ora mandarins

[saltburns]

am wanting to get one of these. wondering if any of you have and how it went.

 

[Rendos]

Getting one is going to be tough. ORA has not had any for sometime now. They do very well if you can get one. They eat nutrimar Ova readily.

 

[nck1992]

Why do you want to get an ORA mandarin? Your tank size is enough for a regular one.

 

[Rendos]

Having a tank raised mandarin is the way I would go. Wild caught mandarins have very poor survival rates. The tank raised are already used to aquarium conditions and eating prepared foods.

 

[nck1992]

Probably I,m lucky. My first mandarin is still happy in my 29g tank. It's been 10 months.

 

[BassandReef]

I am on my 3rd Mandarin and this one is happy. It also the largest that I've bought. Its been a couple of months with no issues. I don't know if it is an ORA one.

 

[saltburns]

what are your mandarins eating and did you have to use any tricks to get them started?

 

[nck1992]

I have a kind of "in tank refugium" with full of chaeto. Before adding a mandarin, I set the refugium and let copepod and amphipod grow for 1-2 months. In my tank (29G), I have only two clowns and a mandarin. so all of small critters are for the mandarin.

 

[saltburns]

so how do you get them switched over to "regular" foods?

 

[nck1992]

I don't give them any food so far and have no plan to switch to a regular food. I'm just relying on the natural foods, pods.

 

[nck1992]

If you want to train it, this may helpful.

http://piratefx.hubpages.com/hub/Mandarin-Fish

 

[BassandReef]

what are your mandarins eating and did you have to use any tricks to get them started?

Nothing. I seeded my tank with pods about a month before I got this one. I already had a lot of them I do have a Refugium. My Mandarin doesn't seem to eat anything but pods. I also have a scooter Benny which is another type of dragonet and it only eats pods. I don't buy pods though. They don't seem to chase the frozen food when I feed the tank.

I think getting a healthy Dragonet is more important than feeding it if your tank is well established. I can look at night and see hundreds of pods running around in my tank.