Mandarin Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
mobert
Active member
I don't remember but they were friends right immediately. I have had them since 2005.
sslak
New member
I've been using the method described by SeeDemTails over on the nano-reef forums to train my Mandarin to eat prepared foods, using an eyedropper with a piece of long rigid airline tubing attached.
Well my Mandarin started eating spirulina enriched mysis from the tube after learning on hatched live brine shrimp! :dance:
Two nights in a row on prepared foods and I'm thrilled about it, I'm culturing pods as well to increase her chances, but things are looking good! Time to fatten her up, she's a bit skinny from the LFS tank.
Tank is Oceanic 58g 20g sump, refugium 70lbs of rock in the display 15 more in the sump.
Established for 2 years, sand in sump from my Biocube of 4+ years.
Here she is:
Well my Mandarin started eating spirulina enriched mysis from the tube after learning on hatched live brine shrimp! :dance:
Two nights in a row on prepared foods and I'm thrilled about it, I'm culturing pods as well to increase her chances, but things are looking good! Time to fatten her up, she's a bit skinny from the LFS tank.
Tank is Oceanic 58g 20g sump, refugium 70lbs of rock in the display 15 more in the sump.
Established for 2 years, sand in sump from my Biocube of 4+ years.
Here she is:
smilodon
New member
My mandarin is in my tank for 5 months now, and it didn't eat anything except live BS, and then slowly accept frozen blood worm, and then accept pallets.I think is the time to choose a female mandarin now.
And I remember famales have a short dorsal fin, but seems not entirely true.
My mandarin had a short dorsal fin before, but after it got fat up, it has a longer dorsal fin now. So how ot recognize the female except dorsal fin difference.
Here is the video and pics.
mandarin eats pallets
here is the mandarin 4 months ago and its dorsal fin is short,
but now it becomes long dorsal fin.
And I remember famales have a short dorsal fin, but seems not entirely true.
My mandarin had a short dorsal fin before, but after it got fat up, it has a longer dorsal fin now. So how ot recognize the female except dorsal fin difference.
Here is the video and pics.
mandarin eats pallets
here is the mandarin 4 months ago and its dorsal fin is short,
but now it becomes long dorsal fin.
smilodon
New member
New life spectrum small fish formula is the staple food for my mandarin now.
DeepSeaHunter
New member
i had a tiny green mandarin in my tank. it was happy for about 14 months, then i made the fatal mistake of adding a 6 line wrasse in the tank. no more then 1 week later, the mandarin was dead. i have since gave the 6 line away, and i have added dr. G's copepods, and hopefully i will add a spotted mandarin in about 6 months.
Inklinkerman
Member
I guess it all depends on the amount of good available.
Has anyone had any trouble getting female mandarins? I'm in the market for a mate for my mandy but all the fish available are males. Is this just me and bad luck or is this normal?
Has anyone had any trouble getting female mandarins? I'm in the market for a mate for my mandy but all the fish available are males. Is this just me and bad luck or is this normal?
sfboarders
New member
I have both a mandarin and a sixline in my 180. I also have about 250# of LR and a 40 gallon fuge producing more pods. I have never seen it eat frozen/prepared foods. The mandarin I had before I got this tank was in my 90and it ate frozen bloodworms like spaghetti. Lol... I lost him while setting the 180 in a "pump accident":sad1:
Not sure how active this primer is anymore, but I'll give it a shot.
As with most people, I've always wanted a Mandarin and felt my tank was ready so I purchased a green on Thursday and now I have a couple of questions.
1) How long do they normally hide? I've only seen it a few times since it went in, and it has yet to come out with the lights on.
2) Is my diamond goby competing with it? In addition to sifting sand, I often see my diamond picking at the rocks and/or glass.
3) For good measure, I dumped in a bottle of live tigrio pods. Was this beneficial and worth doing on a regular basis?
4)
Everyone will want to know so here are the tank particulars.
90 gallon mixed reef with probably 150 pounds of rock
tank has been up and running for 20 months
45 gallon sump/fuge, but there is a sponge bubble trap after the fuge so I don't know how much that helps towards DT pod population
I feed a variety of everything frozen with an occasional day of pellets thrown in.
