Culturing Pods...

[Ram_Puppy]

ok, I wanna toss an idea past you guys...

I don't have room on my 30 gallon for a fuge, but I do want to maintain a healthy pod population, and possibly keep a mandarin. now, before anyone goes nuts, I know what is involved in keeping a mandarin, and i know that a 30 gallon is completely inadequate to generate a pod supply on it's own, which is why I am thinking of culturing them.

Step 1) Preparing the Culture Station.

Supplies:

10 gallon tank (and water)
1 sheet of egg crate
lights
couple yards of nylon netting
Zip Ties
small power head
Pod Culture from CB Pets
A ball of cheato from one of you fine folks

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Setup:

On the left hand side, the power head will be placed aiming lengthwise down the tank. were talking maxi-jet mini-s here, this is a LOW flow environment.

Next in line is the cheato ball

after the cheato ball, 5 sheets of egg crate will be cut to fit in the tank like a divider. each sheet will have a generous amount of nylon netting bunched to it and attatched via zip tie.

The Cheato will be rinsed as best I can before adding it to make sure no pod predators make it in.

Add the steril (except for pods) culture to the mix.

*****
Use:

The cheato will be a permenant home for pods to live in, and I will feed the tank small amounts (just a few flakes every other day.)

however, it is my expectation they will spread out to all that wonderful surface area in the netting on the egg crate.

The idea is that after the culture has been up and running for a few weeks, I can pull out a section of egg crate, swish it around in some clean salt water in a 5 gallon bucket, and then either use that salt water in a water change, or allow the pods to settle for an hour then siphon them out w/ a turkey baster and add them to the tank.

As each sheet of egg crate is removed and harvested, it is rotated into the position nearest the cheatoto replenish it's pod population.

I think if I do this once a week I can probably maintain a healthy population, and if not, then of course I will end up giving someone a mandarin.

what are your thoughts?

[Ping]

Sounds plausable to me. Maybe you can eventually train the madarin to accept frozen. Each time you feed the Mandarin pods, turn off all water flow in the tank. This sets up a feeding response. I dont think this would negate the need for the pods, the frozen can supplement the pods for long term survivability of the fish. Just my thoughts.

[Ram_Puppy]

good idea Ping!

I was thinking about how to initiate a feeding response I must admit, it was eluding me! such a simple idea!

[caferacermike]

If you get a ball of cheato gifted then you won't need to waste $25 on "pods in a bottle". What a gimmick.

[Ram_Puppy]

I know cheato will come w/ pods, but the idea is to have a somewhat sterile culture, I dont want to introduce a pod predator either.

[JeremyGlen]

Go to ipsf.com and get their amphipod kit. It will have everything you need to get them going and is designed for exactly what you are looking to do.

[SaltyJim]

What pod predators live in cheato? I've never heard of, or frankly, worried about anything like that.