Tigger-Pods will not be able to reproduce quickly enough in your main tank to be sustainable. Your best options are to either culture them in a separate system (see below) or to try a copepod concentrate product like the Arcti-Pods. Arcti-Pods have over an 80% success rate with mandarin dragonettes.
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Tigger-Pods (Tigriopus californicus) will NOT grow well in your main display tank. They don't instinctively hide from fish, are very large easy to find, and they often starve in reef systems because there is not enough microalgae for them to feed on. They grow best in your refugium or simulated tide pool (a 9x13 cake pan works perfectly!).
Tigger-Pods commonly live in tide pools and range from Canada to Honduras, from very cold water to very warm water. They are definitely not just a "cold water species". Due to their wide temperature tolerance they can be stored in cold hibernation for up to 8 weeks, hence why they are kept in the refrigerator at your local fish store. Hibernation reduces their need for oxygen and food, and extends their lives.
Their optimal growing temperatures depends on where the broodstock were originally harvest. Our broodstock population was collected in California where tide pool temperatures can approach 100 F so they are acclimated to temperatures at or above reef system. We've been culturing them at 75-90 F for over 6 years.
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Tigriopus californicus don't live in the ocean - they live in the warm splash zone pools up above the ocean. These pools are shallow and get quite warm during the day, some much warmer than reef systems. The following published scientific study shows that they live in temperatures ranging from 42 to 92 F:
http
/journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=70713&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0025315498000095
In these tide pools there are no predators so they don't have the instincts to hide in the rocks when fish come by. Since they don't hide they get eaten pretty quickly in display tanks. We recommend they be cultured in a sump or refugium where there are no predators. They can also be easily cultured in a separate system like a 9x13 cake pan.
The population of copepods in a reef system is often food limited by the amount of natural microalgae that the reef system produces each day. When additional pods are added the food requirements immediately goes up, especially when feeding very large copepods like Tigger-Pods. Unfortunately many people don't realize they need to supplement with microalgae so both the Tigger-Pods and the existing copepod population end up with a food shortage and quickly starve.
The analogy I use when I'm giving presentations is "If you have an acre of land that produces enough grass to support one cow but want to have lots of cows - what do you do? You add bales of hay and suddenly that 1 acre will support LOTS of cows".
Microalgae is like hay to your zooplankton. The more you add, the more zooplankton you will have. If you don't have enough, they starve and disappear.
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Randy Reed, Reed Mariculture / Reef Nutrition
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