Mandarin Primer

[spscrackhead]

Do you keep the fish in the net breeder until it accepts frozen or the desired food? Or do you have to catch it daily? This seems like a silly question even as i type it but the only net breeders i have ever seen are pretty small.

 

[Tabasco]

Mandarin with ich. What is the best way to treat?

I bought the mandarin just over a week ago from a lfs. It did not appear to have ich at the time, however it was fairly skinny, so much so that I was worried that it would even hunt. But I had special ordered it and it was paid for when I picked it up, so I just hoped for the best as if I left it there it was not good odds. It is in a 20 frag tank filled w/pods and eating/hunting very well. It has started taking nutramar ova and now has a little belly. It has also started getting ich. The tank has never had another fish in the 6 months it has been set up. So no fish could have given him the ich. So he brought it in.

My question is how should I treat for ich? Hypo? There is not much on treatment of mandarins for ich as they are "highly" resistant. I am guessing he was stressed as he was under weight. But I am kindof hoping as he gains weight he will be able to fight it off, but I want to know how I can help.

Would love any advice! TIA

 

[davocean]

Hello everyone,

I added a 40 breeder tank as a sump with live rock and chaeto. I hope there will be alot of pods there after few months.
Anyway, I want to add a Mandarin goby after a few months. But I was wondering how can Pods in the refugium get to the display tank?? I don't think they are stupid enough to line up in front of the return pump to get transfer to the display tank.

So the idea of keeping a big refugium to raise pod for the fish in display tank is kind of useless??

Thanks,
Bao

Pods get sucked into return pumps and make it to the display all the time.
Not only would I disagree w/ the comment of a fuge being useless, but I would say it is a must have if you wish to keep mandarins in a normal/average size tank.

 

[Hyperion1337]

I have a mandarin in my tank for about 2 months now and so far he has been able to live on mainly chopped bloodworms. I was wondering should i teach him to take mysis? Or will bloodworms be a viable food source?
p.s. he takes frozen brine somewat okay, doesnt really eat it with the same vigor as with bloodworms... i just think its the brand that is interfering with his ability to eat frozen brine ( i am using the sfb orig. brine)

 

[Tabasco]

Just thought I would update my previous post about ich. He either spontaneously fought off the parasite, or didn't have it and I am inclined to the latter. I think he would just pick stuff up on his slime coat and it just looked like he had ich.

He is now eating Nutramar Ova regularly with a couple drops of selcon. I am gradually adding mysis and NLS pellets. He is taking some mysis, but have not seen him take any pellets. But also just started that.

I will say, it was a little stressful. It wasn't an immediate feeding response. Patience is key. And be prepared for extra water changes bc of the additional food.

 

[Ambition]

I am doing research on mandarins right now so that I can eventually have one or a pair in the future. This is a great thread to read, just getting started now and skimmed through.

I have one question as of now, not sure if this belongs here... So when people say that starved mandarins' digestive systems degrade because of starvation, what about it degrades?

 

[secrest]

I need some opinions for all of you experts here . I ordered a blue mandarin online and chose the medium size, but upon arrival it is very small. Maybe one inch, most likey 3/4. My original intention was to set up a mandarin diner and try to train him onto frozen. Since the little guy is so tiny I'm thinking it might be more important to get some weight on him first and adding additional pods to my tank. I was thinking of order 1000 from reefs2go and trying to train him onto frozen later down the road. I'm curious though if doing this would make it harder to train him later on?

Tank is a 40 breeder with 30 gallon sump. Set up around 7 months. About 80 lbs of live rock split between the two.

 

[guarda]

It's a catch 22. I've trained about 10 of them so far and the smaller ones are much easier to train. Like a puppy dog, they'll try anything. The adults already know what they like imo.

If you introduce pods in this new environment, I believe it will be that much harder to get him to eat frozen, something that he is not instinctively going to recognize as food. Then again, if you are unlucky and get one that will not eat frozen or live brine no matter how hungry he gets, he'll starve. It's a tough call.

 

[OrionN]

'''
I have one question as of now, not sure if this belongs here... So when people say that starved mandarins' digestive systems degrade because of starvation, what about it degrades?

It take energy to digest food. When the fish is too far gone, it cannot produce the enzymes needed to digest food, so it can eat and starve to death when it reach the point of no return.
It is the same with human. People in the Nazi concentration camp died when they got liberated and eat a full meal. The body cannot digest it and it cause GI complication when food reach the colon where the bacterial live undigested. Badly malnourished people need to start on food slowly. Preferable predigested food or IV nutrition before their gut start to work again and they then can tolerate oral food.

 

[chrishet]

I am in the midst of a new tank build, a 70 gallon Reef Savvy tank. The tank itself is complete but now I need to decide on an overflow and return scheme. I am interested in having at least one Mandarin in my system.

