Mandarin experience

[Beach Magnolia]

For those of you who have successfully kept mandarins, how much live rock/sand in a typical mature tank would you say is needed to keep a mandarin fat and happy?

 

[mike68]

mine eats ora's pellet food. guess i got lucky though.

 

[bubbly]

You definitely need a refugium packed with chaeto to keep them, but once you have that I would focus on training it to make sure that it learns to eat frozen.

 

[Beach Magnolia]

Thanks for your responses.

I do have chaeto in my main display since I don't have a refugium.

How does one get a mandarin to eat frozen or pellets?

 

[brodden]

My understanding is that they are hard to keep. I got one and it was fine for 3 days or so and then it died suddently. Not sure what happened. I did not have any type of chaeto

 

[impur]

I had a spotted mandarin that ate frozen foods and did great. Unfortunately she jumped out after a year or so :/

 

[areze]

they are actually pretty easy to keep... I mean, a fish that cant get ich? its quite common, inexpensive and hardy.

just a matter of feeding him...

its helped out now that pods are pretty easily available in those little pod bag things, that helps keep your pod population up alot, but its not cheap, and you need a local source or its even more expensive.

 

[mflamb]

Yo Annette, there is a great thread on Mandarins in the Reef Fish Forum. It's near the top. *stickied*

 

[Zaita]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1492650

 

[Beach Magnolia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13607586#post13607586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by areze
they are actually pretty easy to keep... I mean, a fish that cant get ich? its quite common, inexpensive and hardy.

just a matter of feeding him...

its helped out now that pods are pretty easily available in those little pod bag things, that helps keep your pod population up alot, but its not cheap, and you need a local source or its even more expensive.

Thanks - I will have to check that out.

 

[Beach Magnolia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13607605#post13607605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mflamb
Yo Annette, there is a great thread on Mandarins in the Reef Fish Forum. It's near the top. *stickied*

Hi Mike! Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out

 

[ReefManiac47]

I have one he loves mysis shrimp, and eats flake food too!

 

[Beach Magnolia]

Wow! How'd you get him to do that?

 

[Beach Magnolia]

Zaita - I just scanned that link. Terrific info - I will go back and read through it in detail in a bit. I noticed the great info you posted on there too!



Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond!

 

[mike68]

i don't know how i got mine to eat prepared food i just noticed it eating. it actually waits at the bottom of the tank for the food to fall.

 

[Matt Wilkie]

I always wanted one but I resisted cause I didn't think my tank was big enough to house enough pods. Ive got a fuge and Its a mature system but I thought I should wait untill I get a bigger set up. Well one day I saw this big fat male sitting in a tiny tank at my LFS, the guy said he haid him for a month and he'd been eating flake. SOLD! Ive had him for 3 months now and he's the same size, I think I got really lucky. I would recomend to anyone buying one to hold out untill you get a fat one, Ive seen so many skinny ones that I'm sure didn't live much longer.

 

[jenglish]

melev's reef has good info on training a mandarin to take prepared foods. Never done it myself but I've heard succes stories from the method.

 

[shikhyung]

I have a refugium with lots of rocks and chaeto, also 140lbs rock on the display. He last only 6 months, just disappeared....Still don't know what is the cause.

 

[BuddhaKiss]

I've got mine in a 58G with about 70-80 lbs of LR between the main display and fuge. When I got it, it was skinny and had a pinched belly...but 5 months later, he's put on a lot of weight and looks completely normal. I used to buy pods once a month (for 3 months) to replenish the pod population but have stopped and he hasn't lost any weight.

 

[Beach Magnolia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13609071#post13609071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Matt Wilkie
I always wanted one but I resisted cause I didn't think my tank was big enough to house enough pods. Ive got a fuge and Its a mature system but I thought I should wait untill I get a bigger set up. Well one day I saw this big fat male sitting in a tiny tank at my LFS, the guy said he haid him for a month and he'd been eating flake. SOLD! Ive had him for 3 months now and he's the same size, I think I got really lucky. I would recomend to anyone buying one to hold out untill you get a fat one, Ive seen so many skinny ones that I'm sure didn't live much longer.

What a find! Awhile back I came across a little bitty one at a LFS. He was in a small "fish cubicle" in the store with one little piece of rock in there. Poor thing was so very skinny I could see his bones all over! Well, you guessed it, I figured he was a gonner there for sure, so I bought him and brought him home to see if by chance he'd make it.

It seemed like he was hunting constantly and I saw him eat, but I was concerned because he never seemed to be fattening up. Then one day he must have infringed on my clowns perceived territory because they started chasing him whenever he came near. He didn't make it too long after that.

I've always wanted another one but decided I should probably wait until I had a bigger setup. Maybe it's just a matter of finding the right fish, like you said.

I'm going to do some reading up on all the things people have posted here first and then be ready when I spot my future beautiful fish