I bought a green mandarin right before Christmas. I was going out of town the next day and wanted to be able to keep an eye on him when I put him in the tank, so the store held him for a couple weeks until I got back. I didn't notice at the store, but he's had a sunken belly. He's active and picks around the rocks and sand throughout the day, and seems to eat a lot when I put food in the tank. How concerned should I be about his sunken belly? I don't think it's getting worse, but I'm not sure it's getting better, either. I'm wondering if progress is just going to be extremely slow because of them being such slow eaters.
Green Mandarin Health
- Thread starter kowen
- Start date
RIP Sebastian
New member
Train him to eat frozen. That's generally the best thing to do to ensure their longevity. Algae Barn sells captive bred ones, too. Fatten him up until he's got lil' fishy rolls.
laga77
New member
Guaranteed Analysis
Protein 2.5% min.
Fat 0.6% min.
Fiber 0.5% max.
Moisture 96.0% max.
People, please read the ingredients of what you feed your fish. The above was taken from here. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15558 . There is a "more information" tab under every product which list ingredients and analysis. As you can see there is not much in that food. It`s not as bad as it looks because the analysis is dry weight and since the food is in water it throws the numbers off a little bit. However, Nutramar Ova is 31% protein for comparison. I cannot find a fat listing for Ova and that is really what you want to feed reef fish. They use fat like humans use protein. So, if you want to fatten up your Mandarin switch to a food like Ova, or better yet live black worms and even live BBS. All 8 of my Dragonets are healthy and in breeding form.
Protein 2.5% min.
Fat 0.6% min.
Fiber 0.5% max.
Moisture 96.0% max.
People, please read the ingredients of what you feed your fish. The above was taken from here. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15558 . There is a "more information" tab under every product which list ingredients and analysis. As you can see there is not much in that food. It`s not as bad as it looks because the analysis is dry weight and since the food is in water it throws the numbers off a little bit. However, Nutramar Ova is 31% protein for comparison. I cannot find a fat listing for Ova and that is really what you want to feed reef fish. They use fat like humans use protein. So, if you want to fatten up your Mandarin switch to a food like Ova, or better yet live black worms and even live BBS. All 8 of my Dragonets are healthy and in breeding form.
saltey dog
New member
Saltey
Saltey
Hello Laga77, I am new to this forum and hope my questions are respectful,,, I just added a new Marine Pond to my slowly growing marine reserve. You have two types of creatures that play roles here. The newest is a Green Mandarin ( 2 ) and Peppermint Shrimp Tide Pool. Please tell me if they are acting Normal.
120 gallon Hard Shell Pond, 70 pounds of live Pumice Base, Soft Coral Outcrops
SG 1.024 Ph 8.1 KH 10 Temp 75, Phosphate .5 ppm, covered and heated. This is serviced by a Refugium / Filter ( no crabs just snails ) 16 sq ft bottom, 30 ft walls, 16 in / 8 in depth, 4 ips current
The Mandarins move all over the Pumice bottom and Coral outcrops, when they are full they go to a certain cupped shell ( never the Pumice ) and act like they are totally dead. The color fades to greyish. They do not wake up even if I move their shell. As soon as they wake up, on goes the color and they start grazing.
Saltey
Hello Laga77, I am new to this forum and hope my questions are respectful,,, I just added a new Marine Pond to my slowly growing marine reserve. You have two types of creatures that play roles here. The newest is a Green Mandarin ( 2 ) and Peppermint Shrimp Tide Pool. Please tell me if they are acting Normal.
120 gallon Hard Shell Pond, 70 pounds of live Pumice Base, Soft Coral Outcrops
SG 1.024 Ph 8.1 KH 10 Temp 75, Phosphate .5 ppm, covered and heated. This is serviced by a Refugium / Filter ( no crabs just snails ) 16 sq ft bottom, 30 ft walls, 16 in / 8 in depth, 4 ips current
The Mandarins move all over the Pumice bottom and Coral outcrops, when they are full they go to a certain cupped shell ( never the Pumice ) and act like they are totally dead. The color fades to greyish. They do not wake up even if I move their shell. As soon as they wake up, on goes the color and they start grazing.
