Mandarin goby starving. Help

[Crush Coral]

I have had a Mandarin for a couple years. Recently I removed my crushed coral and put in a sand bed. Now with the decreased # of bugs my goby has become emaciated. Can I order bugs on the net? If so what kind and from where?

Thanks

 

[revaltion131]

I would highly recommend doing some heavy research on training mandarins to eat frozen food. It is a long and slow process, but many have had success. Live brine shrimp are what people usually start with.

 

[Engloid]

If there's already a problem having enough food for him, it may be too late to try and train him. He may starve first. The difficult part with training is that you have to catch him and put him in a smaller container first. depending on your tank, that my not be possible.

You can buy the copepods and tigger pods all over the net, but they can be costly. You may wind up paying about $20 every month, unless you can re-establish a good and self-sustaining colony of them. Some LFS's carry them also. I always look for the cheap way, so my advice would be to go back to crushed coral and give them more places to hide and reproduce. I've got a 125g tank with mixed substrate. At night, the bigs are everywhere.

 

[sslak]

You don't need to catch it. My thread outlines the method I used, which was essentially the same as that used by SeeDemTails on the nano forums.

It really isn't that difficult, it just takes a pipette with some clear rigid tubing, time and patience.

I also go over pod culturing and phyto culturing (to feed the pods)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835567

 

[skibum9884]

In the meantime, if you NEED to add some copepods, try Reef Nutrition's TiggerPods. They are expensive, but should give the mandarin something to eat.

 

[small alien]

Does the mandarin currently accept any frozen foods? Have your tried Nutramar Ova Prawn Roe or PE Mysis?

Good luck. +1 on the training as an added insurance policy.

Another thought would be to change out a few pieces of LR to replenish your pod population.

 

[Engloid]

If any stores or local people are selling chaeto, you can usually get pods much cheaper by getting them in chaeto than buying them separately.

I got some chaeto from a local guy that had a 140g sump, and it got my cheato started out really well. I now have some little bugs in it (not sure what kind) that are about 1/4" long!! I don't see many of them that are that big getting into the tank, but I suspect they just get found and eaten quickly in the tank, but are safe in the sump.

 

[tom499]

copepods are easy to culture but not in great volumes. the new live rock idea is good but expensive.the tigger pods are very good and like was stated earlier expensive.i've been feeding my pair in my 180 gal reef baby brine as a supplement 2 twice a week.also i've cultured dt's copepods in shallow dishes. both are annoying brine shrimp because of the mess and copepods because of the space needed to grow enough.ideally frozen food is the way to go.good luck

 

[Engloid]

ideally frozen food is the way to go.good luck

I can't say I agree with you. Ideally, the thing to do is have a pod population that will sustain the mandarin. Then you do nothing and the fish gets all the food it can eat. :beer:

 

[Whisperer]

saltwaterfish has cheap pods. That's what I use to replenish my pods for my spotted mandarin.

 

[small alien]

I can't say I agree with you. Ideally, the thing to do is have a pod population that will sustain the mandarin. Then you do nothing and the fish gets all the food it can eat. :beer:

Many experienced folks have suggested that the pod population in a tank can rarely sustain these fish long term. Both because of the limited diversity of fauna and the fact that it can become significantly depleted over time. Train to frozen and let the fish supplement with pods between feedings. I think that's your best bet.

 

[Engloid]

Many experienced folks have suggested that the pod population in a tank can rarely sustain these fish long term. Both because of the limited diversity of fauna and the fact that it can become significantly depleted over time. Train to frozen and let the fish supplement with pods between feedings. I think that's your best bet.

I've got a Red Coris Wrasse and the mandarin, both eating pods. I know the wrasse will eat other stuff, but they say they eat a ton of pods. I'll see how it works out, but so far, I don't see any decrease in my pods. The sump is full of them, and with about 250lbs of live rock, I think they will be able to hide well enough to not diminish. We'll see.

 

[davocean]

Many experienced folks have suggested that the pod population in a tank can rarely sustain these fish long term. Both because of the limited diversity of fauna and the fact that it can become significantly depleted over time. Train to frozen and let the fish supplement with pods between feedings. I think that's your best bet.

My personal opinion is your tank should be able to produce enough pods, and w/ enough LR and sump/fuge it shouldn't be that difficult.
To replicate what they normally eat w/ their high metabolism rate it is very difficult w/ prep'd foods, I personally would not rely on prep'd food as their sole source of nutrtion.
You can buy them online to boost pod population, and chaeto is a big plus, a fuge is a must IMO.

 

[Engloid]

My personal opinion is your tank should be able to produce enough pods, and w/ enough LR and sump/fuge it shouldn't be that difficult.
To replicate what they normally eat w/ their high metabolism rate it is very difficult w/ prep'd foods, I personally would not rely on prep'd food as their sole source of nutrtion.
You can buy them online to boost pod population, and chaeto is a big plus, a fuge is a must IMO.

That's the angle I'm taking. I figure that if I need to boost the population, I can also buy some (or culture) phytoplankton and it would be cheaper than having to buy the pods themselves.