what fish compete with mandarins for copepods?

[reefchiquita]

Thinking about getting a mandarin....I have atleast 100 lbs of LR in my 180g. How do I check for copepods to make sure it won't starve? Don't worry, I won't buy one til I know for sure I got loads of pods in my fuge. Also, the water from my fuge runs over floss to catch detritus before reaching the sump. Will copepods make it through the floss or am I going to have to get rid of this floss?

Also, what should I be wary of in the tank that would compete with my pod population? I have 2 sally light foot crabs that are notorious at eating all my snails and never eat algae. Will these guys eat pods too? And wrasses?

Any secrets in maintaining pod populations are welcome!

[coker98]

Wrasses, scooter blennies, butterflies are usually speciallized feeders and eat some pods or a combo of frozen and pods. Most say that sponges or filter floss is usually not recommended as they do trap things like pods and little creatures that may feed your fish. You can dose phytoplankton to help feed your pod population and put a ball of chaetomorpha in your refugium section to give them a place to breed along with rubble in the refugium.