ORA Mandarin Dragonets!!!!!

[iloveinn]

Let the dust settles before drawing conclusions . I'm glad that this IS an option for us now.

 

[reidcrandall]

They allegedly altered what they typically eat for food. In my book that's designer.

As for mine, tried more live brine yesterday along with cut up blood worms and pellets. It's in a tank on my desk and I've watched him for hours on end. Haven't seen him eat yet. Anyone else having luck?

They didn't really alter the fish in any way to get them to do this. They just trained the fish to eat something different. You can train any dog eat things and do tricks, but you can't train a black lab to be a golden doodle.

That being said, they did sell a fish that was supposedly trained in some sort of behavior, so it's not like you have no ground to stand on.

I hope you're having luck getting your guy to eat.

I'm hoping to get a pair of the splendid when they come out. But reading this, I am rethinking. I may just put some rock in my QT, let pods take over, and then train a WC to eat prepared. It's been done.

 

[JettStorm]

My local LFS just got their first ORA "tank raised" mandarin on Friday. Looks healthy, but I am just as curious/interested as the next person. Will check in every day or two and see how things are. (price tag is $74.99---2 - 2.5" long)

 

[MvM]

Mine has been eating spectrum pellets. Not a ton, but he's eating a few at every feeding. 1-2 times per day.

 

[vwtanker]

Ours are eating chopped mysis, blood worms and brine. Haven't tried the pellets yet. Lots of effort was put into producing these fish. Do you really think ORA is culturing live foods for thousands of fish in a grow out situation, and then lied to everyone just to make a few bucks. Take a chill pill, let the fish settle down and put as much effort into the fish as you have getting ****ed off at ORA. If you don't like it continue to support harvesting which harms natural habitats and devalues our hobby.

 

[vwtanker]

Thats awesome MvM, I'll have to try the pellets on mine.

 

[Ben34105]

Mine is doing a lot of yawning today. I'm keeping up with the chopped blood worms, live brine and pellets. So far I haven't witnessed it eating anything, but my clean up crew is getting fat!

 

[CMcNeil]

ive got one on hold at my LFS,it came in this week but i want him to settle down from shipping and be eating before i bring it home.i cant wait to get this fish home,it all goes well ill be getting one for my girlfriends tank as well.

 

[Iwishihadgills]

Nobody likes a bragger, lol. Just kidding You are very fortunate. Did you get one?

No not yet lol my lfs hooks me up all the time with good prices

 

[IFbettas]

I would not buy one of the ORA mandarins because they are supposed to be eating prepared food, but rather for the fact that they were born in captivity. IME, almost any dragonet can be trained to eat some form of prepared food given enough time and a proper environment. So far it appears that the ORA mandarins are not overly enthusiastic about eating prepared foods, however, that could change as time progresses.

I also think that mandarins which accept prepared food should still be kept in larger systems with an abundance of live foods. Just because a mandarin accepts pellets doesn't make it an easy fish to keep in a small tank. IMO, I would not want to keep one of these fish in a tank smaller than 75 gallons even if they are eating well.

Whether they eat prepared food or not, I'm going to be getting a pair of these after my new tank is set-up.

 

[eamike261]

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Found this on reef builders today, cool little video at the ORA facility.

Woah thats a lot of mandarins in 1 spot, i thought you could only have 1 in a tank together...maybe that changed when they became tank bred?

 

[njudson]

these are likely all females

 

[rgonzalez]

Ours are eating chopped mysis, blood worms and brine. Haven't tried the pellets yet. Lots of effort was put into producing these fish. Do you really think ORA is culturing live foods for thousands of fish in a grow out situation, and then lied to everyone just to make a few bucks. Take a chill pill, let the fish settle down and put as much effort into the fish as you have getting ****ed off at ORA. If you don't like it continue to support harvesting which harms natural habitats and devalues our hobby.

Easy for you to say since yours is one of the few that is actually eating. Before you tell everyone else to take a chill pill, try to put yourself in their shoes. If you went to buy a 3-D TV, took it home, hooked it up, and it only showed 2-D, wouldn't you be upset?

Again, no one is saying they are NOT supporting what ORA is doing, it is the claims that the MG's are ready to eat prepared foods which people are upset over. Get your information right and try to add to the forum instead of subtract.

 

[sslak]

Are you guys feeding with pumps off, ZERO flow?

Just because they eat pellets doesn't mean they can chase the food through the current...they're still mandarins.

 

[sslak]

Woah thats a lot of mandarins in 1 spot, i thought you could only have 1 in a tank together...maybe that changed when they became tank bred?

They're juviniles. It's completely different keeping sexually immature fish together compared to adults.

It's the same reason you can keep 30 juvinile clownfish in a tank at a fish store. None of them are sexually mature. Competition for mates is what causes agression.

 

[eamike261]

They're juviniles. It's completely different keeping sexually immature fish together compared to adults.

It's the same reason you can keep 30 juvinile clownfish in a tank at a fish store. None of them are sexually mature. Competition for mates is what causes agression.

Interesting, never knew that, learning something new every day!

 

[ShawnKPD]

Looks promising to me! +1 for the juvenile being kept together. I have a mature female green mandarin and nearly killed our adolesent male green mandarin. My lesson learned here was if you don't add the group of mandarin together in your tank you better just stick with the one. Also, these mandarin are eating good, but there's no other fish in there with them. They won't usually eat with other fish. They like to be isolated.

 

[pendraig]

Finally Ate Spectrum Pellets

Finally Ate Spectrum Pellets

I just picked one up at Green Marine last Friday. "She" (looks like a small, more colorful version of my female Scooter Dragonet) lived in my live rock, pod laden fuge over the weekend. Did not see her eat (tried Cyclopeze and crushed Spectrum 1mm pellets) like most who posted here...and was getting worried.

I moved her into my DT today, and she made herself comfortable in a large cave in the low flow center of a gyre. I picked up some Spectrum Thera+A 0.5mm small pellets, which were the only small pellets I was able to find locally (Aquarium Concepts) in such short notice. Dropped a bunch about an hour ago. To my relief, I noticed that she was grazing on some of the pellets that settled in the center gyre (in the cave).

So far so good...

 

[CJO]

I just picked one up at Green Marine last Friday. "She" (looks like a small, more colorful version of my female Scooter Dragonet) lived in my live rock, pod laden fuge over the weekend. Did not see her eat (tried Cyclopeze and crushed Spectrum 1mm pellets) like most who posted here...and was getting worried.

Glad to hear that yours is eating. However, "she" looks like a "he" to me!

CJ

 

[Mr.leee]

i was just wondering, has ORA stated some where that they will eat pellet? or was this just a hype the community made up?