Tisbe culturing help

[Jdavis8824]

Hi, I have a Mandarin in a nano tank and although he is eating small bits of frozen foods I was told he needs to eat pods more then anything else. So I added some tisbe pods and started culturing them myself. Right now I have a 2g bucket filled half way with 1.025 saltwater, phyto pure plankton, added just a tiny bit of flake food and a ridged airline line tube set to 2-3 bubbles a second. I added 2 bags of tisbes or around 600 and also two balls of algae that came in the bags. No heater and my house gets 69 degrees at night and 74 during the day. I can't see them at all. How do I know when when to take some out? Will they become visible at some point? Will a reg brine shrimp net do the job? And is plankton and tiny bits of flake food too much? Water is a light green color now. And finally am I doing this the best way?

[CuzzA]

Sorry, but you really should return the mandarin to the LFS or re home it. This is not going to work and you're going to starve it to death. They eat approximately 700 pods an hour. A 2 gallon bucket is not going to sustain it. Not to mention there's always a high possibility of a culture crash.

Doing the proper research and making good equipment and stocking choices is the only road to success and the well being of your "pet". If you want a mandarin, you need the proper home for it. 50 gallon plus tank, 20 gallon plus refugium, wait 6-12 months for a sustainable reproducing pod population and no tank mates that would outcompete the mandarin. Like a six line wrasse for example. Even then, you still may need to hatch and feed artemia everyday.

[Jdavis8824]

I appreciate the concern. But I've seen it done before and he is eating frozen foods as well so I'm trying to make it work. My tank had been set up for 6 months and had a high pod population due to me dosing pytho feast. He isn't always hunting like most do, probably because of the frozen foods he eats and there's only one clown as a tank mate so not much competition. I plan on getting my pod population up, but I'm just starting out and I will be culturing phytoplankton once my florida aqua farms order is delivered. I'm not the type to give up because it's hard, I have sps growing with great success in a nano which also isn't easy. I do however want what's best for my fish, but he's fat and healthy now and I would like to continue his good health.

[CuzzA]

Originally Posted by Jdavis8824

I've seen it done before.

Yes. I've seen these threads too. And many of them claim success after a few months when success should be measured in years. It takes some time for a mandarin to starve to death. Most of these mandarin in nano tank threads are never updated to report true long term success. Which leads me to believe the fish likely perished to malnutrition. I just don't see how an animal that eats every 5 seconds can be sustained by hobbyist feedings alone via dry or frozen foods. Even if it's a few times a day. And especially considering most of us have other responsibilities like work and family. Also, I suspect a mandarin could eat the whole 1 gallon bucket you're culturing in one day.

But, If you are hell bent on trying this I would do what PaulB does in his 100 gallon reef and make an auto brine shrimp feeder. You'll have much more control over providing the necessary amount of food. A culture crash won't set you back months while the mandarin starves. And hatching brine shrimp is super cheap and easy.

Nevertheless, I wish you and the fish good luck. I hope it works out.

[JaihWill]

How's the mandarin ?