Many mandarins that are taught to eat prepared foods are initially kept in a small QT (which would be the idea with the office tank). One difference is that I could pollute the tank quickly if not careful. I don't think the office tank is the solution for different reasons. I think what is lost here is that this particular mandarin doesn't have a prey drive. I am going to try and work with the shop and see what they can offer me because pods or no pods it's not eating and it has not moved off the bottom of the tank.
ORA spotted mandarin is a threat!
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rjmayes34
New member
I have a spotted and striped manderain and have had them for a few months they are getting bigger and fatter and from what I can tell they are happy. They graze my rock work all day eating pods. They won't eat any pellets or human made food so they are wild. Both are now about an inch and a half grown from about 3/4th an inch. Is it possible for them to over induldge in pods or they only eat when they are hungry?? And should I try harder to feed them other food?
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
I'd prefer not to derail this thread
I'd prefer not to derail this thread
so to stay on topic:
if any Mandarinfish loses it's prey drive something is wrong with the fish.
I'd prefer not to derail this thread
so to stay on topic:
if any Mandarinfish loses it's prey drive something is wrong with the fish.
teamdulski
The Saltiest!
Yup, I think the scopas pestering him is the biggest problem here.
I'd second that.
I have watched the little guy over dinner and am still of the same opinion (something's a little off here). Prey drive is a little better, striking at things about twice as often. One problem is that the mandarin has set up shop close to the detritus catching area, which brings the neurotic tang into his territory. I changed the flow pattern to try and stop the tang from unsettling the mandarin. I think this is the last thing I am going to fiddle with - hopefully the mandarin has sense enough to hunt well.
I may might have to track down some cheato as JC suggested, if anyone has some to harvest. Right now my pods are cultured in a 5 gallon bucket with calcium reactor media lining the bottom. I use sponges that are peeled apart and I place a piece of nori inside which seems to pull in a decent number of pods. I have some sponges that I separate and place a small peice of nori into. That gives me a small population of pods to add back to the tank. I usually move one sponge into the main tank on a weekly or so basis.
I talked to the people at the store I don't think I have a sympathetic audience.
naprestsleep
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How is the mandarin doing? I am seeing mine more and more in my QT and he picks at the NSL pellets and cyclopese
I am seeing improvement as well. I actually spied him venturing across the tank yesterday. I tossed in a ton of hakari small S pellets and he seemed to chase them slowly. The tang still bothers him and chases him off the food. The temperment of the tang is just wrong for such a peaceful cautious fish.
naprestsleep
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I have a scopas tang too, so we will see what it does to the mandarin when I put him in the DT. I am debating leaving the mandarin in the QT extra long to grow a bit, as long as he keeps eating well in the QT.
block head
New member
fwiw i kept a mandrin for over a year in a 28. wouldn't try again. my was a wild wc green. it was trained in a sea horse tank to eat live brine. it later accepted frozen brine, mysis,flake,pellets. it just stopped eating one day and wasted away. i'm not saying it can't be done. i'd rather see them in a system that would let them thrive in a way that mimics nature.
I turned off the almost all the flow in the tank. No return pump (eheim 1262), and the vortech mp40w was placed in feed mode. As water slowly filled my sump the behavior of the tank became acceptably tranquil. My neurotic tang was no longer sprinting all over the tank to not lose sight of a morsel.
I am trying to increase the feed mode time to 30 minutes and the mp40es isn't behaving. Beyond me. I don't get any led indicators for the speed/duration settings inside the configuration menu. Gonna go looking for a video.
I am trying to increase the feed mode time to 30 minutes and the mp40es isn't behaving. Beyond me. I don't get any led indicators for the speed/duration settings inside the configuration menu. Gonna go looking for a video.
Two more weeks down and I'm pretty sure this little fella has a sealed fate to die under my base rock. If it forages it does so while I am asleep or away from the house. I have thought about getting a WC female to see if it would encourage or entice him to eat, but there is no way that my tank could sustain more than one pod eater.
naprestsleep
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Mine seems ok in my QT, I see him peck at pellets from time to time and I have been adding pods periodically. I lost my three anthias, the male one day and the two females a couple days later. They were eating, no signs of disease, not sure what killed them. I talked to Tim and only thing we could think of was an ammonia or nitrite spike, what ever it was the mandarin seemed fine through it.
I think I am going to leave him in the QT as long as I can to let him grow a bit.
I think I am going to leave him in the QT as long as I can to let him grow a bit.
naprestsleep
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I have a mountain of rubble that it works his way through, up and down. Most of the time I find it at the bottom or under the rock(its elevated on egg crate). No upside down from it just the anthias, but then again they were not swimming when they were like that.
