How fat should a Mandarin be???

[kleach]

I bought a Mandarin about 1-2 months ago and have had him sitting in a 10 gallon temporary tank with a hang on filter during the QT period. He's been in there with 2 helfrichi firefish also waiting to go into DT, as well as a cleaner shrimp and blood shrimp.

The reason I picked him up is he was eating frozen at the store and ate immediately once i got him home. He is always on the hunt and eats the frozen mysis until he just hovers past them...thats how I know he's done eating.

I took a look at him today and it doesnt seem like he has all that much meat to him. He doesnt look like he's near death at all, but I'm holding off on putting him in the DT until I know he's ready.

The 10 gallon temporary tank he's in really doesnt have any pods so all he's eating is the frozen. My DT has been up and running for a year and a half. I also set up a 10 gallon pod breeding tank but lost the first 2 generations of pods. Now the water quality is stable and I'm waiting on my LFS to get more pods in so I can breed them.

How many times per day should I feed him to fatten him up? Does anyone have a good picture of what a "fat and healthy" mandarin looks like? Saw one on the another post but it was a head shot, not multi view. I'll take a pic of him so you guys can see how he looks.

Thanks for any input.
-Kevin

 

[TommyP]

Hi Kevin. If you look for PaulB's thread about his mandarins that are healthy and spawn quite frequently, you will read that although they may eat frozen, their diet and internal organs are designed for pods only. They can eat thousands of pods a day and will hunt day and night. Also, the mandarin has a unique slime coat that prevents infections so QTing the mandarin IMO will only stress him more. Normal acclimaton is suffice.

I've had a mandarin for at least 6 months, but lost him during a tank transfer I will definitely get another one a year down the line.

Although it's no pic, I hope this some-what helps.

 

[kleach]

Here some pictures I just took. Also forgot to ask... I've only really been feeding Mysis frozen. I've never seen him go crazy for the nutramar ova stuff like some other people said. Thanks!

 

[kleach]

Thanks Tommy....I was afraid that his diet isn't varied enough, and the last 2 times I went to LFS to buy pods, they were out. I don't necessarily think he's stressed in the tank he's currently in, but what do I know lol. I do have rock in there and he likes to hover the rocks looking for food.

 

[wrott]

TommyP is correct. Unless you move it to a large dt that has limitless pods (no competition like wrasses) you will kill it. They can live ~1yr on improper diet(frozen).
Mine is so fat it looks like she is going to explode, in a 125g, no qt, no frozen, have had her 3-4yrs I believe.

 

[phasezero]

I would probably put it in your display tank just so they can start feeding on whatever pods you might have. Here are some pictures of my mandarin pair when I first got them from the store along with some pictures from a few months ago. Notice how the before pictures look just like yours. They are fed ova at least once a day and live in my 29g tank.
















Here is what a full grown male with unlimited pods looks like along with a picture of his home. This mandarin lives at the Vancouver Aquarium.

 

[dantdodge]

Hi phase,

how do you implement feeding the ova food in your 20gal. do you turn pumps off certain time of day ect.

Thanks
Danny

 

[Newsmyrna80]

He is way too skinny! If he's been in your QT for 1-2 months he can be moved to your main. Unless there is a problem with your main. Is there a reason why you don't want to put him in your main?

 

[kleach]

I held off on moving him to the main tank for 2 reasons... first I was so excited that he ate frozen in the store that I felt like it was a gift from above. I was complacent with him eating the frozen and of his appetite. Secondly, I have a 6 line wrasse in the main display. I have a trap that I made and put in there about 4 days ago to get the fish used to it and I plan on going fishing today!

I should have taken care of getting rid of the 6 line a month ago, but got distracted from my job (end of school year means craziness).

I'm also somewhat concerned about the pod population in my main tank. Its a Red Sea 250 and I only have 2 clowns, a blue hippo tang which I need to start thinking about getting rid of (getting bigger now), and the 6 line. But my tank doesnt have pods running all over the place so I'm afraid he wont get enough food. Also, if he is in the display tank it might be a little harder to monitor exactly how much he is eating, so I figured it was best to keep him in the QT till I got the 6 line out.

I wasn't concerned about his weight until now....he always looked like this even since when i got him. Maybe he started eating frozen in the store out of desperation.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[MondoBongo]

Here some pictures I just took. Also forgot to ask... I've only really been feeding Mysis frozen. I've never seen him go crazy for the nutramar ova stuff like some other people said. Thanks!

this is a fish IN CRISIS.

you need to take proactive steps immediately to get him fed.

