Mandarin question.

[shifty51008]

is it true that Mandarin's do not have a stomach and that is the reason they need to constantly eat pods? If so why would finding a Mandarin that eats dry or frozen foods be a good thing unless you constantly kept putting food in the tank throughout the day?

 

[MondoBongo]

it is a good thing to find one that will accept frozen because you can easily help to supplement its diet.

frozen/prepared food for a mandarin is, in my opinion, only ever supplemental. never a staple.

 

[leveldrummer]

I could be wrong, but Im sure they have a stomach. They eat all day because they eat tiny little pods. They just hunt and peck all day.

As mongo bongo said, mandarins that eat frozen foods are fine, but I wouldnt rely on it to sustain them long term, the proper way to keep them is to make sure your tank can support a pod polulation large enough so you never have to feed them at all.

 

[JackandJill]

Makes no difference as to ease of care if they eat frozen or not. Either way they will starve without sufficient pods.

 

[MondoBongo]

i looked for specific evidence of their anatomy in scientific papers, but couldn't find any free ones.

i can't say for certain whether or not they entirely lack a stomach, but i would surmise that if they do, it is a smaller stomach.

many people have said that their digestion is much more similar to a seahorse or pipefish, which makes sense given the amount of grazing i've seen mine do, and how easily they can starve given the incorrect environment.

this seemed to be a promising paper on them, but is a bit pricey:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1013168029479

it is true that many of the fish we keep do best when fed multiple times a day. many types of wrasse are the same way, and require multiple daily feedings as well.

 

[shifty51008]

Thanks for the info, i wasnt sure about the no stomach part, just heard it somewhere. Thats why it had me thinking about always haveing food. But i agree there still is no substitute for pods.