Mandarin that is eating prepared foods.

[EllisJuan]

Like many others I have wanted a Mandarin since I decided to start reefing. My current 65G is about 5 months old. I knew my tank probably did not have the pod population to support one yet. Foolishly I was talked into buying one that was supposedly eating Brine and small sinking pellets.

Well, I got the fish home and slowely watched him get skinnier and skinner as about 3 weeks went on. I never saw him show interest in the frozen Brine or pellets. I was really afraid he was on the verge of starvation so I put him in a hang on breeder box with a few pieces of live rock. I fed him in there Brine and was able to observe him eventually start picking at it.

Tonight I released him into the DT and when I fed the tank I actually noticed him slowly hunting down the Brine. He probably got 6-7 good pieces.

Hopefully this he will continue eating fatten up.



Anyone else had luck with this?

 

[NomisRider23]

well i have no personal experience with them, but my friend has kept one in his tank for about 4-5 weeks and his tank is about 5 months old as well. he's got the thing eating mysis and brine...so i wouldn't worry TOO much, cause it is possible. then again, i do not have too too much experience...ive been only keeping tanks for 4-5 months but just wanted to make ya feel a little better, haha

 

[EllisJuan]

I have a healthy amount of cheato infested with pods in my fuge. I heard that pulling out the ball of cheato and shaking it in the DT helped keep more pods where the Mandarin can get to them.

Any truth to this?

 

[miketay89]

EllisJuan, I used a hangon breeder net to make sure my mandarins were eating too. I started them out with live brine, and live misids. Then slowly began intoducing less of the live and more frozen. Once I was sure that they were eating the frozen, I released them into the tank.
I did not attempt to train them on pellets, I was just happy they ate frozen, but they started eating pellets on their own.
As for shaking the cheato into the tank, that certainly will release a lot of pods, but you can not do that everyday. The pod population will not rebound that quickly, well, unless you have multiple balls of cheato then I guess you could do one everyday.
But the idea behind a refugium is to provide a safe haven for beneficial life, such as copepods, amphipods, macroalgae and so on. If your refugium is set up so that it gravity feeds back into your mandarin tank, it should be slowly delivering pods all day everyday.

 

[humaguy]

smart Mandarin...I have some do the same...I also add copepods every few weeks until I can see a healthy pod population...after your lights have been off for a while, use a flashlight and check your sump/refuge for critters crawling...when I see a lot...I stop adding...if i see the numbers dwindle, I add more...

 

[Klaus777]

Mandarins are very slow hunters so you need to help them out a little when training them to eat frozen. a good trick is to get yourself a pop bottle (at least 1L) cut the bottom off and on one part of the bottle cut an archway so that when you stick the bottle into the sand, the mandarin can swim inside. With the bottle stuck into the sand (with the cap removed) suck up some mysis or brine with a turkey baster and slowly squeeze the food into the bottle so that it doesn't blast out the opening. Keep putting the bottle in the same place day after day and he will learn that it is a food source.

 

[me_reef_geek]

I have had my mandarin for about 5 years it took it 2 1/2 years to finally get interested in pellets she still dosnt eat frozen food but is fat and happy
my experience is they dont get interested in prepared foods until they have little or no live food left
I have herd of putting them in an empty tank so they have no choice but to look at the prepared food until they decide it is food

 

[Lynnmw1208]

feed live brine enriched with phytoplan or selcon to fatten your mandarin up. spot feed it.

 

[sprintermike]

I agree with above posters. Read my thread (you may have to look for it, it's a few days old), entitled "I'm a glutton, two hard fishes" on this forum.
I have had my mandarin for almost a month now. I am chronicling him not eating, then eating live brine, now eating frozen foods, hopefully soon to be eating pellets.

 

[jayelblock]

I have an ORA mandarin which was supposedly trained to eat pellets, but doesn't. Be certain to try a variety of foods besides mysis. I feed a combination of frozen rotifers, oyster eggs, cyclops, mysis, and shaved Rod's food. I'm not sure what he's eating, but he's fat.

FWIW, he's in a 29g with rainford's goby, which also picks at micro-fauna, and everyone is happy.

 

[sprintermike]

Is that what green mandarins look like when they are super small? I thought it was a spotted for a second, then thought maybe it was a hybrid (do they even exist?), then figured maybe it WAS a green mandarin.

 

[jayelblock]

It is a spotted (target) mandarin, and it's full grown at about 2", although it could continue to get a tiny bit bigger over time. The spotted mandarins tend to stay small, and they can really vary in color. I like them when the background color is almost yellow like this one, but they can also be very green. I'm hoping to find an ORA female who is also yellowish. I've got a 120g which just finished cycling, and I intend to make that the permanent home for the pair once that tank gets a bit more mature.