baby mandarin and size of supplemental pods

[beaniebeagle]

My mandarin just came via fed ex today and it's smaller than I thought, almost an inch and a half.

I bought some Arcti-pods yesterday to supplement him while in the QT. The Reef Nutrition website states that they are 3000 microns in size. They look like they may be a little big for his tiny little mouth.

Since he's so small, should I find something smaller to feed him with while in QT?

 

[Hzuiel]

Keep this thread updated with progress if you would, I'm planning to get a dragonet so this could be useful info.

Live aquaria suggested algagen Tisbe biminiensis which is what i was going to buy and dump half in the refugium and half in the tank to get populations going prior to the fish coming. I have no idea what size those pods would be, but it says they're 100 to an 8oz bottle so they couldn't be that large.

 

[o2manyfish]

Getting a Mandarin to eat non-live foods is not an easy thing. I have 3 and they prefer to hunt and aren't interested in anything added to the tank. I would think calling around and seeing if you can find Live Pods at any of your LFS and adding them with some rock and some phyto to your QT tank may give him more opportunities to feed.

Dave B

 

[sponger0]

Tisbe pods by AlgaGen is the way to go

 

[beaniebeagle]

Crap, more money for overnight shipping. This one fish is getting expensive. This is my wife's fault. She's been bugging me for years to get a mandarin

 

[sponger0]

I would recommend returning it to the store if your tank isnt ready for it and doesnt have a pod population already existing.

 

[beaniebeagle]

tank is 6yrs old. it's the QT period that I need to supplement. I pulled rocks from the main tank and put them in the QT long before it arrived

 

[Smnparish]

I personally wouldn't quarantine a mandarin...if they are not eating their health is only going to go down

 

[larac]

I personally wouldn't quarantine a mandarin...if they are not eating their health is only going to go down

+1


No need to quarantine a mandarin IMO. With an established 120G there should be plenty of live pods for him to eat, unless you have other pod eaters in your tank.