Mandarin Primer

Sorry there have been no pictures yet. I had a little problem finding my male as he had jumped into the back chamber and I was a little worried as to if he was going to make it. Ill see if I can get them up tonight.

lildraken, I have not really noticed any spikes but she is really small (~1.5 total) but then again I have not taken any pictures up close so I guess we will see when I get some nice shots :).
 
Greetings,
I've had my female spotted mandarin for over 4 months now. She would eat frozen brine from the start and now she is eating a variety of foods such as frozen brine, frozen mysis and even frozen formula one plus cyclopeze/reef plankton that I feed my inverts with. I hope she will get "fat". I've bought tigger pods for her and she would hunt for them and every once in a while I'll squirt some in the tank. I'm planning on getting a male to see how things go. It'll be interesting as I can imagine.
Thanks to every one for the post! I've learned a lot from all your experiences!
 
i have a mandarin dragonet before, i used to feed my puffers with feeder guppies and one time i saw the mandarin dragonet trying to catch the small guppy, and then later he got it and ate it, i feed it everyday and after how many weeks of feeding it with a baby feeder guppies, the mandarin started to accept sera granumarin.. it lived for 4 months, it died because my tank crashed.. never tried a green mandarin again, because it is seldom available now here in my place in the philippines.
 
I'm worried about my Green Mandarin he has a dark spot around his right eye it looks like a bruise or an ink spot I don't know what it is but he seems fine he eats and hunts he's pretty fat does any body know what it could be?
 
Greetings,
Noticed that the postings have slowed down some on this forum. Just wanted to share that I finally "lost it" and got a male for my female madarin. They swam together for the first several hours - I don't think that was good for him because he could not get acclimated to his surroundings. Then when I fed them tonight, she ate as usual like a little piglet and he looked exhausted. He is really really skinny compare to her but I'm hoping that I will plump him up like I did with her. I'll share more information as time goes.
 
Hey all, I also just got a Green Mandrain and the only problem is he'd rather waste away looking at his own reflection rather than eat (he's been doing this for a few days and needs to start eating), so can I just "flood" (meaning dump thousands of live adult brine shrimp into an aquarium). I'm not worried about filtration or them ruining the system (everything 's adaquate) but I can't catch the mandrain so I have to fed him in the tank (no other fish w/ him, no competetion) Any one else have this problem of the fish showing this much intrest in his reflection and will this feed him?
 
They don't eat brine shrimp (unless by chance you have gotten him on prepared foods). Adult brine have little nutritional value though. They eat pods. Copepods, small amphipods etc.
 
yes I agree with Philwd. They only eat brine shrimp when they've adapted to alternative foods. When I first got my mandarin I "flooded" the tank before and I would observe him actually breathing in a brine shrimp and spitting it back out.
try adjusting the lighting to subdue the reflection.
 
Anyway, Im just curious, but how long would it take for a mandrain to starve worst case seneario (luckly mine's eating, but just wondering)
 
I have a couple of mandarin dragonet.They were mine first fish in new tank.At the first time they were very skinny.After a mount they became eat all kind of food, which I gavefor my clown and coralls.Now they are fat and eat frozen food and dry food and pellet.Also they are hunting all day in the rocks.
 
We got a green mandarin a bit more than a month ago and while we haven't been giving him any special food, he's been hunting in the rocks and sand lately. I can't tell yet if his size has changed significantly, but I am feeling slightly concerned that he doesn't seem to have grown since we got him.
 
Has anyone tried Reef Nutrition's arcti-pods for feeding mandarins?

I bought a mandarin after a trustworthy LFS employee told me he was eating arcti-pods and cyclops, however the fish had a distended abdomen and looked to be pretty starved. It's feeding on pods in my 15 gallon tank, but obviously that won't last. I have a 180gal tank with a packed pod population that I could probably put it in, but wanted it in the nano, eating prepared foods. I was told the arcti-pods would be my best bet.

It's also only the first day and at least it's hunting and eating off the rock in the nano. So it looks as though it's willing...
 
the thing is, most mandarins will NOT chance the food floating around... cut off pumps or you have to spot feed...the mandarin will not make it in your 15g tank unless it eats frozen or pellets.
 
I understand its survivability in my 15g tank. I was told it was eating frozen, however it does not seem to be taking to it yet. It may need to settle/acclimate, however I don't believe I have much more time. I may just throw it in the refugium to get its appetite back and nurse it back to health.

I did cut the power to the pump, because I figured it was more of a rock scavenger and didn't think it would pull anything from the water column.

I was more or less asking if anybody had had any luck with the arcti-pods.
 
sorrier if it seems like i was framing you...try sucking up the arcti-pods with a syringe with a tube on it and squirt the food around the fish...
 
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