Mandarin

[miserkris]

Which of the mandarins is the cutest, is it the blue?

If so how can I get the blue mandarin that eats frozen,flake or pellet?

...and for how much $

 

[sanchoy]

I like blues or greens.

Most of the time its the luck of the draw to get one that accepts frozen, and a pin in the haystack to find one that eats pellets. However, i heard ORA claims to have pellet eaters, but reviews states some people bought ORA ones that failed to eat pellets.

 

[cdeboard]

Look for the fat one at the LFS lol... I have had one for over a year now. I love my mandarin.

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

i've trained several dragonets to eat pellets, the key is using "new life spectrum 1mm & .5mm pellets".

 

[small alien]

"Cutest"???:spin2:

That is for you to decide, my friend.

 

[miserkris]

i've trained several dragonets to eat pellets, the key is using "new life spectrum 1mm & .5mm pellets".

Can I train them *inside* the DT to eat pellets (DT has other friendly fish)?

Thanks all.

 

[suta4242]

I wouldn't count on it. Best to train separately IMO. Just so you know even when taught to eat frozen, they can still be fussy. I had one that would swim to the top of the water and eat DIY mix from my chopsticks. Same fish would ignore live mysid shrimp, live brine and any dried food including small spectrum pellets. Did eat frozen brine (the small bits) etc... The fish eventually grew to almost 4" so he was certainly big enough to eat other stuff.

My advice is to teach them how to use a mandarin diner before he reaches the display.

good luck.

 

[miserkris]

I have 65lb live rock from an 5y.o. tank. My tank is 5 mo old. Can I keep a mandarin (any kind) alive without a fuge or addl pods ? Will there be food in the LR?

 

[velvetelvis]

After my experiences with both WC and ORA mandarins, I would advise you not to get a mandarin unless you're prepared to go to a lot of trouble making sure that he feeds and gets enough to eat. It will be work getting him to eat prepared foods (and many don't). And if he never gets used to eating prepared foods, I don't think the live rock alone in a 65 is going to produce enough pods to keep him well-fed and healthy. They're adorable little fish, but kind of a pain in the @ss. Not a good beginner fish, IMO.

 

[small alien]

I consider myself a little bit good at feeding dragonets, pipes, etc. I have found green mandarins to be the most difficult feeders I've tried.

 

[Jhigga15]

May fav of fish, I have tried to keep 3 and done everything in my power to keep them alive... I will not get another one because I can't get them to eat...

 

[Crustman]

Mine eats PE Mysis and NLS pellets. It is a male Green.

 

[drainbamage101]

have a 15 month old in my 30 gallon, eats flatworms, pods, and both frozen and pellets if he thinks to (i.e. is paying attention as they float past.) He's yet to have trouble finding food though, so tends to ignore the prepared foods (tank he currently in does have a big chaeto growth, so could be where his population is.)

in my 35, have another that seems to eat the flatworms as well, and pods. She also might pic up the occasional frozen food I feed the corals in the tank. She got introduced about 4 months ago, at which point the male mentioned above was moved into his current home (they didn't get along when trying to house them together )

That said, there's no other fish in either tank that were/are much of a threat to their food supply, so I believe that's of big help in them staying well fed.

As far as cutest.....I like the psychadelics of any color, so that's my vote. But my buddies target was pretty sweet looking the other day too.