ORA Mandarin Dragonets!!!!!
- Thread starter Jordani
- Start date
d0ughb0y
Active member
I don't know much about genetics, but did notice the color of the ora mandarins are not similiar to the typical wild caught ones (I personally think the wild caught colors look better). I think if they are able to breed them into a different color and eating habits, I won't be surprised if other characteristics can change. I would never say never.
velvetelvis
Active member
Considering what most reefkeepers spend on their tanks and equipment, I think an extra $20 or even $30 on a CB fish over a WC isn't really *that* big of a deal. The number of fish you can add to your tank is finite...you're talking about a one-time investment, unless you're constantly switching your fish out (which, I admit, I've done before--in which case it can add up pretty quickly). Nobody's going to go broke buying CB instead of WC. Skip a couple of meals out, or a few trips to Starbucks, and you've made up the difference.
velvetelvis
Active member
Most likely the eating habits are the result of training and conditioning, same as with WC mandarins whose owners have trained them to accept pellets and frozen foods. The problem is that for every WC mandarin that learns to eat "dead" foods (and the ones that do tend to be the exception rather than the rule), countless others perish--not only in the process of being collected and shipped, but also when they land in the tanks of hobbyists who aren't prepared to care for them (or even stores--I wish I had a dollar for every sorry-looking, emaciated, doomed dragonet I've seen for sale in aquarium shops). That's where the losses mount up, and that's why CB fish are so important.
As far as the slime coat vs. colors...I doubt it. I'm not a geneticist, so I can't predict for sure, but I would think that differing patterns and colors are a lot less "fixed" than a survival characteristic like a slime coat that is part of the fish's inherent make-up. But I could be wrong. Any marine biologists here?
velvetelvis
Active member
No doubt. I know I have. 
IFbettas
New member
The problem with this is that typically, even when they are fed prepared foods several times a day, mandarins will still starve if kept without a sustainable pod population. You can find wild mandarins that eat pellets, and yet they are not able to live off of pellets alone. I don't see how the ORA mandarins will be any different.
velvetelvis
Active member
I think they'll be available this summer. Maybe your LFS could contact ORA?
they do live off pelets alone. as long as its nutritionally complete youre golden.
if it still eats and dies then it had internal parasites or another problem.
Amoore311
New member
+1
I know a guy who keeps a pair in a 20ish gallon seagrass tank. Very little live rock in the tank, maybe 10lbs?
No way they are getting much of any copepod food from that tank. They do eat the smallest size NLA Pellets and Nutramar OVA. Those 2 items make up 95% of their diet.
i think its because these fish arent obligate on certain types of food. theyre just carnivores and if you fill that need then they are fine. now coralivores and such are a different story
Masterofnonsense
New member
+2
A good read is about how Matt Wittenrich bred manadarins. He initially used live myside shrimp, but later moved on to prepared foods for both the parents and young.
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