New Mandarin! ~uh uo~

[Bmgrocks]

Yeah I know, UH UO,

time to lecture another impulse, no knowledgeable reefer....


well, throw those speeches away, i don't need it
Today I added a Spotted Mandarin, From My LFS
after sorting through 8 or so normal and a few spotted, I had them spot feed the tanks that they were in, with Frozen Mysis

None of the normals ate any, or showd intrest, but the lil' spotted tore after this mysis

Said OOH, thats the one!,
Now, I AM PREPARED, however!

I have a 29gallon tank, 55lbs LR
an AQUACLEAR 70 FUGE, filled with Chaeto, and LR rubble
(and as a plan C, have a Neighbor with a 30g fuge)

The Mandarin is feeding on Frozen Mysis!

And I will try the Experiment, Feeding Mandarins, Caplan Roe, or what we kno as Sushi Eggs! Usually Flounder or Salmon

I have read an article in in Fish Hobbiest about Nano Mandarins, overviewing, the author's struggles to keep a Mandarin in his 10 gallon Tank!, He grew Pod's, Phyto PLankton etc, and one day stumbled across Sushi Eggs,
Researched the Nutritional Value, which is off the charts, and Fed it to his Mandarin Successfully

I will Be keepin Tags on this Forum with Updates on my Spotted's Progress

Are the Spotteds are more likely to eat Frozen?

pics are soon to come

 

[Kogo]

salmon eggs are huge. i think you mean flying fish roe.

 

[junkitu]

Very interesting. Keep us posted

 

[nYgel]

The spotted ones are most likely out of the mandarins to accept frozen foods. From what I've seen, dragonets eating frozen goes:
scooter dragonet
spotted dragonet
green dragonet

I myself keep a scooter(11 months) and a green mandarin (4 months) in my 29g and both eat frozen mysis. Good luck and good research.

 

[kfowler]

After a couple of weeks of trying all different kinds of prepared food, my Mandarin has started eating frozen mysis an a daily basis. I was so excited. FYI, I've tried Caplan eggs, small pellets, cyclopeeze, mysis, and normal flake food. I've also been adding Tigger Pods on a regular basis. Funny I've spent about 6 times as much on food as I did on the fish.

Best of luck to you!

 

[clowninaround74]

im thinking about getting a target mandarin also but my battle is against flatworms...im in the process of adding an AC 70 fuge on the tank so hopefully that will be up and running here soon...untill then he will have enough flatworms and pods to hold him over i believe.

 

[kfowler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9469962#post9469962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clowninaround74
im thinking about getting a target mandarin also but my battle is against flatworms...im in the process of adding an AC 70 fuge on the tank so hopefully that will be up and running here soon...untill then he will have enough flatworms and pods to hold him over i believe.

FYI, mandarins eating flatworm seems to be in the same category as peppermint shrimp eating aiptasia. It's very hit or miss. My mandarin has completely devoured every flatworm in my display so I guess I got lucky. I should throw him in my fuge for a week. He'd have a feast.

 

[clowninaround74]

target mandarins are more prone for eating flatworms then the others so thats why im going with a target....everybody that i have talked to has experienced their target eating their flatworms so its a pretty popular assumption. Im keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[Duddly01]

I also have a spotted mandarin in a nano. We did very much the same thing at our LFS. They had more than 20 mandarins (green and psyc.) and only 2 of them ate prepared foods, both were spotted mandarins. Our spotted eats everything we feed the tank, Capelin roe, pe mysis, etc. Seems to love the pe mysis the best though, swallows them whole. I really didn't think its mouth was big enough, but it finds a way to get it down. I have yet to personally see a green mandarin eat mysis. Our green mandarin in our 50 gal. is still fat on pods from the refugium and occasional tigger-pod dosing, but never eats anything else that I can tell.

 

[kfowler]

Duddly01 great pic! I'm going to see if I can film mine eating. May be he'll cooperate.

 

[Razzagas]

I have a question about the capelin roe. I went to my local asian food market and found a large container of frozen roe. When I asked at the counter, the lady told me that the orange was not a natural color and that there were most likely perservatives in it. I read that article in TFH and wanted to give it a try, but I was worried about the quality of the roe. The packaging had no information on preservatives etc.
What do you think?

 

[b0wenj]

I am sure I will get some comments from this response. I have a 29 gallon tank with a 10 gallon refugium that has been setup and running for over a year now and decided 2 months ago to get a target manderin. I do not have a place locally to walk into and see the fish eat, my LFS doesn't normally carry them, so I ordered the fish from the local fish store and when it came in the same day I picked the fish up. My manderin seems to be doing well in fact a couple times he was so fat he looked like a tadpole. I have fed lots of different foods to my tank and the manderin does not seem to be interested because he has alot of pods to eat. In my tank I have tigger pods and normal pods. I think my success is because my live rock came from the ocean and is alot more cured then a year. It also helps that I have about 70lbs in my tank. It does seem for the most picky eaters you can try blood worms and that seems to help. I have heard this from friends locally that they have had success with it. Someday I will get by the store and get some but so far for me I seem no need to hurry. I have tons of pods in my rock and in my refugium.

Good luck with your new addition.

 

[2OceanLovers]

I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

 

[Duddly01]

I do know that often capelin roe has salt added. I don't know about color and preservatives, but it is likely. I usually rinse any roe I feed the fish in RO water to not only unfreeze it but to wash off anything like salt, etc. The water does turn orange so there very well may be food coloring. Oddly enough my clarkiis in my 50 seem to like the roe the best, my mandarins will only occasionally snick a piece here and there.