My Mandarin loves salmon!

[cjobo]

I recently added a mature male Mandarin to my small community, perhaps against conventional wisdom (size and age of tank, etc.) because I love them, and because it's my money. Meet Manny (my kids and I name every fish):

Of course I'm doing everything I can to keep him fed...I have a large ratio of lr already crawling with pods; I'm adding tisbe; I added a rubble pile in one corner and positioned another rock so the residents can't get at it; I'm adding a small in-tank "refugium" for chaeto containment until I decide whether to do an aquaclear fuge mod.

But because I like to try feeding new things, and we buy salmon for ourselves on the regular, I snagged a couple chunks from the wife's cutting board and diced it tiny on Friday. I was only hoping for the other fish to enjoy it; imagine my surprise and excitement when I saw Manny go for it. He went after it like it was his job. I haven't seen him hit the mysis or dry pellets yet, but I've done salmon the last three nights and he has a nose for the stuff.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[sandyland]

Cannibals?

 

[ScottMcN1]

Wow. That's pretty cool. I'll give it a shot. Mine won't touch brine.

 

[robotman]

mine eats nutramar and frozen mysis but i must try this.

 

[mgraf]

They also enjoy red wine

 

[cjobo]

I might try adding a bagel with some cream cheese...he could be Manny Finkelstein.

 

[RJT]

What are his tank mates? I have one in qt but wow he eats slow. He likes nls pellets but he won't make it in the dt eating slow. Does he go after the salmon or does it have to land near him?

 

[MondoBongo]

that makes a certain amount of sense.

it seems like they prefer oily foods when they're eating non-live stuff. nutramar, cyclop-eeze, black worms, all have a relatively high oil content.

i might have to try a little salmon and see.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

They also enjoy red wine

Yeah, but they're sloppy drinkers.

 

[cjobo]

What are his tank mates? I have one in qt but wow he eats slow. He likes nls pellets but he won't make it in the dt eating slow. Does he go after the salmon or does it have to land near him?

He goes after it like a junkie goes after crack. He can be grazing the back side of one of my rocks and as soon as the salmon hits the sand he comes around. Also, I have a spot where the currents collect the food after 5 minutes or so, and he's there cleaning it up.

He's living with a percula clown, a purple firefish, a lawnmower blenny, and a flame angel...all on the smaller side. He's the only mature resident.

 

[RJT]

I will have to try it. Glad he is still in qt and I will only have to feed a tiny piece. I am concerned about water quality with feeding salmon.

 

[Elysia]

I had a wonderful mandarin for over two years who enjoyed eating salmon. It was one of his favorite foods. He would also eat live black worms, mosquito larvae, and frozen mysid shrimp. He was a plump, content fish.

 

[MTF7]

Was this raw or cooked?

 

[cjobo]

Raw