Mandarin feeding project

[tzhanks]

I am going to be keeping a journal of how I am getting my mandarin to eat frozen foods so that I do not have to worry about pods. Before moving back from school for the summer I had been weaning my mandarin onto frozen foods, and was successful for about a week. Unfortunately after the move she stopped eating the frozen food, and has become extremely skinny. So here is my plan of attack
1) Feed newly hatched brine shrimp for about a week in the same place 2 or 3 times a day with all pumps off to fatten her up
2) Once she has put on some much needed weight I will do a mixture of about 10% frozen food and 90% baby brine
3) I will keep increasing the percentage of frozen food until hopefully she will eat the frozen food alone
My end goal would be to teach her to eat both frozen and flake food.

 

[tzhanks]

So I have already fed her twice and she is loving it along with the rest of the tank. I know that mandarins search for food constantly so will two or three times a day be enough?

 

[jmait769]

tzhanks "“ I think you have a good plan going forward. I just recently lost my Mandarin which I had for two years. Not sure what happen as she was eating well and was plump. Just never could find her so think the Condy got the remains. She would only eat pods, no flake or frozen for her. I supplemented the tank with copepods from Ocean Pods. I hope you are successful!

Jay

 

[deehz]

Mandarins are feeding fools! I have to "seed" my tank about every 3 months in order to re-populate my pods. She just wipes them out completely! However, I have tried to feed her frozen food and she did not want any of it.

I have read that others have been successful feeding frozen food to Mandarins. They put there Mandarin's in a quarantine tank and feed them initially w/pods then start weening them off slowly and get them to eat frozen misis/brine. This is usually a 6-8 week process.

Do you have your Mandarin in a separate tank? When I get the 75 gal set up, I am going to buy another Mandarin but this one will be from ORA. They have successfully breaded Mandarins and have gotten their clutches to eat frozen foods. To me at least the most important aspect is not the feeding but, that now they are not taken from the reefs hopefully any longer. Keep us posted and good luck! Thanks.

 

[tzhanks]

Well the feeding project is going good and I have witnessed the mandarin eating the baby brine shrimp and she has put on some much needed weight. She now recognises the turkey baster that I use to feed with and gets so excited that she raises all her fins. All the inhabitants in the tank are loving the baby brine I have never seen my firefish so active.

 

[tzhanks]

tzhanks "“ I think you have a good plan going forward. I just recently lost my Mandarin which I had for two years. Not sure what happen as she was eating well and was plump. Just never could find her so think the Condy got the remains. She would only eat pods, no flake or frozen for her. I supplemented the tank with copepods from Ocean Pods. I hope you are successful!

Jay

Sorry about your loss, that is always the worst when a healthy fish dies and you can't find the reason.

Mandarins are feeding fools! I have to "seed" my tank about every 3 months in order to re-populate my pods. She just wipes them out completely! However, I have tried to feed her frozen food and she did not want any of it.

I have read that others have been successful feeding frozen food to Mandarins. They put there Mandarin's in a quarantine tank and feed them initially w/pods then start weening them off slowly and get them to eat frozen misis/brine. This is usually a 6-8 week process.

Do you have your Mandarin in a separate tank? When I get the 75 gal set up, I am going to buy another Mandarin but this one will be from ORA. They have successfully breaded Mandarins and have gotten their clutches to eat frozen foods. To me at least the most important aspect is not the feeding but, that now they are not taken from the reefs hopefully any longer. Keep us posted and good luck! Thanks.

I am keeping my mandarin in my main tank but using the same concept as the quarantine tank. The main reason I am going thought all the trouble instead of seeding the tank is that I have read that mandarins that eat frozen last longer in captivity. I think that is awesome that ORA is able to breed them in captivity, I just hope they make it affordable so that people stop buying wild caught, especially since mandarins have the highest mortality rate of all saltwater fish.

 

[deehz]

I think initially, like anything, ORA will release them at a higher price. Once they get the system down put with r&d, the price for their Mandarins will eventually come down. They keep saying it is this summer that they will start releasing to the retailers so, I guess we will see.

Great to here that your project is going great. Keep us posted and if you can, take a video of her eating. It is cool the way the eat. Thanks!

 

[tzhanks]

Here is a link to a video does anyone know how to post the video?
http://s738.photobucket.com/albums/xx29/tzhanks/?action=view&current=MVI_2548.flv

 

[nmnative]

I don't know how to post just the video here, but the link works just fine! How is the little fish doing these days?

 

[psuedopimp]

i thought photobucket had a link for videos just like photos that you can copy and paste into the thread.

 

[jmait769]

i thought photobucket had a link for videos just like photos that you can copy and paste into the thread.

Yes, usually right next to the vid or pic. Copy the one with IMG Code next to it.



Jay

 

[tzhanks]

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile I have been really busy. I have started mixing in some frozen food with the baby brine shrimp but have yet to see the mandarin eat any of the frozen. My hope is that some of the frozen food is getting stuck to the baby brine and she will acquire a taste for frozen that way.

 

[psuedopimp]

if it were easy everyone would be doing it. keep up the work and it will pay off.

 

[tzhanks]

Just a quick update when I fed frozen food today my mandarin came out of the rock work, so I am thinking that he is finally recognizing the frozen food. Hopefully he will start eating it by itself soon.

 

[jtinoco]

Any updates on this?:wave:

 

[tzhanks]

Sorry for not updating in so long, didn't have a computer for two months and I have finally moved back up to San Antonio for school. I have abandoned hope for the frozen food and instead switched over to decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I used the same method as with the frozen food and I have successfully trained the mandarin on to them!!!! I am still hatching baby brine three times a week to feed the whole tank and I have noticed great lps growth.