mandarins

[nikon70]

mandarins are very fussy eaters unless hand fed from an early age, dont be tempted to buy one thinking you can feed it anything.

if you have lots of pods in your tank they will eat those first, and refuse to eat mysis etc.

imo do not try mandarins until you have at least a tank a year old (after cycling and all levels are 0 after stocking with a few fish, so your looking at 1.5 years to successfully keeping mandarins)

same goes for cleaner wrasses, unless you have a 200G tank with lots of fish they will run out of food to eat. (sorry was on a role there)

 

[timrandlerv10]

we're moving everything from a 44g DT w/10g fuge to 75g DT w/55g fuge.

if there are some pods that are more beneficial than others, i want to help seed the new fuge with those.

for those that have mandarins that eat 'whatever' congrats--thats not been my experience so far (jealous!)

does anyone have any ideas on specific pods?

thanks for the links--i'll be reading those tonight!

tim

 

[curthendrix]

One caveat.....mine did eat mysis but that was only after being in my tank for almost 1 year. Please make sure you have the tank size and pod population to support this fish. There is nothing sadder that seeing a fish slowly starve to death while in your care.

 

[reefergeorge]

Pod eaters, like the Mandarin fishes, live in a part of the ocean where there are not only a very large number of pods to eat, but a very large diversity of pods. Not only are there many different kinds of pods but those pods are eating a wide variety of foods. All this meets the nutritional needs of the pod eater. The marine system we put in the home can’t come close to the number and this wide diversity. The pod eaters can (and will) eat what is in the marine system, but the fish slowly dies. The fish survives for a while but doesn’t thrive. Quote from Lee Birch

 

[timrandlerv10]

maybe i'm asking in the wrong forum...does anyone know where this question might belong?

thanks!

tim

 

[EyeCandy]

I think everyone answered your question. Basically if you find a mandarin that is eating at the LFS, go for it. But if it is not, then you will need a larger tank with lots of live rock and maybe suppliment the pods like you said you would like to do. They eat basically ALL pods and small organisms on the live rock. I would set up a refugium and also get a small filter media bag, like one you would put carbon into, and fill it with small broken pieces live rock and hide it behide your rocks so the pods have a place inside the tank to reproduce with out any fish being able to get them, then they will leave the bag. I don't know what else to tell ya.

 

[Sepeku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11007339#post11007339 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EyeCandy
I think everyone answered your question. Basically if you find a mandarin that is eating at the LFS, go for it. But if it is not, then you will need a larger tank with lots of live rock and maybe suppliment the pods like you said you would like to do. They eat basically ALL pods and small organisms on the live rock. I would set up a refugium and also get a small filter media bag, like one you would put carbon into, and fill it with small broken pieces live rock and hide it behide your rocks so the pods have a place inside the tank to reproduce with out any fish being able to get them, then they will leave the bag. I don't know what else to tell ya.

Wow, good idea!

 

[dragonette]

check this link

I thought it was a good one.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/feeding_mandarin_or_synchiropus_splendidus-2.html

 

[egirl]

I found they love frozen bloodworms. You have to use a pipette and squirt them in front of their mouths. I know they're not nutritious but if you mix them with frozen mysis shrimp soaked in garlic and entice they eventually eat them too, which of course is much better for them. I was a salt water manager for three years and I did this with every mandarin I got in and wouldn't sell one unless it was eating frozen. Make sure the food lands on the substrate and doesn't get suspended because you probably know they don't go after "swimming" food.