Amphipod population and the mandarin dragonette

How do I know if my amphipod population is good enough for a mandarin goby. I have a well established tank with ~100 of these little critters and I really want to get a mandarin. Will this amphipod population hold its own or will a mandarin crash it? I don't have a lot of live rock as well.. prolly around 15 lbs.

 

you need to provide the size of your tank and whether you have a fuge or not, and yes a mandarin would decimate a population of a ~100 pods they would be like tic tacs to him.

however there are probably many more you don't see.

 

well make a refugium (could be in a sump or another tank altogether), raise the pods by feeding them phytoplankton, and feed the mandarin with the pods every day from the fuge. just make sure you have plenty of pods; 100 pods can be wiped out in maybe a week.

 

your gonna need copepods too, youll have alot more weight in copepods in your tank then amphipods, amphipods will live on your rocks and copepods will live on everything else(water, rocks, sand, glass)

 

You could also add to your pod population by a purchase through reefcleaners.

 

It'd take way less than a week to wipe out ~100 pods for a mandarin...

 

i thought they ate more than 100 per day...

 

Well, they graze all day on pods, so...;D

 

Or you can do as I am doing while I am in custody of a beautiful male Mandarin with a nice fat belly. (Took him from someone on a whim knowing full well that I am going to have to get rid of him because he was in a 2 1/2 gallon tank where he was previously). I go to the LFS and buy a new bottle of pods every week and dump in there at night plus I have started a small tank exclusively for the breeding of pods (population is booming I'm happy to report).

 

Thanks guys for all the advice. Sounds like getting a fuge is the way to go, but can the pods live off just a lot more rock instead of making a fuge? I will be making one later on down the road but no time soon since I live in Tallahassee and my tank is being taken care of by my parents in Jacksonville.