Tank mates are
ocellaris pair
chromis
diamond goby
yellow tang
male lyretail anthias
royal gramma
pajama cardinal
zebra dartfish
black sailfin blenny
cleaner shrimp
unknown number of peppermint shrimp
very large asternia population
Thanks,
Matt
As with most people, I've always wanted a Mandarin and felt my tank was ready so I purchased a green on Thursday and now I have a couple of questions.
1) How long do they normally hide? I've only seen it a few times since it went in, and it has yet to come out with the lights on.
2) Is my diamond goby competing with it? In addition to sifting sand, I often see my diamond picking at the rocks and/or glass.
3) For good measure, I dumped in a bottle of live tigrio pods. Was this beneficial and worth doing on a regular basis?
4)
Everyone will want to know so here are the tank particulars.
90 gallon mixed reef with probably 150 pounds of rock
tank has been up and running for 20 months
45 gallon sump/fuge, but there is a sponge bubble trap after the fuge so I don't know how much that helps towards DT pod population
I feed a variety of everything frozen with an occasional day of pellets thrown in.
Tank mates are
ocellaris pair
chromis
diamond goby
yellow tang
male lyretail anthias
royal gramma
pajama cardinal
zebra dartfish
black sailfin blenny
cleaner shrimp
unknown number of peppermint shrimp
very large asternia population
Thanks,
Matt
1) How long do they normally hide? I've only seen it a few times since it went in, and it has yet to come out with the lights on. Mine come out in the evening just before the lights go out. The pods are most active in the dark. So he spends his days in the LR searching for pods. I had my last one for a year and he also ate frozen blood worms but lost him in a pump accident while switching tanks.
2) Is my diamond goby competing with it? In addition to sifting sand, I often see my diamond picking at the rocks and/or glass. I don't believe you diamond goby is competing with it. A wrasse or a scooter blenny would though.
3) For good measure, I dumped in a bottle of live tigrio pods. Was this beneficial and worth doing on a regular basis?
I think the tiger pods are a cold water species. It will not hurt to add them but they may not reproduce as rapidly as "reef pods" which are warm water species.
2) Is my diamond goby competing with it? In addition to sifting sand, I often see my diamond picking at the rocks and/or glass. I don't believe you diamond goby is competing with it. A wrasse or a scooter blenny would though.
3) For good measure, I dumped in a bottle of live tigrio pods. Was this beneficial and worth doing on a regular basis?
I think the tiger pods are a cold water species. It will not hurt to add them but they may not reproduce as rapidly as "reef pods" which are warm water species.
loglew
New member
MaryG thanks for the information on the sixline, I've been holding mine in my QT tank since I'm really hesitant to put him in the DT. My mandarin does eat frozen mysis, brine, and bloodworms if they get to him. I have close to 200 pounds of live rock in my 150 with a 30 gallon sump/fuge. My sixline also has not showed any aggression towards any other fish that have went through QT, including the most resent resident which was a cleaner wrasse(that is also eating frozen!). I will keep you posted on my success.
Sounds like you are doing good. My tank is a 180 with a 40 gallon sump/refugium and 250lbs or more of LR. I also have with my mandarin a sixline wrasse and a scooter blennie. I have not witnessed him eat any prepared foods so I can't say that he is doing it but he looks healthy.
AnayaReef
Member
Tail Rot help
Tail Rot help
Hello,Hello, I have finally purchased a pair of blue mandarins. I have been waiting 13 years to get these fish and am ecstatic to finally own them. When I purchased them, I noticed that the male’s tail was ripped off on the bottom half. Not a lot of it, just some. I thought it was from capture and would heal/grow back. Well for the first week or so it looks like it might actually be healing, but then over the past couple of days I have noticed a fast decline in his tail and it is now drastically shorter all over. I am guessing it is fin rot maybe, does anyone have any experience with this in mandarins? I want to pull him out and treat him tonight but need some guidance from those who have successfully kept mandarins and know a lot.
