Keeping pods

[underpar]

Hi,

What steps are necessary to maintain a population of pods in a refugium?

Thanks, Fred

[Vinnie71975]

a Lil Food straight in the fuge wouldnt hurt unless your an overfeeder

[ahullsb]

You can buy live pods online and add them periodically. But as mentioned above, a little phyto into it should help maintain them.

[uscharalph]

I have observe some of my pods munching on algae on the back tank wall at night.

[uscharalph]

Also, I don't have a refugium. My Mandarin is hunting pods every waking moment. I have plenty of live rock, places for them to hide. At night I see them all over the place.

[underpar]

I ask this question because, until recently, I had a very nice population in both size and number. Now, they have seemed to have disappeared. There are no fish present to eat them.

I restocked today and would like maintain some with the thought of eventually adding a Mandarin.

Thanks for your help, Fred

[papagimp]

New tanks will tend to get an explosion of pods at first, due to large amounts of food sources for them to devour, as the tank matures and other things in their are competing their numbers will naturally dwindle some. But just cause you don't see them everywhere don't mean their not in there. A flashlight and a little nocturnal hunting should reveal some. Dosing phytoplankton will help ensure their naupllii grow and as they get older, left over bits of foods, algae, stuff like that will sustain the bigger pods. And of course, giving them a place to prosper without being eaten (a refugium) makes a world of difference keeping them in larger numbers.

[capn_hylinur]

a baseball size clump of cheato from a friend or LFS is all you need.
Feed them phyto once a week--run the light 24/7 and in two months:
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4527.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4522.jpg

[Piscator]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11094324#post11094324 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by underpar
Hi,

What steps are necessary to maintain a population of pods in a refugium?

Thanks, Fred

Pods (which refer to many different species) are generally herbivores and detrivores (though there are carnivorous species). So the best thing for their diet is some algae, photoplankton, etc. If you have a sump with some macroalgae, live rock/rubble, and some sand (not essential), you will have a good spot for breeding these little guys. Mine grow and reproduce without any intentional feeding at all.

I give my chaeto a shake every now and then, they come loose, get sucked up into the display, and become a nice little snack for the fish...

If you have none to start with, you can buy them locally or online, or just buy a handful of chaeto which will invariably have some hanging around.

Best wishes,

[underpar]

Thanks for the information.

I do have a refugium with live rock, a sand bed, chaeto and a light. However, I have been running the light only when the display tank is off, not 24/7.

I suppose the critters are in there, but when I do the "light at night" thing, I do not see anything moving around. That is what has made me think the population had died off.

I'll give the new supply some time and see what happens.

Thanks again, Fred

[cd77]

capn_hylinur -- are there any potential drawbacks to running your refugium light 24/7 for chaeto growth / pods? Not trying to hijack here, just curious as my chaeto growth seems to be sub-par compared to others. Like underpar, I too have been running my fuge lights on a reverse cycle.

[Vinnie71975]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11094487#post11094487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by underpar
I ask this question because, until recently, I had a very nice population in both size and number. Now, they have seemed to have disappeared. There are no fish present to eat them.

I restocked today and would like maintain some with the thought of eventually adding a Mandarin.

Thanks for your help, Fred

Daily Dosing of DT's Phyto Wouldn't hurt if your wanting to feed the pods well i would say a cap full a day Or a Small Pinch Of Ground up Flake (powderize it) Say maybe 1/8 or 1/16 Teaspoon of flake Powder.