New Mandarin Behavior

[Craig Lambert]

I placed a Female Green Mandarin in my tank yesterday. She is very fat and healthy looking. I acclimated for a little over 2 hours. The dealer and I have the same salinity level (1.025). I monitored pH via pinpoint, to ensure the bag water was close to the tank water before releasing.

The fish spent yesterday afternoon and evening laying on the sandbed in a quiet corner of the tank. Today she has spent most of the day in the same spot accept for an hour or so that she spent in a nearby cave. She appeared to pick at the rock a bit during that time. She has not been swimming around at all. Is this normal when first intoduced? The fish is from a highly regarded online vendor that I have been very happy with. Could it just be a little freked out from transport and a new tank? She was the last of the 5 fish I've stocked over the past 5 months and all are healthy and good eaters.

I have plenty of food for her. I have 100 lbs of LR in a 75G w/dsb and pod piles. The tank has lots of pods. I also have a fuge w/cheato. I have a separate 10G tank that i just set up with lr and pods that I feed w/ phyto in the event I need to replentish the display tank.

Params:

pH 8.1-8.2
Alk 10dKH
Calcium 430
Magnesium 1350
salinity 1.025

 

[Sk8r]

She is having shipping stress, that's sure. But what are her normal daylight hours? They can take a while to adjust to a change. They hunt most in the twilight, when the pods tend to come out, but should be active all day, just searching. The fact she is pecking at the rock is encouraging. What time zone is that store in? Check that out and see if that is a problem.

 

[stykthyn]

you are lucky to even see her at all. many go into hiding for about a week before they are comfortable enough to come into the open.

 

[Craig Lambert]

Thanks guys.

sk8r,

She was shipped from the same time zone.

stykthyn,

Your comment makes me think this is normal behavior. The only thing different is that he is laying on the sandbed in a quiet corner of the tank next to rock, rather than doing the same in a cave.

Update: This morning she swam off the bottom from time to time after the actinics came on. She didn't move far off the bottom, but nipped at the glass, so my guess is that she was eating some small pods off the glass. She did this for 30 min. or so, and is now back laying on the sand.

 

[stykthyn]

from what I have seen this is somewhat common, the fact that she is eating encouraging. as a rule of thumb I give a fish 3 months until I stop worrying about it, so keep an eye out and see if anything develops. In the meantime if it doesnt display a more active hunting behavior try feeding the tank with live brine.

 

[flameangel88]

I got mine from mail order and after acclimation (close to 3 hours) the mandarin was very active then toward the night time it would swim around one general area. This went on till the 3rd day then I never saw the mandarin again and it's been missing for 3 weeks now.

 

[Beckmola24]

I have a female Mandarin, and she did this for a few days. She also gets very still at night and almost looks dead. It's scary. The first time I saw it I thought she was gone. Mine eats frozen, but also does pick at the rocks. She's always out in the open and is very responsive to me because I feed her She eats directly from a turkey baster. They stress pretty easily, so I wouldn't worry unless it carries on continuously. Give her time to acclimate.