OMG <3<3<3<3<3<3 Merry Christmas to me!

[TheORKINMan]

So I made the standard trip to the LFS today to see what they got in the last shipment. Saw a Psychedelic Mandarin and asked the question that 99% of the time they tell me no to. "Does he eat anything besides pods?"

Much to my surprise this time they said YES. I asked if I could see him fed and they said sure, he ate frozen mysid as well as live brine right in front of me. I snatched him up SO fast it would make your head spin!

He's downstairs right now and I put some mysid and brine in just to make sure he'd eat it and he is eating both right now in my tank as we speak!

Merry Christmas to me ;P

 

[michaeldaly]

Well done, that was a very lucky find.

 

[dodger1v]

Congratulations. Sounds like you got one of those rare finds we all hope to get some day.

 

[gary faulkner]

Congrats

And I'm very jealous.

 

[evilsike]

congrats as well. hope it won't get picky

 

[drummereef]

Congrats! Uhhhhh....... where's the PICS!

 

[burgessj]

Note to self: Make trip to Tallahassee, FL. Find TheORKINMan. Ask OJ for advice... No No.. Just kidding... Great find.

Jon

 

[Snowreefer]

I've never seen one feed on anything but live great find

 

[TheORKINMan]

I'm monitoring him very closely to make sure he's eating the prepared foods as well as the pods he finds. He dosn't mind me whatsoever and pretty much ignores me while he grazes so I can get in close. So far so good on that, if he gets picky I know people with very large reef tanks I can donate him to, he was only 16 bucks so I don't have a problem with that if he or she develops a finnicky streak.

His finnage was roughed up when I got him, he looked like he'd been housed with something that took a bite out of one of his wings, but he's very actively moving about the tank and seems to be eating well atm.

 

[klyons]

SWEET! Gotta like that. You have any pics?

 

[AquaReeferMan]

When I worked at my LFS and we got a mandarin in we usually wouldnt sell it until it was eating frozen foods. It usually didnt take long maybe a week or 2. A lot of live brine and PE mysid. It was a nice advantage having the fish in a small space so the food was always there for it. If you work with them they can survive off good frozen food along with pods. A friend told me a lot of people are keeping them healthy with seahorses and feeding them PE mysid. Good find and good luck with it. Very awesome fish.

 

[sprayin70]

Awsome find!! Now take good care of him and Merry Christmas! My wife bought me a Tunze 6060 for a early Christmas present this year. This has been a good year for us both!

 

[scott0615]

That really isn't as uncommon as most would think. I usually stock 4-6 greens and spotteds. They go into cubes that are loaded with pods and 50% or better of them take frozen within 48 hours. We then put a sign on that cube that says "Eating Frozen".