Copepods, and Amphipods

[NTidd]

I would like to get a spotted mandarin or a green mandarin sometime in the far future, how can I get a really high population of copepods and amphipods for them? The fish in the tank are 1 yellow tang, 1 coral beauty angel, 3 damsels, 2 turbo snails, and a peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimp. It's a 50 gallon tank, and right now I only have a few pounds of live rock. Thanks!

 

[arcab4]

you need a good amount of liverock for a decent amount of pods. you can also buy a startpack or detrivore kit to seed your tank with pods. inlandaquatics.com has detrivore kits. it's not recommended that you keep a mandarin until your tank is well established and has a steady source of pods. otherwise your mandarin will starve.

having a refugium will also help increase the pod population. =)