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Guys,
I'm new to SW aquariums and wnated to buy a mandarin dragonet. by reading thru this thread, it looks like I need to have pods in my tank before buy the mandarin. What is pod, what does it look like? how do I make sure that I have it in my tank. Also, can buy two mandarins
fantoot
I'm new to SW aquariums and wnated to buy a mandarin dragonet. by reading thru this thread, it looks like I need to have pods in my tank before buy the mandarin. What is pod, what does it look like? how do I make sure that I have it in my tank. Also, can buy two mandarins
fantoot
mandarins have a specialized diet of either isopods, or copepods, don't remember which, someone here will say which. They are the little white critters (which I think look like fleas) that bed in your sand, and hide in liverock.
My refugium is about 8 months old and is swarming with pods. I'm using a DIY Miracle Mud filter with caulerpa. There is so many, that the 'mud' bottom is constently moving. I know that they have found there way into the main tank because I've seen a few at night. But, I definetely agree that a refugium area with macro algea is a great way to encourage pod growth.