I heard that having a HOB refugium is an excellent way to provide copepods to your display tank, so I am considering the following design, see video below...similar to a HOB refugium but this one is built in. I am curious as to the thoughts here on such a design, if it is technically doable, beneficial, or a waste of time...from my perspective it is only a useful design if I can use it for codepod production, otherwise I will stick with a standard overflow design....right now my sump does not have a dedicated refugium but I could buy a new one of that would be useful.

my many thanks in advance for thoughts here....

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2YoqlEowcVw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Mandarin tankmates

Mandarin tankmates

sorry!

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Mandarin tankmates

Mandarin tankmates

Hello RC,

I was fortunate enough to find a spotted mandarin at my LFS who was eating frozen mysis. After seeing him take 2 or 3 bites with my own eyes, I decided to take him home.

I have a 65g tank and 20g fuge, with about 85lbs of LR and 80lbs of sand and a large ball of chaeto. We have tiny white pods crawling all over the glass in the tank and sump, so I figured between the pods and mysis it was a good bet!

After acclimating him and giving him a night to settle in, he woke up the next morning and on Day 2 was eating mysis. On day 3, he ate even more along with some newly hatched live brine. My SO is home during the winter, so he has been spot feeding him 2-3 times each day.

Now, on day 3 his belly has rounded out nicely, his appetite is voracious, and he even has a little designated feeding "cave" which keeps the other fish at bay.

Here comes my question, right now he has only one competitor for pods - a black leopard wrasse. The wrasse has been eating frozen foods since the LFS also, and spends only a small amount of time grazing the rocks. Mostly, he takes to open water. Before adding the mandarin, the wrasse had not even put a dent in the pod population.

Looking forward, I'm wondering what type of fish might be ok as a companion... that will not be a direct competitor for pods or overly aggresive.

Tangs and clowns (have a pair of ocellaris already) are not an option, and the fish will need to be docile and reef safe. I'm looking for something colorful, that is smaller (2-5 inches) and feeds from the water column vs. grazing the rocks.

I was thinking about either a flasher/fairy wrasse (had one before that just hovered and didn't touch the rockwork), or a single anthia (only if eating at LFS). I'm still wary that these might turn into competitors for the mandarin. I've also considered a firefish... but they would not be my first choice for looks.

Is there any other fish that would work well that I am maybe missing? I've had a yellow-striped cardinal in my previous tank that was pretty cool, but I was looking for a little more color. This will likely be my last addition.

Thanks in advance for your input!

PS. I'm not planning to add another fish until Feb at the earliest... just planning ahead

 

[guarda]

I have an african pipefish and a Yasha haze goby/pistol shrimp with my mandarin. All very peaceful coinhabitants.

 

[JustinM]

I have an african pipefish and a Yasha haze goby/pistol shrimp with my mandarin. All very peaceful coinhabitants.

Just curious, can a pipefish handle a full out reef tank with high flow?

 

[guarda]

Not sure. I added the pipefish after I stopped keeping sps and lowered the flow. Sometimes I turn the flow up and it doesn't look like he seems fazed by it. He goes after the cyclopeez right in front of the Vortech.

 

[Ngoodermuth]

I have an african pipefish and a Yasha haze goby/pistol shrimp with my mandarin. All very peaceful coinhabitants.

Thank you for the input! Pipefish are really cool.

I've read this entire thread and have seen a lot about feeding, but not much on peoples experiences with tank mates (or at least the tank mates I'm considering). All feedback is appreciated!

I was interested to see that someone kept a royal gramma basslett with one as I've known them to be semi-aggressive. I really like the cave bassletts (cave bass, swalsei, CANDY $$, etc) but again worried about aggression/competition. Thoughts or experience with these particular bassletts and mandarins? Or, like mentioned above a single anthia?

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Thought I would post a quick update. It is now day 5 with William (Spotted Mandarin). The other fish caught on to his "cave" so we decided to introduce a mandy diner.

Here is a video of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACXqA7A8k4g&feature=youtu.be

 

[J2T]

Thank you for the input! Pipefish are really cool.

I've read this entire thread and have seen a lot about feeding, but not much on peoples experiences with tank mates (or at least the tank mates I'm considering). All feedback is appreciated!

I was interested to see that someone kept a royal gramma basslett with one as I've known them to be semi-aggressive. I really like the cave bassletts (cave bass, swalsei, CANDY $$, etc) but again worried about aggression/competition. Thoughts or experience with these particular bassletts and mandarins? Or, like mentioned above a single anthia?

I have a coral beauty in my tank that pretty much harasses anyone that goes near the rocks but he has never even taken notice of my spotted mandarin at all. Same with my female clown, she pays no attention to him either when he comes by.

 

[Ngoodermuth]

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks with William. He is getting nice and plump eating mysis, frozen brine, and a "reef mix" with fish roe, krill, zooplankton, etc.

We stopped hatching baby brine as the diner has been very effective. He has been taking larger pieces without spitting, and returns to the diner frequently to snack.

Currently feeding 2-3 times a day.

Here's a picture for fun

 

[that guy]

Is there any reason a mandarin would eat less fully grown? My spotted still eats a good amount of mysis twice a day but he is not as fat as he was when he was still growing.