LF: PODS for my mandarin..Lower Mainland

[Cameron]

I'm looking for pods to rebuild my pod population since my move here from Victoria. My mandarin who was previously feeding on frozen mysis has decided to become picky and only eat pods again...grr.

Need some pods asap, if someone has some that would be appreciated.

[Jason McK]

Ocean Aquatics and J&L sell live pods

J

[Ron99]

I think the only live pods that they sell are the tigger pods which are a colder water species that do not reproduce in our tanks. I was talking to Ian at Oceanic Corals about ordering some more appropriate pods that will reproduce in our tanks so maybe check with him.

[Rotifer]

Tigger-Pods (Tigriopus californicus) are not a cold water species and don't actually live in the ocean - they live in the warm splash zone pools up above the ocean. These pools are shallow and get quite warm during the day, some much warmer than reef systems. The following published scientific study shows that they live in temperatures ranging from 42 to 92 F:

(http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=624BD5F53A532E2FEDA56CD E6D441F93.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=70713).

The two most common reasons for copepods to not thrive in reef systems is they are eaten too quickly, or starve.

Tigger-Pods live in tide pools where there are no predators so they don't have the instincts to hide in the rocks when fish come by. Since they don't hide they get eaten pretty quickly in display tanks. We recommend they be cultured in a sump or refugium where there are no predators. They can also be easily cultured in a separate system like a 9x13 cake pan.

The population of copepods in a reef system is often food limited by the amount of natural microalgae that the reef system produces each day. If you supplement with microalgae you increase the amount of available food, and hence the population that can be supported. When additional pods are added the amount of food required immediately goes up, especially when feeding very large copepods like Tigger-Pods. Unfortunately many people don't add additional microalgae so both the Tigger-Pods and the existing copepod population end up with a food shortage and quickly starve.