ORA Mandarin Dragonets!!!!!

[Amoore311]

i wonder what the long term effects will be on them not eating the food theyre designed and been feeding on for hundreds of years

I would venture to guess they will do as well as every other marine fish that doesn't eat the food they're "designed" to eat (ie. almost all fish that are kept in the hobby).

Watchman gobies, for example, don't eat much fresh water mysis shrimp and NLS Pellets in the wild I would venture to guess. Mines been fat and happy for 3 years with that diet haha.

I was told by my LFS that they were coming out in June and around $100

I'm all for taking the burden off our oceans to supply these creatures. I highly doubt many are going to sell at that price point though. If it's $100 for a pair that would make a bit more sense.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Has anyone else noticed that all of the fish pictured (with the possible exception of one) are female? I wonder if ORA has been able to get around the problems with male aggression...

These fish are all young and small. I would guess that they are either protogynous hermaphrodites (so no males exist at small sizes) or are just underdeveloped (i.e. "pre-puberty") males.

 

[b2d2t]

it would be cool to get a mated pair!

 

[basser1]

They are selling for $50 bucks, about what I'd figured they would sell for.

 

[sfboarders]

$50 is a deal. Do you know if you can pick certain sizes and the sex of the fish?

 

[Cerebral Fish]

There are a couple of possible pitfalls to keeping these tank bred fish:

1. Just because they will eat pellets, doesn't mean they will know how to forage for pods between feedings. Mandarins need to eat pretty much constantly. If these fish still have the instinct for hunting, they will still need a quantity of live rock and/or a specific breeding ground for pods such as a refugium.

Captive bred mandarins are raised on live foods from hatching until they are large enough to be weaned onto prepared foods. Matthew Wittenrich, the breeder that inspired ORA to do mandarins, said in his thread at MOFIB not to feed the weaned mandarins too much live food or it might break the weaning. Apparently they still prefer life food over prepared.

As for pellets not being enough to sustain a mandarin, that sounds like pure speculation IMO. If supplemental live food is needed probably depends on several factors such as the pellet's nutritional content, the presence of aggressive eaters, the number of daily feedings, etc.

2. Feeding pellets once or twice a day will not sustain a Mandarin. They are timid eaters and they can't compete with other fish in your tank for pellets. Unless you have the time and patience to target feed these pellets directly in the vicinity of the Mandarin many times a day, I'm not sure the survival rate of the tank bred fish will be any better than wild caught ones. It may be necessary to overfeed your tank in order to keep these Mandarins alive. I'd like to hear opinions about these Ora fish from other reefers who are successfully keeping wild Mandarins and are familiar with their habits.

That is true of wild caught mandarins as well. They simply can't compete with many other fish for food. But with a mandarin that's been weaned onto pellets you could construct something like Melev's mandarin diner to keep out the aggressive fish - that's not possible with a mandarin that only eats live foods.

As for surviving better then wild caught mandarins - that's up in the air until enough people get CB ones to make a judgement. But I'd suggest that the captive bred would probably survive better for a few reasons. They are more likely to eat prepared foods, they are used to aquarium life and have a positive association with humans, they aren't skewered with a needle, lower shipping stress, they aren't exposed to as wide a range of marine parasites, etc.

 

[Chelsey]

How can anyone reprogram the brain of an animal?

Get around the male aggression problems by raising each male individually in a separate container tied together (acrylic run wholesaler type setup) or just put everyone in a large tank and end up with however many males can set up territories.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

I trained my own mandarin to eat frozen mysis from a small pipette out of my hand. They are very smart, and if you are consistent, they will go to their feeding spot the same time every day, and wait. I never tried pellet foods, but I had a baby food jar I lay down in the corner of the tank. I eventually could squirt 10-15 mysis in the jar, and he would just swim in and grab the food.

So if he's adapted to pellets already, you just get one to go in the jar. I sustained mine for 6 months in my nano feeding once a day, sometimes skipping a day. He was never skinny.

With enough commitment mandarins will be fine in a small tank with only pellet feedings. Of course, the more pods you can give it the better... and this is only a good idea for the dedicated hobbyist. After 6 months of feeding my mandarin, it become a chore, so I sold it to somebody with a bigger tank that could give him a better home.

 

[basser1]

Good to see you nemo......

 

[Shift_9k]

Anyone gotten their hands on one yet?

 

[ser_renely]

Great to see. I would gather 49-59 would good pricing from my pov.

How they going about the males?

 

[GPhiAce]

Anyone gotten their hands on one yet?

Anyone???

So has anyone tried or can you put different species of mandasrins in the same tank?? Like have a blue and spotted in the same tank? Also, as far as male and females or pairs in general, can you/ should you get ones of different sizes??

 

[sweet d]

so these are out how is everyones doing so far we need updates.

 

[parrthed]

Mine is still doing great, he eats like a champ. I moved him to my 75 mixed reef. It has no problem coming out to grab flakes and pellets when I feed the tank. It is not even scared of my clownfish pair. I see him all the time, I am really enjoying this fish alot.

 

[EllieSuz]

parrthed, does your Ora Mandarin hunt? Have you observed him searching and eating pods? I'm very curious to see whether this hunting behavior is instinctual.

 

[parrthed]

I see him cruising around the base of the rockwork alot, kind of hovering over the nooks and crannies. He goes behind the rocks pretty often. When I first got him I had him in my old seahorse tank the was heavily populated with pods. I did notice him eating some in there. Since I moved him to the 75 he has been acting like any other mandarin I have had but he isnt as reclusive.

 

[SilverGTS]

awesome can't wait to get one for my nano!

 

[Romewhip]

They will be hitting our local LFS this week, only 2 per order coming in. They'll retail somewhere around $70, and are target mandarins.

 

[aykim2188]

$70? the range is ridiculous. People are getting them for $50 but are these other stores trying to cash in on the hype?

 

[sslak]

$70? the range is ridiculous. People are getting them for $50 but are these other stores trying to cash in on the hype?

Depends heavily on WHERE you live. In Wisconsin wild caught Mandarins are 34-40 dollars. Areas with lower populations have higher prices due to lower demand, and a smaller market of people in the hobby. The stores need more markup to stay profitable.

It's economics.

You can't say it's rediculous just because the price is higher than the fish stores in LA or San Diego, as with anything it's all about supply and demand.