PE Myses hand feeding will NOT meet his dietary needs. they need to be able to graze all day long.

i would build a Paul B. style feeder, and start hatching baby brine nauplii right away. i would also get my hands on some live black worms, and white worms, for feedings in the meant time.

also get some nutramar ova, and frozen cyclop-eeze.

most importantly: this fish needs a large supply of pods to feed on NOW.

 

[bills tank]

Tommy is right about the slime coat the manderan has mine sometimes has sand stuck on it from the slime I wouldnt have it in qt at all u r basically killing a beautiful fish trying to protect it . Put it in there even while the wrasse is in the tank to give it a fighting chance because its way too skinny and like mentioned they eat pods all day . At some point your mandy is not gonna have a chance at making a come back and will die of starvation . Please please put that poor fish into a tank that it has a chance at staying alive even if its not one of your tanks it needs too be given the chance to stay alive . And why areyou wwaiting for your lfs to get pods in when u can buy them online and get enough too seed your main tank your qt and your culture tank for next too nothing ? I guarantee that your lfs cost twice as much as you would pay from a place like reefs2go or reefcleaners websites . Im not tryen to b a mandy police or give u a hard time in any way im just tryen to help u have a healthy and living manderan one of the coolest fish we can put in our reefs . Good luck and I hope u get it fattened up and have it for many years too come .

 

[phasezero]

Hi phase,

how do you implement feeding the ova food in your 20gal. do you turn pumps off certain time of day ect.

Thanks
Danny

I do have to turn the pumps off to feed them the ova. I don't have a specific time of day that I feed. Just whenever I can while the lights are on. You can set put a small glass jar to shoot the food into or just carefully let it fall out of your turkey baster onto the sand. I would probably go out and buy a bunch of different mandarin foods to see what they might like. Cyclopeeze, OVA, bloodworms, brineshrimp. If you don't want to put your mandarin in your main tank so you can continue to monitor him then I would at least put some of your main tank rocks into your quarantine tank.

 

[kleach]

6 Line is out of the tank and acclimating the mandarin now. Going to another LFS to buy some tigger pods, but I dont think that will be enough. I am going to order with reefs 2 go but my past experience with them was horrendous and if its anything like the past I'll get the shipment in 3-4 weeks.

I am SOOOO happy I posted and grateful for everyone's input. I just hope the stress fo the switch wont do him in. I hope he starts grazing very soon.

The good news is that my 6 line is relatively fat and healthy and he was always the shyest eater...which to me means that there is a good population of pods. I'm going to be so mad at myself if he dies. I thought this was the best thing for him, but obviously I was wrong. I know he has a full belly now because he wasn't interested in eating when I just fed them before catching him. Any other tips please let me know.

 

[kleach]

Ok...9:50 at night and here's what I've got...

Mandarin (and 2 helfrichi firefish) were added to the display tank (Red Sea Max 250), and the 6 line wrasse was taken out.

Local pet store did not have any tigger pods in stock so I got some adult brine shrimp in the mean time...I know they arent nearly as nutritional as baby brine so I just got one serving. Put a lot of those guys in my tank so hopefully he started picking on those.

Went to a different pet store and again tried to pick up pods, but they were also out. Just my luck that 3/3 were out. Did buy a brine shrimp hatchery setup which I'm setting up right now. Just waiting for the water to warm up a bit before dumping eggs in. I'm going to start another thread to ask, but if you answer here too cool, the instructions for the brine shrimp says place a light source near the bottle, but does it have to stay on all day?

In terms of ordering pods...what's the best place to order from. I've had a terrible experience with Reefs 2 Go where my order didnt ship for over 3 weeks...As pointed out, my mandarin cant wait3 weeks. Any other good places to order from?

Thanks to everyone for lighting the fire under my butt to get moving with this. all this time I thought I was doing a good thing and I wasn't!

 

[frog.pauley]

Reefcleaners has been great for me.

 

[MondoBongo]

In my experience the light for hatching BBS is not required. Just make sure they're properly aerated and a sufficient temperature.

In 24 - 48 hours depending on temp, egg type/quality, etc... They will begin hatching. You will know because the water will look orange due to the coloration of their yolk sacs.

When you see this, you can set the vessel in a dark place for about 5 - 10 minutes. The empty egg shells will float to the top, while the nauplii will sink. Then you can suck them out with a long pipette, or decant the shells from the top. The dark is important here because the nauplii will swim towards light. Darkness prompts them to settle on the bottom.

 

[kleach]

Thanks mondo

Brine shrimp should hatch soon, put some adults in there for the mean time, and i ordered 4,000 pods from Reefs2go. I just hope they ship it relatively quickly.

Mandarin is actively hunting in my tank right now.