What are pods? Or feeding a mandarin question

[Aquattro]

Linda, pods are the little bugs that run around the rockwork, mostly visible at night. A mandarin requires a well established tank with lots of live rock. If your 50g is a year old or more, and has lots of rock, you may be OK. Check out this and other boards for "pod piles", which will explain how to create safe breeding areas within your tank to keep the population going. Mandarins can quickly clean out a tank and then starve to death. They seldom eat prepared foods.