Mandarins have a very high metabolism and need to eat almost constantly. That is why you see them picking at the rocks almost constantly. A few pieces of Mysid shrimp a few times a day would be like you eating 4-5 chicken nuggets per day. It food, but not enough and you will not stay healthy long. If you have placed the same amount of rock and the refugium I would think you would be ok, but if you cut back on the rock and downsized its definitely border line. For this reason ORA breeding mandarins is not the saving grace everyone thinks they are. Yes ORA's will eat frozen foods, but frozen foods are not enough to sustain them alone.
Seahorses have an inefficent digestive system and almost no fat reserves. In the wild, they eat things like pods almost constantly. Yet they are kept healthy in captivity through eating frozen mysis shrimp, with females producing eggs and males "gestating" them (at a considerable caloric cost.) Considering the antomical deficencies that seahorses have going against them, I do not know why they would be able to survive, even thrive, on frozen foods while mandarins (that feed in the same manner yet
can digest their food efficiently) are believed destined to die if fed the same diet.
I had my male mandarin for over 2 yrs in a 56 gallon w/out a 'fuge, during which time he ate frozen foods and fresh salmon and crab. He grew into a beautiful mature male. I added a female almost 6 months after getting the male, and the two of them were plump and had started doing mating dances. They would be with me today if I had not lost all the fish from that tank shortly after moving.
Seahorse owners tell people looking to get seahorses and pipefish that live rock teaming with pods is great -- but a seahorse or pipe will decimate that population in
extremely short order. A 'fuge is a wonderful assest, but it isn't going to sustain your pet; you have got to train your fish to eat frozen food or be prepared to buy live foods for it. The conventional wisdom for mandarins is the exact opposite: the 'fuge should and can produce all the food the animal needs... Yet these are both animals that spend all day hunting and eating. The seahorse may not have the high energy needs of the mandarin, but it is difficult for the seahorse to derive any good from its food.
Can someone explain how these two ideas, which seem to be mutually exclusive, can somehow both be true? I know that the seahorses can thrive for years eating primarily frozen mysis (there are many examples of that), and I know my own mandarins broke the 2 year mark eating prepared foods (and there are other reports on RC of similar mandarins.)