Tank is 30 gallon with 3 adult Reidi seahorses, 2 cleaner shrimp, lots of nasarius snails, leather corals, xenias, sunburst coral, gorgonians….um….sand bottom (2 inches or so)….oh, several bristle worms….a couple astrea snails…..2 common starfish….HOB UV light, skimmer and power filter. I do have some brown slime algae in the tank I am battling. PH is kept lower at 7.8 but I don’t want to raise it with a buffer, I am going to work on getting the magnesium, alk and calc in order and see if the PH moves into place. That is my weekend project….
The tank is smaller than recommended for a mandarin however the previous owner of this tank (and its contents) kept a pair of spotted mandarins in this tank as well. The only thing I am missing at this point is a HOB refugium. Until I set it up, I am supplementing them with brine shrimp to be safe (which they love and chase), but they are not lacking for pods at this point. I also culture copepods as well and have supplies of them in other tanks. I also suspect at least the male of eating frozen bloodworms I’m sticking in there. I have caught him in the seahorses feeding shell twice. Not only do the seahorses eat from this dish, but so do the starfish, shrimp and snails. Basically everyone comes to the bowl for breakfast, lunch and dinner…so perhaps the mandarins might follow their lead….
At this point, he and his lady are healthy in every other respect and flit around the tank hunting and looking. They are an awesome pair and are not skittish and allow me to gaze at them playing to my heart’s content. Any advice on his tail would be helpful and appreciated. Thank you!
PS...not all of the critters listed in my signature are in their tank...there are no anemones or crabs, a lot of those are in my other tanks...
Tail Rot help
Hello,Hello, I have finally purchased a pair of blue mandarins. I have been waiting 13 years to get these fish and am ecstatic to finally own them. When I purchased them, I noticed that the male’s tail was ripped off on the bottom half. Not a lot of it, just some. I thought it was from capture and would heal/grow back. Well for the first week or so it looks like it might actually be healing, but then over the past couple of days I have noticed a fast decline in his tail and it is now drastically shorter all over. I am guessing it is fin rot maybe, does anyone have any experience with this in mandarins? I want to pull him out and treat him tonight but need some guidance from those who have successfully kept mandarins and know a lot.
Tank is 30 gallon with 3 adult Reidi seahorses, 2 cleaner shrimp, lots of nasarius snails, leather corals, xenias, sunburst coral, gorgonians….um….sand bottom (2 inches or so)….oh, several bristle worms….a couple astrea snails…..2 common starfish….HOB UV light, skimmer and power filter. I do have some brown slime algae in the tank I am battling. PH is kept lower at 7.8 but I don’t want to raise it with a buffer, I am going to work on getting the magnesium, alk and calc in order and see if the PH moves into place. That is my weekend project….
The tank is smaller than recommended for a mandarin however the previous owner of this tank (and its contents) kept a pair of spotted mandarins in this tank as well. The only thing I am missing at this point is a HOB refugium. Until I set it up, I am supplementing them with brine shrimp to be safe (which they love and chase), but they are not lacking for pods at this point. I also culture copepods as well and have supplies of them in other tanks. I also suspect at least the male of eating frozen bloodworms I’m sticking in there. I have caught him in the seahorses feeding shell twice. Not only do the seahorses eat from this dish, but so do the starfish, shrimp and snails. Basically everyone comes to the bowl for breakfast, lunch and dinner…so perhaps the mandarins might follow their lead….
At this point, he and his lady are healthy in every other respect and flit around the tank hunting and looking. They are an awesome pair and are not skittish and allow me to gaze at them playing to my heart’s content. Any advice on his tail would be helpful and appreciated. Thank you!
PS...not all of the critters listed in my signature are in their tank...there are no anemones or crabs, a lot of those are in my other tanks...
I also had a six line and a mandrin together in a 55 gallon with no refugium but around a 110 lbs of live rock they lived in the tank together for about two years. When if first got the mandrin i didnt know anything about them it didnt eat anything i tried to feed it for about a month then one day it just started eating i always feed my fish emerald entree not sure what it ate out of there but every time i would feed it would come out and i would shoot a little down to it with my syringe.. Unfortunally it died a few months after i upgraded my tank due to a rock slide it got traped in.. I havent tried one after that but maybe i will there are amazing to watch..
