Giant 'pods...do they need a predator?

[Jan]

Last night I set up my 30 gallon cube. THe live rock I bought for it came with bunches of baby stomatella, an 8" bristle worm, and many, MANY 'pods that were visible to my eye. Some were huge...tan bugs about 1/8". Should I make sure that I've got some animal in the cube that will keep that population in check? If so, what would it be?

 

[c0yote]

It would just be like amphipods in a refugium, their numbers will depend on the available food/detritus. I've got hundreds in my 24 gallon cube with no problems, of course if I added nearly any type of carnivore/omnivore fish the amphipod population would definitely go down.

 

[Jan]

I wonder if this cube could support a green mandarin some day....would love to have one of those!

 

[steven11]

I have a target mandarin, and a pipe fish in my 36 gal that are doing very well(I also have 3 different shrimp that i am sure are comsuming pods). And at night, I still find thousands of pods running around. You will just have to pack your tank with live rock and/or have a nice fuge.

 

[btuck]

I would think a 30 gallon wouldn't be a large enough tank to support a mandarin goby, unless you are planning on supplementing the tank with tigger pods or some other type of pods.

 

[Brenden]

I would think a 30 gallon wouldn't be a large enough tank to support a mandarin goby, unless you are planning on supplementing the tank with tigger pods or some other type of pods.

Def not big enough

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I have a target mandarin, and a pipe fish in my 36 gal that are doing very well(I also have 3 different shrimp that i am sure are consuming pods). And at night, I still find thousands of pods running around. You will just have to pack your tank with live rock and/or have a nice fuge.

Steven, your little coral tank is quite the exception. It's packed to the gills with very mature rock and a large fuge covered in many types of pods that seem to reproduce faster than your goby can eat them. Totally awesome but not to be used as an example of a typical little tank.

Jan's rock is currently covered in pods grown in Josh's well fed tank, but since it is recently transplanted, no way of knowing what the pod production rate will be in the near future.

 

[steven11]

Just feed em!