cool diy mandarin feeder

[picoreefguy]

i was surfing around the interwebs and came across this really neat feeder that works for mandarins, scooters, pipes, seahorses and anything else with a small mouth that eats pods. the guy uses regular brine shrimp but i dont know if it would work with copepods or rotifers. either way its an interesting read. ill have to give it a try in the new tank once i get it up and running.

 

[Reefplumber13]

Tagging so I can read later

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[curtismaximus]

Looks like this might allow you to keep these difficult fish in tanks smaller than previously thought.

 

[enderg60]

Neato. Now on the list of things to build.

 

[picoreefguy]

yea i plan on giving this a try. ive always wanted to keep pipefish and this just might be the way to do it. im going to try and find a source of bulk decapsulated brine shrimp eggs cause they're supposed to have a much higher hatch rate and are supposed to be more nutritious since the shrimp dose'nt have to waste energy fighting out of the egg.

 

[picoreefguy]

as far as i know adult copepods aren't attracted to light (im not an expert so dont quote me on that) and thats what makes the feeder work the way it does. since the baby brine (and baby pods) are attracted to the light they travel upwards and get stuck at the net until a fish comes along to suck them through.

 

[bulkrate]

I wonder what gauge netting he's using? I see them in all different sizes when I browse at the stores.

I have a little red female splendidus in my nano that's doing well on daily feedings of NLS pellets & nutramar, but one of these would probably make the process a lot less labor intensive. Maybe loaded up with some hatch-ready decapsulated brine shrimp eggs would make it even easier still?

 

[picoreefguy]

idk what sized netting he used. i think the same guy in another thread said hes tried pantyhose with some success. but yea thats what i was thinking with the decapsulated brine eggs. just dump them in and wait for them to hatch but idk how well they would hatch without an aerator. i had also considered automating the process with an apex (if i ever get one)