Mandarin Goby

[Gietz]

So I brought some leftover Xenia in to my LFS and got enough store credit to buy a mandarin goby!!!! She is alittle thin but does go after frozen food,  my tank is just about a year and I've seen pods running around on the glass at night. 

With this little gal destroy my pod population in my 55 gallon? I am just starting to grow cheato which I hope will help.  But should I invest in some of the bottled pods every couple of months?

 

[jeff39]

Congratulations!

Did you see it "go after frozen?"  The mandarin shouldn't wipe it out, but I'm always playing it safe.  I would invest in some tigger pods every couple of months.  Just my 2 cents...

 

[Gietz]

Thx!!!
Yes it chases them but only catches a little bit!!  Any idea where I'd get some trigger pods?

 

[shipwreck]

You can also build some pod piles in the tank, if you have an open rock layout to help give them a place to hide.  A 55g is on the small size IMO for a mandarin so I would definately keep an eye on the mandarin and hope you do get lucky and it will eat frozen.  Another thing is to watch at night and see if you stop seeing the pods running around.

 

[Gietz]

What do you mean by open rock layout??? I've got 60 lbs of extremely holely rock (Eco reef)

 

[shipwreck]

Well traditionally rock was piled tightly up the back wall of the tank.  This method although bad for many reasons created many dark cave areas that are perfect for Pods to live, grow, breed, but inaccessible to fish like the mandarins.  Like an anthill you always see some ants out but many more are hiding in the hill.  Now for rocks people are moving to a more bonsai type open structure with rocks place very open and fewer rocks in the display.  This method fixes the problems with the "rock walls" but doesn't give the pods the same safe havens.  In a smaller tank this limits the safe areas in the display tank and now you rely on the population in the fuge tank to make it to the display to feed them.  A pod pile is just a pile of smaller pieces of live rocks that creates an area for pods that a fish can't get into.

Also make sure in your tank you don't have any other fish that likes to hunt pods.

 

[Gietz]

The only fish I would think that could is my hector goby but I really doubt it!!! I'll see if I can pile some rocks up in a corner. 

 

[Gietz]

so how big does this rock pile have to be?

 

[Gietz]

She eats frozen enriched brine!!!  im still getting trigger pods and building a pod piles