Hungry mandarin

[Troender]

I just have to share: I saw a sight I never thought I would ever see. Mandarinfishes are known to try to stare their food to death before eating it. They are supposed to be slow eaters. Well, my little male doesn't listen to such things. He just stole food out of the mouth of my tomato clown. :eek2: The clown had taken a mouthful of frozen brine shrimp, and the mandarin swam up to him and started feeding off the other side of the food. And he ate until all the food was gone. And the clown wasn't even aggressive! Wow, my mandarins are not difficult when it comes to food! I've never heard of mandarins trying to steal other fish's food!

 

[snorvich]

Congrats. Tank size? How long have you had the mandarin?

 

[Troender]

The tank is only 33 G (plus the sump), but my mandarins are tank bred, and take frozen food easily. Very easily I found out today. Both my female and male are one year old, and pretty small when it comes to the size. I've had the male for less than half a year, and the female even shorter. They are really thriving, and spawn several times a week. They started spawning at about 8 month's age.

 

[matt frizz]

Congrats man!!! Spawning mandarins is proof of your success. Do you raise the fry at all?

 

[Fish Bowl]

Congratulations on your success!
I certainly hope they're not just eating brine although judging by the length of time you've kept them and their spawning behavior, your doing a great job!

 

[Troender]

No, they're not only eating brine shrimp. I mostly feed them frozen mysis (I hope that is what it's called in English), but they get some other stuff as well. And of course they feed off the tiny things that live in the LR. They don't get frozen brine shrimp as main food. They grow very fast, BTW, so they obviously eat well - which I also see at feeding time. Both of them snatch food out of the water, not waiting for it to land on the bottom. And the male has now tried to steal food out of the mouth of my biggest clownfish.

I have everything ready for breeding them - all I need now is the eggs. But I haven't been able to catch them in the act yet. I have spent an awful lot of time lately, waiting for their spawning - but I don't think they like me watching them, even though the lights are off (and they seem to love to spawn the evenings I am really tired, and don't want to stay up late to wait for their spawning). And I need to see them doing it to find the eggs. The female is so tiny, so there won't be much she is able to release. But with patience, I will succeed in the end. I am really excited to try to breed them. I need some new challenges, and breeding mandarins seems to be that. But most of all I love my two mandarins. They are such sweet personalities. It's impossible not to love mandarins.