ORA Mandarin Dragonets!!!!!

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

My LFS had a flyer that's how I knew what kind of pellet to buy. Still haven't seen it eat a pellet, but it's still alive so it's eating something. I had to do a water change yesterday because I was getting hair algae from putting so much stuff in there trying to get the little guy to eat.
 
I picked up one of these little guys today. He was very active in the store and picking at the rocks and walls a bit, also ate a little cyclopeez when they added it. He is a little skinny, but my tank has pods galore, so hopefully this plus the cyclopeez will whet his appetite. *crossing fingers*
 
Has anybody heard an ETA on when the Greens (Synchiropus splendidus) are being released yet? The initial news releases said that they'd be coming out in limited quantity at the same time as the Target but I haven't seen word of any.
 
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.

I don't see how my opinion subtracts from this forum. Had the forum been titled "I hate ORA" I could see why you would feel this way. My statement was valid and reasonable, and I will continue to support ORA. In my opinion they and the other companies who use captive breeding and aquaculture to support our hobby are the future. Slowly we are destroying our world and will no longer have reefs to plunder.
So keep complaining, pointing fingers, and trying to relate living animals to your high priced electronics. Anyone who treats fish like objects "designed" to work one way or another does not deserve to have one.
 
Got mine yesterday. With all the reported feeding problems I'm not totally sure it was a good decision but I support ORA in their efforts to reduce the taking of fish from reefs. I should have enough pods in my Solana to keep him fed at least in the beginning and probably longer. Like practically everyone else mine is sitting on the bottom moving occasionally and looking calm.
 

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Week One Report

Week One Report

It's been one week now since I took home my ORA Spotted Mandarin. It has been "buzzing" around my live rock structure, and it even swam to the surface a bit too close to one of my EcoTech MP-10s for comfort. I did not think I needed to keep the foam covers on the MP-10s based on what I have read so far. It's a very curious mandarin (much more so than the 2 WCs I had). It also got a little to close to the siphon tube and get sucked in when I was cleaning ALL the extra detritus from all the Spectrum pellets I made available in my tank for grazing.

So far so good...:thumbsup:
 
I didn't see my little guy this morning after the actinics came on...he was moving all around the tank last night, so I'm hoping that he's just holed up in the LR, sleeping.
 
any update on the ones that would not eat frozen or pellet? i would be one ****ed dude if i bought one and they didn't eat!
 
No frozen or pellets here. I went and bought tigger pods to make sure he had plenty of food because he wouldn't eat anything prepared. I paid $50 for an $18 fish. Definately disappointed.
 
It's been 3 1/2 days now. He's getting more comfortable in the tank but still not eating. I squirted some chopped up bloodworm in front of him last night but he just ignored it. Still I'm not really worried yet as I do see progress in his acclimation to my tank.
 
Mine still will not eat prepared foods. It's been two weeks (today) and I have yet to see him eat. For all I know he's eating pods. At this point, I just want him to survive. Yea I over-paid for this fish, but ultimately the concern lies in the fishes health.

<Crossing fingers>
 
I think ORA miscalculated this fish's ability to adapt from the conditions in their facilities to those of a reef tank. I have two ORA false percs and an ORA blue assessor. All adapted straight away to my tank. The clowns were active and eating from day 1. To be fair I think the BA was in the dealers tank for about a month but the dealer never had any trouble with it. My guess is that ORA assumed that these mandarins would adapt similarly to their other fish without ever actually testing. I also want to raise the possibility that these feeding problems are be overstated a bit as the mandarins could very well be feeding on pods which is obviously preferred. I haven't read any reports of these fish dying.
 
Those having trouble getting them to eat:

Are you turng ALL PUMPS OFF and target feeding in ZERO FLOW?
 
Does using a straw and sitting the pellets on the mandarin's head count? :lolspin: Really, he'll sit there with a pellet on his head for a few minutes. He refuses to eat the .5mm pellets. I need to do another water change today and put a poly filter in. The hair algae is growing out of control from all the extra food.
 
No frozen or pellets here. I went and bought tigger pods to make sure he had plenty of food because he wouldn't eat anything prepared. I paid $50 for an $18 fish. Definately disappointed.

Keep in mind that $18 gets you a wild caught fish which is not ideal. $50 gets you an Aquacultured specimen which is way better whether it eats prepared foods or not.
 
No frozen or pellets here. I went and bought tigger pods to make sure he had plenty of food because he wouldn't eat anything prepared. I paid $50 for an $18 fish. Definately disappointed.

Uh, an "$18 fish" is subjected to the extreme stress of being born in a wild Philippine reef, being caught by a spear, moved through several containers likely with varying water quality, and flown 12+ hours across the Pacific. There's a reason why the market price is $18 for such "cut flowers".

I don't think that's the same as a $50+ ORA mandarin....

...just saying...:D
 
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