Feeding a Mandarin

[erinangele]

I made the mistake of putting a mandarin in my 29 gallon biocube when it was about 3 months old. I can't tell you how much money and effort I invested into keeping it alive and unfortunately it died and I felt horrible. I was buying pods every week, as well as feeding it live brine shrimp in a spice jar a couple times a day. I had it for about 2 1/2 months. Now I also have a 125 gallon with a fuge, and IF i were to get another mandarin i would wait at least a year. Im not sure if I will ever get another though, i would feel terrible if it had the same fate.

 

[Chinch Bug]

My two eat PE Mysis, mini mysis, and Spiralina Brine.

+1 for my green target mandarin, pellets too.

 

[sponger0]

New born "living" baby brine shrimp are not prepared foods. They look and act like pods and are more nutritious because they have a yoke sack. I would never feed a mandarin prepared foods like pellets although some of them will eat it.

Ok well the Target mandarin I had wouldnt take those either

+1 for my green target mandarin, pellets too.

Yes.....some will. But not all. So why take the chance and starve it to death if it doesnt chose to take any prepared foods and have a tank that has the proper food for them.

Target feeding has worked. But they dont stop eating all day long. So if you target feed them 3-7 times a day....it still isnt enough food for them.

 

[Paul B]

Ok well the Target mandarin I had wouldnt take those either

They may not take free swimming baby brine because they are lousy at catching swimming prey which is why I built the feeder. The baby brine get stuck in the screen and the mandarin suck them out. If it will not eat baby brine from a feeder, it will also not eat pods and it will most likely die. Baby brine shrimp look just like a pod. We as aquarists call anything tiny a pod but there is actually animals that are real copepods, but a healthy mandarin will eat any creature small enough to fit in it's tiny mouth.

 

[Tankjunkie0481]

Hey Paul what type of netting did you use on your feeder?

 

[Paul B]

I don't know, I cut up an old net.

 

[Tankjunkie0481]

Oh ok good. Thats what it looked like in the picture so I wanted to be sure.

 

[milomlo]

For those who may use a feeding station to put frozen food or ova in (like a jar or something like that) how long do you leave the food in the tank if the mandarin hasn't "found" or ventured into the station yet?

 

[Angel*Fish]

I can't believe this is still an issue. Even if your mandarin likes other foods, even if you can keep the other fish from eating it before he does, they are constant grazers. That means they eat all day long. Why would anyone ask this fish to start accepting one or two huge meals a day?

 

[Gpettit86]

I'm thinking that, down the line, I would really like to keep a Mandarin. I fully understand their needs and upkeep, and was wondering, will this idea work:

I want to get a smaller (5-10 gal) tank, and keep it stocked, with copepods. Just a no-nonsense tank, a hood w/light, a simple hang on filter and an air pump going to the tank for some sort of circulation. One of those "all inclusive" cheap ones, from the lfs.

This way, I can keep my Copepod/phytoplankton supply seperate & (restock when needed), from the main tank and feed when needed?

Don't worry about a light or a hang on filter... Just do an air pump and a little live rock... When u do a wc just change some of the old tank water. I started mine a few months ago and I have plenty growing every week